Bruce Benedict told me about it in such a hush-hush tone I thought he was speaking about some sort of clandestine act. Benedict is a top Texas angler who has his ear to the bass fishing pulse of Texas like few anglers I know. So when he pulled me close and started whispering about a new way to use the indefatigable Carolina rig, I paid close attention.

"Ever think of usin' a jig instead of an egg sinker when makin' a 'Carolina Rig'?" he asked me quietly. "I'm tellin' ya, it's one of the hottest new bass techniques. It's a double-lure weapon that scores on fish you'd otherwise never catch."

Benedict heard about using a heavy jig instead of a sliding sinker in a Carolina rig from a pair of Texas anglers who were mopping up on suspended bass hovering over old reservoir roadbeds. The roadbeds were weedless bass havens, and by "thumping" heavy 1-ounce sliding sinkers onto the hard highway surface they attracted largemouths to their floating plastic worms that hovered 4-8 feet above the lead weights.

One of the anglers who was using a very sensitive graphite rod noticed periodic pecks at his rig sinker. At first he thought the pecks were caused by the sinker scraping bottom. But the pecks were more like light strikes from fish, so he thought they were merely bream or crappie hitting the sinker.

But one day the angler felt a peck, then another peck, then a good strike on his floating worm in the Carolina rig. He set the hook, and shortly landed a stocky 6-pound largemouth that had his soft plastic lure imbedded in the fish's jaw as usual. But, incredibly, the fish also had taken the Carolina rig's sinker well into its gullet. The angler quickly realized it had been a bass that was pecking at the rig's sinker, one so aggressive that after it ate the sinker it struck the rig's plastic worm, too.

"That got my friend thinking that sometimes he should use a jig as a sliding sinker in a Carolina rig instead of a hookless chunk of lead," Benedict explained. "It sure makes sense when you think about it. In a lot of situations where Carolina rigs are so deadly, why not use a jig? Two lures out there searching the water makes more sense than one anyway."

The logic of Benedict's statement was so obvious, so clear, that on my next bass trip I gave the Carolina jig rig a try.

It was on my home water of Florida's lower St. Johns River. It was summer, and the Carolina rig is a great tool to catch suspended bass over mid-river sandbars and ledges at creek mouths. The first morning I fished the jig rig, I caught four bass to 3 pounds on the jig, only three fish on the floating plastic worm.

Since then I've tried the jig rig on largemouths and smallmouths on various waters from Canada through the Midwest and South, and everywhere I fished it, the sliding jig rig produced bass. Whether the jig caught bass that otherwise would not have struck the floating worm above the jig I'll never know. But I'm convinced that if the bottom you're fishing allows it, it makes more sense to fish a jig as a sliding sinker in a Carolina rig rather than just a chunk of lead without a hook.

The Carolina jig rig is set up just like a standard Carolina rig, except instead of threading on an egg sinker, a weedless jig is used. The jig is allowed to slide on the fishing line through the lure's line-tie ring. Then the line is tied to a barrel swivel, with the leader having the floating worm, grub or lizard tied to the opposite end of the barrel swivel The jig must have a large line-tie ring so the fishing line slides easily through it. I like heavy jigs, especially ones with a wide hook gap. My favorite is the Jawtec "Rattling Big Bite," in 1/2-, 5/8-, 3/4-, and 1-ounce sizes. A durable jig weed guard is vital, too.

"Clean" humps, slab-rock ledges, sand and gravel bars, roadbeds and "ditches" are ideal places to fish the Carolina jig rig. It's also an excellent double-lure set-up for fishing well-defined weed edges or walls. Bass can suspend anywhere along a weed wall that may extend from the bottom to the surface in 6, 8 even 10 or 12 feet of water. With a Carolina jig rig, you have a double chance of locating fish suspended along a vertical edge of weeds.

When fishing weed walls, a very high floating plastic lure is needed. I've had excellent success using a Snag Proof "Hawg Dawg" lizard because it's hollow and buoyant and has two hooks for sure barbing of bass. When a small, high-floating grub is desired, the Bass Assassin "Shad Assassin" (3-inch for smallmouths, 5-inch for largemouths) is my favorite, when fished with a "High Performance (HP) Hook."

A floating jig, like Lindy's "Floatin' Fuzz-E-Grub" is another way to fine-tune the rig. This floating jig comes in many bright colors, and floats like a cork, so it hovers high above weeds, etc. Moreover, as it's fished, it has a built-in rocking action that's especially appealing to suspended fish, particularly smallmouths and spotted bass.

It's been my experience that whenever two lures are used it's best to use greatly contrasting colors. Generally, I prefer dark crayfish type colors for the heavy jig, with lighter and brighter colors for the floating worm. A brown, black or dark blue jig used with a shad-colored, fire tiger, white, yellow or light blue plastic lure is an example. Offering bass lures of opposite colors helps determine what hue the fish want on any given day.

Another important consideration in Carolina jig rig fishing is using a strong, but very sensitive graphite rod. It's important that the slightest tap of a bass taking the jig is telegraphed to the angler so a solid hook set can be made quickly. Top-notch graphite rods like Berkley's "Air IM7," Shakespeare's "Sigma Supra IM-6" and the very sensitive Lamiglass series "IM700" models are ideal.

Substituting a jig for a sliding sinker in a Carolina rig isn't practical for all bass water, nor is it the answer to all your bass fishing ills. But there are times when the jig in the rig will account for as many or more bass than the floating plastic lure, and that's reason enough to use it.