When To Use Certain Jigs? (General Question)

[RMcDuffee726]

So I'm fairly new to bass fishing and I want to start using jigs.  I've read the whole Jig Fishing Topics discussion and still haven't found a answer to my question.  When would I use certain jigs over other jigs in certain situations?  When would I use a football head jig over a swim jig or a casting jig over a swim jig?  I can't find these answers anywhere and would really appreciate if you guys could give me the basic rundown on certain types of jigs and when to use them.  It would be awesome!  Have a nice day!

[aprestonSEK]

Football Jigs:  Good for fishing rock and clean bottom without grass or other structure.

When not to fish:  around grass or timber

 

Casting Jigs: Use these when you are fishing around brush.  These jigs are much better than football jigs at coming through wood.  Casting jigs are also easier to fish through grass.

 

Swim jigs: These are great when you are trying to imitate baitfish like shad and bluegill.  Swim jigs do well fished along weedlines and around standing structure.  Good conditions to throw a swim jig is enough wind to create chop on the water and overcast.

 

If you want high quality jigs that you can get cheaper than mass produced check out siebertoutdoors.com.

[gulfcaptain]

Football jig = deeper water, rubble, where you want to keep good contact with the bottom and drag.

 

Swimjig = anywhere you think you would throw a spinnerbait, but a more suttle presentation and less flash. Burn it, slow role it, swim it and kill it, 

 

Casting = can be used like a swim jig, but can be flipped into heavier cover due to a thicker weed guard, used around cover (grass) that a footbaill jig would get hung up in. 

[WRB]

Jig is a simple lure, a weighted hook with hundreds of variations.

Football jig is the jig head shape, instead of being round it's football shape. The shape helps to keep the hook point upright so it doesn't roll over and lay flat without line tension. This shape works better going through rocky structure.

You can cast or swim a football head.

Swim jig can be several shape jig heads; bullet, dart, round, fish head, etc. etc. a swim jig is simply any jig that is retrieved through the water column after casting it out by reeling back or swimming it. The head shape determines how well it will move or go thru weedy cover. The bullet head shape is good for weeds or grass.

The Arkie and brush heads are designed to go thru brush, trees etc. both are good in heavy cover.

Tom

[OntarioFishingGuy]

Football jig: Dragging along the bottom

Swim jig: Horizontal presentation

Casting jig: Excels at wood cover

Irish jig: Good for everything! (except catching fish).

[deep]

Any jig can be cast and retrieved on the bottom (as opposed to short-line presentations). Is that a good idea? No. The hook size, angle and gauge need to be optimized for long cast situations.

Choose jigheads depending on the terrain.

[BasshunterJGH]

Football Jigs:  Good for fishing rock and clean bottom without grass or other structure.

When not to fish:  around grass or timber

 

Casting Jigs: Use these when you are fishing around brush.  These jigs are much better than football jigs at coming through wood.  Casting jigs are also easier to fish through grass.

 

Swim jigs: These are great when you are trying to imitate baitfish like shad and bluegill.  Swim jigs do well fished along weedlines and around standing structure.  Good conditions to throw a swim jig is enough wind to create chop on the water and overcast.

 

If you want high quality jigs that you can get cheaper than mass produced check out siebertoutdoors.com.

X2. I couldn't have said it better.

[deep]

Football jig = deeper water, rubble, where you want to keep good contact with the bottom and drag.

 

Swimjig = anywhere you think you would throw a spinnerbait, but a more suttle presentation and less flash. Burn it, slow role it, swim it and kill it, 

 

Casting = can be used like a swim jig, but can be flipped into heavier cover due to a thicker weed guard, used around cover (grass) that a footbaill jig would get hung up in. 

 

 

Football jig: Dragging along the bottom

Swim jig: Horizontal presentation

Casting jig: Excels at wood cover

Irish jig: Good for everything! (except catching fish).

 

Please explain why a football jig is not a casting jig, and why a casting jig is ideal for short-line heavy cover presentations. Please also include what style (gauge, shank length, angle, and gap) of hooks you like on your casting jigs.

[WRB]

Jigs that are fished vertically; flipping and pitching, should be a compact design like an Arkie or brush head where the hook point is close to the head. The hook should also be a strong stout design so it can be pulled out of heavy cover with strong line without bending. The hook set is usually a sharp upward pulling force.

The casting jig is fished horizontally; you cast it a longer distance and retrieve it back. Football head is designed for this presentation, the hook point sits further back from the head for better hook sets when the pulling force during a hook set is more horizontal. The hook on a football jig should be strong, yet smaller diameter wire to penetrate the basses mouth tissue with less force due to the longer length of line between the angler and bass when a strike occurs.

The swimming jig is nothing more than a jig cast horizontally and retrieved back in the water column in lieu of along the bottom structure. A good swimming jig should also be similar to the football head in design with a more bullet head shape to through weeds.

Tom

[gulfcaptain]

Thank you Tom, that pretty much answered the question he was asking.

[deep]

I was not asking a question. I was trying to tell you that I don't agree with what you said.

 

FB jig is a type of casting jig. You cast it out, and fish it back along the bottom. Personally, I don't like FB heads because the flat head tends to pick up trash off the bottom (lots of isolated grass pockets where I fish). I tie my own jigs on a custom standup head with long shank light wire hooks. It's not a football jig, but still a casting jig due to the hook design and the fact that it's optimized to be fished back along the bottom on a long cast.

 

The hook setup is different for short-line presentations (compare a typical brush jig with a FB jig).

 

P.S. Anyone interested in casting jigs should read Tom's horizontal jigging article.