I never fish a jig, but I think it is time to learn. When do you use a football, a regular, or finesse jig? Do you just fish it like a worm? What size works best?

I'm no expert, but will tell you what little I know and the experts can chime in and correct me where I'm wrong..

Football: usually for deeper fishing or riprap. drag across the bottom, hop it a litte and hop it over any cover.

Flippin'/Arky Head: Use for brush, timber, lay downs, etc. Fish similar to a t-rig I suppose.

Swim jig: Can use this sort of like a spinnerbait. Throw it towards typical areas with a good action trailer, let sink to desire depth and retrieve. Can do steady or yo-yo...whatever floats your boat.

Most common jig size is 1/2 ounce based on what I have read and what some of the jig makers have said they sell the most of.

Forgot to mention as well, you want trailers on all...craws, brush hogs, etc. On swim jigs, people will use grubs and even swim baits.

The shape of head is dependent on the type of cover. Football heads are usually for rocks and hard surface. Flippin jigs will have a contoured head (pointy) and are used for heavy cover like grass, brush or trees. Round headed jigs are usually smaller (finesse jigs) and can be used in the shallows or basically anywhere.

Hope that helps.

The best way to learn how to fish a jig is to take every other bait completely out of your boat and leave them at home! TAKE JIGS ONLY to the lake that day and fish them religiously!!! That's the only way to learn how to fish them.

Thats exactly what I had to do, If i brought other baits I would always put down the jig and go back to my confidence bait.
Rig 1 or 2 of each type head, Ball, Football, grass (Pointed)so you can see how they feel with different cover types

learning to fish a jig can be mentally brutal,,fishing the right jig in the right place is important,,
Don't get caught up in buying them till you have mastered the art of feeling the bite or seeing it,,,buy the cheapest ones you can find first,,your going to lose allot of them,,,

When trying to learn to fish them one off the best tricks i was shown was to flip to your target,,instead of using the rod to pick the bait up and down take your free hand and pull the line out away from your rod,,you will feel the bite better and still have the time to reel up any slack and set the hook,, also using a plug to practice with is a great idea,,i taught my sons how to fish them on dry land,,make a cast ,,hold your rod at about 2 o'clock,,close your eyes and start your retrieve,,as you feel the bait bump into something open your eyes and see what it is,,the feel will be the same on the water,,,have someone with a stick stand off to the side and every once and a while they can bump the line this will get you the feel your looking for,,
just a few thoughts to help you out and maybe save you some money,,,

What would be five starter jigs you would wanna start with say on a lake like fork.

Here is a link to some videos here on TFF.

http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt..._wi#Post3798205

I have watched them all and probably will again. I think Black Angel has some on their site as well.

I have no preference to any company,,i look for the most stealth compact jig i can find,, I like the smallest head/heaviest weight with the longest brush guard so i can trim to my likes,,
I also like the new silicon skirts that are available today,,again the longest skirts so i can trim them to the kind of fishing you are doing,,

I was gifted some EZjigs and liked them but everyone has there preference

For fishing fork I seen Black Angel jigs has come out with a new jig ,,I think Lance Vick designed it ,,looks to be a good design,,,Grass jigs

But as i said before the cheapest you can find and a good file and you cant go wrong,,,thee plenty of tournament jigs you can buy at a later date

That is great on days when they are on a jig bite. But there are days when they won't touch the jig, but will bite your chigger craw all day and vice versa. IMO, just not good advice. I think to fish any bait religiously just sets you up to fail on those days when they don't want it. There are alot of guys that will fish a jig all day because they know it consistently catches keeper fish, but those guys put up alot of zeroes also. Work a jig into your arsenal and pick it up instead of your tx rig or carolina rig when you see an opportunity. However, I would never advise you to just throw one all day even when they dont want it, but just my Opinion

It's all about confidence. I find I'll usually get more bites off of the bottom with a t-rigged plastic then with a football jig -- but I fish them just about the same hopping and stopping each. But it does seem I get less dinks and better quality with a jig.

You can fish about any area of the water column with the right jig and trailer. But, for example, I've never done well swimming jigs so I hardly ever throw them -- but that doesn't mean they don't work.

I think the easiest and most effective jigging method is dragging a craw imitating jig along the bottom and work it like you would a t-rig. When you hit something on the bottom stop it and give it a few shakes. Be patient and you'll get bit. You'll have a better feel for what's going on using braid or flouro.

Once you catch a few like that you'll build confidence, then I would suggest trying other jigs and techniques.

I don't think he is implying to fish jigs solely all the time. Only taking jigs on a trip to learn how to properly fish them keeps you from going back to old standby's or confidence baits. To fish jigs all the time every day and nothing else though would be limiting your success. There are a lot of great jig fishermen on the forum and lots of good advice. Just use the search function or contact some of the local jig makers and they can tell you what�s hot on area lakes right now and speed up the learning curve for you.
http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3904754/Re_Jig_Fishing#Post3904754
http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...ion#Post3992298

try going fishing with someone who has good experience with jig fishing and start chunkin, i learned by fishing with other people and then left everything at home exept for my jigs. now i cant fish without one.
good luck

too many variables and different situations that call for different things. go out and experiment with it and pay attention to what your doing when you get bit. You really cant do anything wrong with a jig as long as its in the water....