Football Jig

[hstaple1979]

Hello all:

I was wanting to pick everyone's brain a minute on fishing a football head jig. I found some marked on clearance for under a dollar and bought 3 in 1oz size. I have never fished this heavy of a jig, biggest I ever used has been 3/8oz. I know a lot of people who fish these on the deep points on my home lake and always come up with good fish, so I decided to give them a try. Most of my friends are pretty tight lipped on how exactly they fish them. Is this something I should work like a Texas rig worm, or drag it along the bottom? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[bigturtle]

Drag it, hop it, shake it. Google how to fish a football jig will yield lots of great info. Youtube videos also help

[smalljaw67]

There are 2 ways that are successful for me when fishing a heavy football head in deep water. The first way is the drag, a smallie beaver is what I like for a trailer and all I do is make a long cast and wait for the jig to hit bottom and then I slowly drag it using the rod, the reel I use just to pick up slack after a slow pull. The second way that works for me is by "stroking" the jig, all you do is make a long cast and wait for the jig to hit bottom then rip the bait off the bottom with your rod. I use a quick fast motion and try to get the jig to jump about 3' or 4' off the bottom, and then let it fall back down, you usually get the bite as it is falling back down so watch for your line to jump of for the jig to stop falling to the bottom faster than normal. You can fish it other ways as well but for me those two techniques work the best, remember, a football jig does best being fished on hard bottom areas.

[hstaple1979]

That's all I have been told, fish them on hard bottoms, but as for the other tips, I appreciate that. I've never really been a true jig fisherman. I've only used them once or twice (smaller ones) and I did catch a couple, but I've always been a worm guy. I've fished all my life (for everything, really) for bass and only in the last couple of years have I started crankbaits, senkos, Shakey heads, anything other than a t-rig worm. Jigs are my focus this summer.

[CTBassin860]

Add your favorite trailer and Drag it,hop it,pitch it into cover.

[Munkin]

1oz football jig I would go with a Zoom or Yamamoto double tail grub in GP or Black, depends on the color of the jig.

 

Allen

[38 Super Fan]

I like to fish them pretty quick in summer. A lot of bites will occur on the fall, or right after the jig has reached the bottom anyway. So from there, a lot of the time I'll just slow reel it back in. Or, I'll give the reel a few quick turns of the handle, pause, then keep my rod tip up and let the jig drift back down on a tight line until it hits the bottom, then let it set and maybe shake it a second or two, then reel it quickly for a few turns again and repeat.

 

Crawdads are actually really fast when they want to be, so that's something to keep in mind. Just dragging a jig can definitely work, and you should try it, but sometimes you can waste a lot of time doing that.

[WRB]

Without knowing the type of lake and structure you plan to fish a heavy football jig and the type of tackle you have, it's not feasible to tell you how to fish this jig. How about some details on your tackle and lakes terrian?

Tom

[hstaple1979]

36 minutes ago, WRB said:

Without knowing the type of lake and structure you plan to fish a heavy football jig and the type of tackle you have, it's not feasible to tell you how to fish this jig. How about some details on your tackle and lakes terrian?

Tom

I have mostly 7' m/h rods with Abu Garcia Revos. I have others, but these are my better rod/reel combos. (I prefer Abu, it's a personal thing, like Ford/Chevy). The lakes has a lot of grass, but it has a lot of rocky points with hard, smooth bottoms off of them. There is a lot of wood cover (stumps ect.) but I want to fish these jigs on the rocky points. Most are deep, running anywhere from 10 all the way to 25 feet. Some go as deep as 30. I usually throw 5 or 6 XD crankbaits to these points, and I catch fish, but I hate being a one trick pony. This is my home lake, I always fish it, just looking to try some new techniques. The lake has just about any cover you can think of, and the bottom varies as well. I doubt I'd try these jigs in some of the heavier cover, but I'm open to trying. BTW, I usually throw florocarbon line at 10/12 pound test, but I can go braid or heavier mono. Just looking for opinions.

[WRB]

Lot of if's. If the football jig has a weed gaurd you may be able to fish it through cover. If the football jigs hook isn't a heavy wire you may be able to achieve a hook set. I consider MH rods on the light side when casting a heavy jig and retrieving it in water over 20' deep.

Braid will help you using the MH tackle. 

I fishing in water deeper than 20 feet down to 35' using lighter weight 1/2 oz jigs with 5/0 #114 Gamakatsu jig hooks without a fiber weed gaurd in deep clear rocky structure lakes successfully. Instead of a weed guard I use a hitch hiker spring to add a 2" piece of finesse worm attached to the jig hook eye and weedless hook the worm for a gaurd, add whatever trailer you prefer.

Search the site for "old school horizontal jigging".

Good Luck.

Tom

 

[RoLo]

 

A one-ounce jig is rather heavy and has limited use.

Weights over 3/4 oz are most commonly used for mat-punching & weed-probing.

A jig that heavy doesn't move gracefully and doesn't make a good all-purpose tool.

 

Roger

[Bluebasser86]

I drag a football jig mainly. Put a twin tail trailer on the back and fish deep rocks, drop offs, and points. 

[hstaple1979]

The one ounce size is the one I have heard caught fish. I'm only out $3 so I'm not too worried. I don't normally like anything bigger than m/h rods, and I usually use braid for throwing top water in thick grass or pads. I'm the first to admit I don't throw jigs very often, as these were the first I had bought in years. I may take a step down in size before I throw the football jigs. I'm an old soft plastic guy, so I thought I'd give this a shot. I enjoy learning new techniques, but I'm not too sure I made a good purchase here, even at such a reduced price.

[smalljaw67]

6 hours ago, RoLo said:

 

A one-ounce jig is rather heavy and its use is quite limited.

When you get into weights over 3/4 oz the most common use is for mat-punching & weed-probing.

A jig that heavy doesn't move gracefully so it doesn't make a good all-purpose tool.

 

Roger

 

Football jigs don't do well in brush or weeds. Florida lakes also don't seem to be ideal areas where one would use a heavy football head, they are mainly used on deep rocky points or humps. a 1/2oz football is what I use most of the time by the hard bottom points I'm fishing usually bottom out at 12' to 15', I jump up to 3/4oz if stroking it or fishing the few places that extend to 20' to 22' deep. Again, that type of jig doesn't do well in brush or weeds, I use smaller finesse size to pitch to boat docks but the heavier versions are deep water dragging jigs.

[Bruce424]

A 1 ounce fb jig is a lot of lead for bass too handle Just remember to reel set to load the rod up then set the hook. 

The setup I would use... 7ft-7.5ft. mh- h. At least 15lb fluoro or 50lb braid. Gravel points or flats in deep water are ideal for this size jig. On a flat you would probably use a steady retrieve like a crankbait and see if it keeps bottom.

[roadwarrior]

The next generation

http://www.siebertoutdoors.com/Extreme-G2-Football-Jig-1031.htm

 

[RoLo]

3 hours ago, smalljaw67 said:

 

Football jigs don't do well in brush or weeds. Florida lakes also don't seem to be ideal areas where one would use a heavy football head, they are mainly used on deep rocky points or humps. a 1/2oz football is what I use most of the time by the hard bottom points I'm fishing usually bottom out at 12' to 15', I jump up to 3/4oz if stroking it or fishing the few places that extend to 20' to 22' deep. Again, that type of jig doesn't do well in brush or weeds, I use smaller finesse size to pitch to boat docks but the heavier versions are deep water dragging jigs.

 

I totally agree, a football head is unsuited to working in weeds.

My reference was only to the 1 ounce weight, which is very heavy for 'open water',

and most commonly used in weedy situations. And since this is his home lake,

he probably doesn't need a heavy sounding jig for braille contouring.

 

Roger

[WRB]

If cast a 1/2 oz jig of any kind it will hit the bottom regardless how deep it is. The time it takes to hit bottom is the rate of fall down through the water column and that speed usually determines if a bass will strike the jig as it sinks. Sometimes faster is better then slower buy not very often. What is important is keeping in touch with the weight of the jig so you can detect strikes when the jigs feels different. 

My favorite jig weight is 7/16 oz followed by 5/8 oz to depths over 35', don't need a heavy jig just because it deeper water. Heavy jigs works in open rocky water when the bass want a faster moving presentation.

Football jigs are not a good design for mucky bottoms or heavy vegetation because the head gets covered with debris and you need to rip it to clear the junk off.

Give it try and let the bass decide if the 1 oz jig is too heavy, they may like it!

Tom

[bma3]

On 5/7/2017 at 10:05 AM, smalljaw67 said:

There are 2 ways that are successful for me when fishing a heavy football head in deep water. The first way is the drag, a smallie beaver is what I like for a trailer and all I do is make a long cast and wait for the jig to hit bottom and then I slowly drag it using the rod, the reel I use just to pick up slack after a slow pull. The second way that works for me is by "stroking" the jig, all you do is make a long cast and wait for the jig to hit bottom then rip the bait off the bottom with your rod. I use a quick fast motion and try to get the jig to jump about 3' or 4' off the bottom, and then let it fall back down, you usually get the bite as it is falling back down so watch for your line to jump of for the jig to stop falling to the bottom faster than normal. You can fish it other ways as well but for me those two techniques work the best, remember, a football jig does best being fished on hard bottom areas.

 

This is spot on ^

[Buckjunkie]

I just started really fishing a football head jig. I went out Saturday and used a V&M Cliff Pace 3/4 oz. I caught 5 on it. It was a blast! 

I was making long cast onto a point and dragging it with my rod tip to the side of the boat, always keeping contact on the bottom.