Looking for a good all-around jig to use to practice and get better at jig fishing. Looking for advice?

[Catt]

On 3/21/2018 at 2:55 PM, cgolf said:

I have been using a Santone swim jig for a couple of years now, and it has been pretty versatile for me as I have been learning to fish a bass jig. The head is flat on the bottom, which in theory lets it stand up briefly if hopped along. I have fished it as a swim jig and bounced it along with some success.

 

I have bought other brands and styles since then that I will be working with some more this year to figure out what works best and when for me, but so far the Santone is the one I will tie on when I am indecisive on how I want to fish or am trying to figure out if the bass are chasing or tight to bottom.

 

Been throwing Santone Lures Chris McCall Rayburn Swim Jig, excellent quality, I swim it, flip it, & pitch it!

[bagofdonuts]

Just to add to the list of quality jigs. Jewel bait company makes a great line of finesse jigs. I really like the 5/16 in p,b&j (for some reason around here a little purple flake does the trick). They are a round head which is good all around. 

Like catt, when fishing a jig I pitch it, swim it, skip it, stroke it, drag it, soak it, hop it, whatever it takes till the bass say which way they like it. The little 5/16 is easy to do all that with, any lighter and pitching is not as easy, any heavier and casting/skipping is not as easy. 

[burrows]

These are less than 3 bucks at Walmart 

 

[EGbassing]

Hack Attack jigs. They're perfect.

[WRB]

It's nearly impossible to define every jig type that is availble for bass fishing. Every jig design was made to improve the basic ball or round head like the original Doll Fly jigs popular back in the 30's and my 1st jig.

Jigs that are worked along the bottom tend to roll over at rest, the football head resolved that problem. Jigs that go through heavy cover need the hook eye close to the nose and incorporate a weed guard, Arkie head with 60 degree bend hook in lieu of 90 resolved that problem. Both the football and Arkie jigs the hooks when at rest layer upright on the bottom, the stand up heads with a flat angled bottom helped the trailers to float upright resolving that problem. There are hundreds of designs and a quick look at Barlows or TW illustrates some of the most popular designs anglers use for bass fishing.

You can swim any jig by retreiving it through the water column, the bullet head is very popular for this presentation because it goes through weed easily.

I don't believe a new jig angler should get too detailed selecting a bass jig and agree the Arkie style or stand up brush jig is a good all around choice. Siebert offers good guality both Arkie and brush jigs in a wide range of weights and colors to keep anyone busy for several years, plus a site sponsor with member discounts.

Colors, don't go overboard with colors as it can get out of control quickly. Basic black-blue and PB&J, green pumpkin will cover all types of water clarity. 

Weight, 3/8 oz and 1/2 oz works from 1' to 20' depths, adding a 3/4 oz if you fish in current or wind. 

Trailers, twin tail GYCB 5" grubs, Berkley 4" Chigger Craw, Strike King Rage Tails all work good. Pick a contrasting color the skirt has; black-blue with blue trailer for example.

Good luck and slow down!

Tom

[Andy007]

I started fishing jigs last year and like you ordered a few jigs to try, but ordered a couple different styles. As mentioned by some in previous post, the style is more important than the brand. In the bunch of jigs I ordered a couple where football jigs that I found out are about useless in thick weeds! I would say to lean towards jigs made for the cover in your lakes. The arkie style is a good universal shape.

Good luck!

[FishDewd]

I got a couple from BPS during their spring sale not too long ago, I've fished them a few times but I think they are too large and/or not right for where I fish at. I think they would do better in a river, bayou or lake. I forgot who made them, but one is a 3/8 finesse jig in black/blue and the other is a 1/2 football head in green pumpkin. Didn't mean to get two that close together in weight, I may step down to a 1/4 and smaller profile at some point and see if it works better.

[J Francho]

Nah, I actually think you did good with those weights.

 

Are you using a baitcast or spinning setup?  If it's the latter, the smaller weights would be easier to cast.

[Cgolf]

13 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Been throwing Santone Lures Chris McCall Rayburn Swim Jig, excellent quality, I swim it, flip it, & pitch it!

Those are the ones. I won some on social media and ended up buying a couple dozen more. The three weights cover the depths I fish.