Many anglers only use two retrieves when jig fishing.
When fish are semi-active they fish their lure on the drop and only watch for a strike when the jig descends to the bottom. If that retrieve doesn't get much attention, the only other alternative used is to hop the jig slowly across the bottom with a lift and drop retrieve. When you can't find bronzebacks in shallow water or on the bottom in deep water, there's a very good chance that the smallmouth bass in your waters are suspended towards the top level of water out over deep water. Many inexperienced anglers think that it's hard to catch these suspended brownfish but it really isn't. In northern natural lakes and in man-made reservoirs, smallmouth bass often suspend around weed beds and off deepwater points.