So what's the best head shape for pads and docks? When would you use a football head jig? How do you decide what weight you are going to tie if all you're doing is flipping?

For pitching to docs I love the strike king bitsy bugs.

Docks I would pitch/flip an "arkie" style head or something similar , 3/8-5/5oz should be plenty heavy, maybe even drop down to a 1/4oz if really shallow..

If I were going to fish pads slow it would be with a 1/2- 1 1/2 oz punching or slither rig and/or a big Texas rig with a STOUT hook and heavy line.

I like 25-30lb fluorocarbon or big game over braided line, if I can get away with it...

For docks I like a 3/8oz "flippin" head(styles vary brand to brand), I like a horizontal line tie, it will pull the jig over beams on docks without letting the jig roll over on its side, preventing hangups.

Pads(or any vegetation) (I like a vertical line tie due to the fact the eye is inline with the hook and line, making it easier to pull through vertical cover.

A football head jig comes into play when dragging across the bottom in more open/deeper water. The head design is made to transfer bottom compositions to the rod better than a slim head that would slide through the shells/rocks/mud/brush that's on the bottom. Hope this helps.

For Me- I follow a couple of guidelines. What is the water clarity on the lake I fish the most. Muddy or hazy water (Visibility < 2 ft.) the darker colors work best. Black, Black/Blue, Black/chartreuse, Brown/Black. For clearer water lakes (Visibility >2 ft) I use more natural colors- Green Pumpkin, Watermelon Red, Bream colors (PB&J, Okeechobee craw, Alabama craw, etc.) For trailers I generally try to match the color of the jig. Sometimes I will put Green Pumpkin rage tail behind a black jig.

There are basically 3 types of jig heads- Football, round, and pointed. Each has a unique action. The football head will wobble side to side as you drag it across the bottom. The Round had I like to hop up off the bottom and let fall. The pointed head comes thru cover the best of all. It is best used in vegetation, brush, around docks.

Hook size. The wire size on jigs very from Very Heavy Flipping hooks to light wire for open water fishing. Match your hook to the fishing you will be doing. When in doubt always err on the heavier hook.

Weight size- Since jigs come in an infinite number of weights I recommend keeping it simple. Buy a couple of 1/4 oz. for shallow water, a couple of 1/2 oz. for intermediate (10-15ft) and a couple of 3/4 oz. for deep points and ledges. I would recommend buying one of each color type (dark and bream) in each weight (total of 6 jigs and go see what works best for you. Play with the trailer a and trailer colors.

^^^^^^^ yes

Arkie style jig head would be a good middle of the road/versatile jig type for vegetation and docks. Sort of a 30 degree line tie between vertical and horizontal.

I've been using lots heavier swim jigs (vertical line tie) for flipping vegetation. For docks, you can go lighter.

Being very careful; swim jigs will work around docks/trees/brush also, but you have to slowly crawl it over horizontal cover or it can side roll and hang up. Crawling it over the letting it fall on semi slack line can trigger lots of bites.

White, black and blue, and green pumpkin.

Santone
Viper XP
MPack
Dirty jigs
V & M

are some of the best out there.

Colors to start with
black blue or black blue purple
shades of green pumpkin with accents of either orange or purple
peanut butter n jelly
black brown amber

That will give you a good start.

The Zoom ultra vibe speed craw is a good trailer to start with also but there are many others that are very good also.

Bass Pro has the speed craws but I don't think they carry any of the jig brands I listed.

Football jig when dragging in water 5-30ft deep flipping style when fishing docks and shallow cover. I don't like jigs around pads unless its a swim jig. When looking at jigs for docks pay attention to head some don't skip well if your fishing docks with no grass try a 1/2 oz football head this will not come through the brush as well but man can u skip it far

Thanks everyone!!!!!!

P.s. can anyone give me a guess on the weight of this one? Im sorry it's not much to go off but any guesses are appreciated

Nice! 4.25#

Ill give you 3.5 on it

PM sent, dreamweaver.