Swim Jigs, Weedless Jigs And Trailors? Help 101 Please

[The Young Gun]

I have rods that will work for jigs 1/8th oz-1oz. I have plastic craw dads and some fake pork rinds. But how do I use them? like retreive em, swim them, jig them? Anything help wise about jigs would be amazing!

[micahsrad]

Without any knowledge of where you are fishing it I will give you an around the world standard jig deal. Jigs can be dragged or hopped along the bottom of your lake in the same places that you would use a Carolina Rig (make sure its a hard bottom area). You can target specific structure with them, like stumps rocks, etc. You can punch them through weed mats and lilley pads. You can also swim it. I like to yo-yo them like a lipless crankbait bait thats just me. In my opinion you really cant fish a jig wrong. As for rigging it there are plenty of videos out there to explain that.

[deep]

The best thread I've found, anywhere, on jigs. (Worth bookmarking- to me anyway.)

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/12694-bass-jigs-what-ive-learned-this-year/

[BassinMD]

There are a bunch of different ways to use a jig and just as many types of jigs.

Swim jigs- narrow longer head styles with a vertical line tie to help them slip through cover, I like to use a trailer with a lot of action whether it be a single or double tail grub or even a soft body swim bait, you can just reel them in or bounce them off cover or even jerk and pause in open water, color wise for swim jigs I like to stick baitfish type colors, shad and bluegill.

Football head jig- heavy weight jigs with a football shaped head for hard rocky bottoms, the football shape helps them not get wedged in the rocks as easily. With these jig styles you will almost always be mimicking a crawdad so choose your colors accordingly, on te retrieve maintaining bottom contact is crucial fish it like you would a Carolina rig. Another thing I have had success with on a football jig is using a living rubber skirt these cylinder shaped strands flare and move without you moving the rod and also help make a larger profile attracting big bites. For trailers use a crawdad type trailer or creature type bait.

Arkie/flippin jig- the most common type of jig used, you can pitch them swim them cat them almost unlimited uses, best used when pitching to stumps, pockets in vegetation, docks, lay downs, or any kind of solid cover. Crawdad and creature bait trailers are the most common. Two main colors to use would be black and blue or green pumpkin or variations of the two. No wrong way to fish this one

Tips when fishing a jig- always let your jig fall to bottom on a slack line making sure it falls vertical instead of a pendulum motion, this appears more natural. I think it is also very important to match the trailer color to te jig skirt color this is also just to appear natural. Line choices, I prefer heavy flourocarbon for 99% of my jig fishing for its low visibility and great sensitivity. Sensitive line and rods are very important due tO how soft a jig bite can be sometimes you won't feel a thin your line will just start running, and for rid selection make sure you get something a bit longer 7' plus MH-H fast or extra fast action this will help with longer pitching stronger hookset and more control of your lure in te water.

Hope I didn't ramble to much and I'm sure I missed things but that should be a good starting point

Tight lines!