Which jig to use

Like the casting jigs, finesse jigs are small ballhead jigheads with usually spider cut skirts short flared skirt around the collar of the jig and grew in popularity on highland reservoirs like Lake of the Ozarks, Table Rock Lake other clearwater impoundments where spotted bass and largemouth often relate to bluff rock and manmade cover.

The Eakins Jig is credits as being the first finesse ballhead jig for bass fishing and was made famous by Jim and Troy Eakins who won a lot of money fishing bass tournaments on Missouri and Arkansas lakes flipping boat docks and casting to rocky banks on ultra-clearwater reservoirs. These jigs have dominated professional fishing for the last decade because of their effectiveness at catching bass in deep water.

The football shape of the head arranged perpendicular to the hook allows this jig to come over rock bottoms easily. But they are very effective when drug along rocks and shells on river or creek channel ledge in search of schools of offshore bass. Swim jigs have morphed into one of the more popular varieties of jigs in recent years.

These gained popularity somewhat by chance when anglers started realizing they were catching big bass when flipping when they would reel up their jig real fast to make another cast and the bass would strike out of reaction. So now the heads have been perfected to allow them to come through cover easily and the swim jig has become a staple for fishing shallow cover.

They are great around wood, grass and other shallow cover and reeling them fast is often a key to getting bass to react. You can fish them in inches of water or feet of water by changing the weight of your jig and speed of your retrieve. Floating jigs come in two types hard bodied and soft bodied, both require using weights or a form of rigging such as: sliding sinker, bottom bouncer or simple split shot rig.

Floating jigs are used for live bait and are a great choice when presenting the bait just off the bottom on lakes and rivers. Weedless Jigs Weedless jigs are an excellent choice when fishing live bait in cover, the guard prevents getting snagged on weeds and brush. The hook guard is made of trimable plastic bristles, wire or a plastic V shape and are anchored in the jig head facing upwards towards and covering the hook point allowing the jig to ride over and through underwater obstructions.

Fishing with Jigs Jigs can be a highly effective fishing presentation when the proper set-up rod, reel, line and jig is used. Unlike a spoon or inline spinner, when a fish strikes the lure and hooks itself, a jig bite most often is very light as the fish inhales the bait usually on the fall when the jig is settling towards the bottom. To detect strikes more easily jigs should be fished with stiff fast action sensitive rod with enough flex to cast your jig along with using the lightest possible line for the species and fishing conditions.

This will help you feel the bite on the retrieve or when the jig is sinking by keeping the line taut. Many expert anglers use the fishing line as a strike indicator, when the jig sinks they watch the line for any subtle twitches signaling a strike or if the line stops indicating a fish is moving upward with the jig. To optimize the visual of fishing line jig fisherman prefer to use fluorescent colored line over clear monofilament and wear polarized sunglasses improving the line visibility even more.

Panfish Bluegills Crappies and Perch Ultra light action spinning rod and reel spooled with lb test line. Walleyes Light to medium light action spinning rod and reel spooled with lb test line. Bass Finesse Medium light to medium spinning action rod and reel spooled with lb test line Heavy Cover Medium to medium heavy action bait casting rod and reel spooled with lb test line. Northern Pike Medium to medium heavy action bait casting rod and reel spooled with lb test line. Here are some common type of dressed jigs: Listed below is a reference guide to help you identify the common types of jigs and how they are used: Bass Jigs These are also known as flipping jigs and are a very popular lure for largemouth and small mouth bass.

Some jigs are better suited for specific prey than others and require more refined jigging techniques to land a fish. Here are three of the best jigs and how to use them effectively to land your trophy fish.

The latest technique to gain traction on the pro fishing circuit is swim jigging. Swim jigging uses a combination of spinnerbait and jig movement to create a more realistic swim pattern and is the perfect technique for landing scattered bass. Ideally, a swimmer jig weighs no more than half an ounce and has a minimal weed guard and a bullet-shaped head to glide through the water more effectively. Swimming a jig typically requires landing the jig in the weedy or rocky strike zone and varying between a slow and fast jerked retrieve.

However, avoid retrieving the jig too quickly, as this causes it to rise through the water column and out of the bass strike area. Learn about the basics and how you can start practicing this technique today. Jigging is one of the most active fishing methods, requiring you to snap or pop the rod tip up quickly to move the lure vertically in the water column. When learning how to jig, you can try either jigging straight up and down as you drift, or casting the lure out and jig it back towards you horizontally while reeling.

These jig fishing techniques create the look of an injured baitfish that a game fish would want to bite. Jig rigs come in all sizes, shapes and colors, allowing one to learn how to jig with or without live fishing bait. Many spoons are designed for jigging — they flutter as they fall enticing a fish. Soft plastic worms are also used for jig fishing as are painted lead-headed hook and feather combo jigs called buck tails. Jigging lures, or jigs, are some of the most versatile lures in that they can be used in just about any place you find fish.

Jigs comes in all shapes, colors, styles and weights and can be fished in a variety of different manners so that they mimic baitfish. The two most common jigs are probably the bucktail jig and the vertical jig. A bucktail jig will typically consist of a lead head, that can be a variety of different shapes and sizes, which is molded onto a hook and has hair-like material tied to the bottom of the jig head. This hair-like material is where the name 'bucktail' comes from because many bucktail jigs are made using hair from a deer.

The bucktail hair and jighead come in a variety of different colors. These bucktail jigs can be fished by themselves or they can be rigged with a rubber worm, live shrimp or other natural baits like strips of fish. A vertical jig, or speed jig, is made of a long and slender piece of lead or metal that cuts through the water mimicking an injured baitfish.