Football Jig Secret Formula? 2024
martintheduck reply :
So fishing big football jigs deep has been a painful process. Yesterday, I was dragging a 1oz football jig around rocks in 22ft... the jig has a pretty stout deep throat hook on it that calls for a solid hookset. I got a light bite, reeled down, and ripped the heck out of that jig to set the hook. I felt a HUGE fish pulling up of the bottom as I kept pressure on him. He got to the surface about 30 feet away from me, jumped, and spit the hook. At LEAST an 8/9 lb'er spit the hook easily. Devastated me. I kept fishing and changed angles on the spot and got another bite, reeled down, ripped the hook. felt pressure on the line and then felt him just spit the hook easily.
So what is the magic formula for getting a good hookset with such a large football jig? Perhaps swapping to tungsten big jigs will cut down the profile and make for better hooksets? I've also read of using football jigs with lighter wire hooks so you can just kind of reel into the fish and it will set itself. Using a 7'6' Heavy or MH rod with 20lb flurocarbon. Thought about swapping to braid with a 30lb fluro leader.
What's the magic formula fellas?
Any suggestions for light wire hook football jigs?
Tungsten jigs?
Bluebasser86 reply :
For me, the hookset sounds like your potential issue. On a long cast, even if you think your line is tight you're going to have some degree of bow in the line, be it from current, wind, line sinking, whatever. A standard swing for the fences jig hookset might not remove enough of that bow to bury that big hook. My football jig hookset is more like a C rig set. Get a bite, crank like crazy until the rod is pointed almost straight at the fish and then sweep set into them and keep cranking like crazy to help get the hook dug in.
gobig reply :
Bluebasser is right. You want to reel and sweep at the same time. Your reel moves a lot of line with one turn of the handle. Depends on the reel but somewhere in the neighborhood of 27" per turn or more. If you swing and your rod moves 3' with one turn of the handle your moving closer to 6' of line. Much better hook penetration. I use braid with a leader when I fish a jig deep, less stretch. You also can't give them any slack that 1oz head has a lot of leverage.
Todd2 reply :
It doesn't sound like you did anything wrong on the hook set to me. Try to keep them down and survive that first jump but when they throw one every now and then that's just fishing.
smalljaw67 reply :
This is exactly the reason they make light wire football jigs. I like using a standard wire hook which is considered light wire as a lot of guys fish football heads with flipping style hooks and to me, the flipping style hook in a football jig is for fishing in water less than 15' deep. I was taught by a friend that if you are stroking a large football jig or fishing it in mid depth rock flats then heavy line with a stout rod and a good hook are key, but when probing depths greater than 15' you want more feel so the rod is going to be a medium heavy with 12 to 14lb line max and a jig that has a lighter wire hook, this allows the hook to penetrate with less pressure and the lighter line with medium heavy rod will keep you from ripping it from the fish's mouth. What happens with large football head with big hooks is when you swing for a hard hook set, the head of the jig blows the mouth of the fish open and the hook either misses completely or it just gets a little skin, the way to combat that is to reel set but with a heavy hook you may not have enough pressure to get the hook to fully penetrate which will result if the fish spitting the hook. What a lot of manufacturers are doing now is they are using heavy hooks with O'Shaughnessy bends, From what I understand is the bend in the hook shank is supposed to force the hook point up to the roof of the mouth and the bend on the hook point is supposed to make it hard for the fish to throw so have this set up allows the braid guys to still set the hook without worry of bending out the hook and still getting it in the mouth without pulling it free. You also have a good number of jigs on the market which use the thinner hooks, it is amazing at how complicated fishing a football jig has become!!
deep reply :
Horizontal: an old angle for big bass.
Read it, and see what Tom says about hooks and hooksets on casting jigs.
FWIW, I never use off the shelf jigs for serious fishing. The hook point needs to be far back enough from the line-tie. The hook gauge needs to be thin enough for penetration depending on your line strength and rod power.
Smokinal reply :
On 6/20/2015 at 1:58 PM, martintheduck said:flurocarbon.
Get that rubber band off your reel and you will have far better percentage. I have used braid for 20 years and then thought I was missing the boat when all you read about is fluoro. So, I stripped all my braid off, tried 5 or 6 different fluoros of top quality and literally couldn't stick a fish. I put my braid back on my jig rod and all is well.
Glenn reply :
Two things:
Make sure your hooks are razor sharp. Here's a video on it: http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/hook-sharpen.html
Check your hookset. You may be just turning the fish instead of penetrating the hook. Here's a video on it: http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/losing-fish.html
Montanaro reply :
Anyone consider that maybe he stuck it too hard and had a nice big hole for the hook to fly out?
shanksmare reply :
On 6/20/2015 at 9:22 PM, Glenn said:
Make sure your hooks are razor sharp. Here's a video on it: http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/hook-sharpen.html
Carry a file and use it ... often.
bassinyea reply :
I really like the lighter wire version of hooks better for football jigs. I fish them on 15 lb fluoro in about 15 foot of water this time of year. When I say light wire I dont really mean that they are very light but definitely thinner gauge than a flipping jig. It is much easier to get penetration on the hookset especially on a long cast. I switched over to all lighter wire hooks after fishing one day with some heavy gauge football jigs and they kept hitting it on the fall at the end of a long cast and I kept missing them. They were hitting it before it ever hit the bottom and I just couldnt connect. Got rid of those and switched to the lighter hook and all problems were solved.
WRB reply :
Does your jig have a fiber weed guard? What brand off the shelf football 1 oz jig are you using?
Tom
PS, read "Oldschool Horizontal Jigging" thread in this forum.
Canyon explorer reply :
On 6/20/2015 at 1:58 PM, martintheduck said:So fishing big football jigs deep has been a painful process. Yesterday, I was dragging a 1oz football jig around rocks in 22ft... the jig has a pretty stout deep throat hook on it that calls for a solid hookset. I got a light bite, reeled down, and ripped the heck out of that jig to set the hook. I felt a HUGE fish pulling up of the bottom as I kept pressure on him. He got to the surface about 30 feet away from me, jumped, and spit the hook. At LEAST an 8/9 lb'er spit the hook easily. Devastated me. I kept fishing and changed angles on the spot and got another bite, reeled down, ripped the hook. felt pressure on the line and then felt him just spit the hook easily.
So what is the magic formula for getting a good hookset with such a large football jig? Perhaps swapping to tungsten big jigs will cut down the profile and make for better hooksets? I've also read of using football jigs with lighter wire hooks so you can just kind of reel into the fish and it will set itself. Using a 7'6' Heavy or MH rod with 20lb flurocarbon. Thought about swapping to braid with a 30lb fluro leader.
What's the magic formula fellas?
Any suggestions for light wire hook football jigs?
Tungsten jigs?
Try using a Trokar hook, reel down and use Carolina Rig "Sweep Set" while reeling at the same time.
I use this for deep brush piles where you have to set the hook and get his head aligned with the line instantly.
martintheduck reply :
On 6/20/2015 at 10:08 PM, bassinyea said:I really like the lighter wire version of hooks better for football jigs. I fish them on 15 lb fluoro in about 15 foot of water this time of year. When I say light wire I dont really mean that they are very light but definitely thinner gauge than a flipping jig. It is much easier to get penetration on the hookset especially on a long cast. I switched over to all lighter wire hooks after fishing one day with some heavy gauge football jigs and they kept hitting it on the fall at the end of a long cast and I kept missing them. They were hitting it before it ever hit the bottom and I just couldnt connect. Got rid of those and switched to the lighter hook and all problems were solved.
any suggestions on brands of jigs with a lighter wire hook?
martintheduck reply :
On 6/20/2015 at 11:22 PM, WRB said:Does your jig have a fiber weed guard? What brand off the shelf football 1 oz jig are you using?
Tom
PS, read "Oldschool Horizontal Jigging" thread in this forum.
was using a local company football jig the other day... real deal tackle. Like their flipping jig because they have dual rattle ties, high line skirts, bait keeper, and a deep throat hook which I won't flip a jig without. Apparently their combo for football jigs isn't the right one? Any suggestions for good brands of football jigs?
martintheduck reply :
On 6/20/2015 at 10:01 PM, Montanaro said:Anyone consider that maybe he stuck it too hard and had a nice big hole for the hook to fly out?
Dude - no way was there a big ole' hole in that fishes mouth. His mouth was a straight slaunch donkey. Okay - maybe he could have gotten a huge hole in his mouth and I considered that. I just don't think based on what I investigated before posting here, that ripping a hole is the problem. I think line stretch and too stout a hook along with the giant weight are the problem
bassinyea reply :
On 6/21/2015 at 2:21 AM, martintheduck said:was using a local company football jig the other day... real deal tackle. Like their flipping jig because they have dual rattle ties, high line skirts, bait keeper, and a deep throat hook which I won't flip a jig without. Apparently their combo for football jigs isn't the right one? Any suggestions for good brands of football jigs?
I use the BOSS football heads from the t warehouse. They make them in both a heavy wire version and regular version. I use the regular version and get rock solid hooksets even on really long casts.
bhoff reply :
When using jigs with heavy weights (large heads), generally football jigs, you need to reel down on the fish and load up the rod tip and then sweep. This will pull the head of the jig out of the fishes mouth and allow for the hook to penetrate. If you set the hook hard and fast it will effectively blow the fishes mouth open and pull the jig completely out, thus missing the fish. I just dont think the hook was in the fishes mouth very well.
ww2farmer reply :
On 6/21/2015 at 3:10 AM, bhoff said:When using jigs with heavy weights (large heads), generally football jigs, you need to reel down on the fish and load up the rod tip and then sweep. This will pull the head of the jig out of the fishes mouth and allow for the hook to penetrate. If you set the hook hard and fast it will effectively blow the fishes mouth open and pull the jig completely out, thus missing the fish. I just dont think the hook was in the fishes mouth very well.
This...
Catt reply :
Sorry guys but for 8-10 pound bass in water 20' plus I don't want a wimpy hook or hook set!
Look at Terry Oldham's Jigs 
Catt reply :
Fishing deep water requires keeping a certain amount of tension on your lure while at the same time keeping a certain amount of slackness in your line. Maintaining contact with your lure at all times is extremely vital for early strike detection.
If y'all are blowing their mouth open on hook set it's because you are setting hook late, sorry if that bruses you ego but its fact.
You have a time frame from when the bass inhales your lure to when they spit it. If you are setting in the first half if that time frame the bass has it's mouth closed solidly & you have hook up.
If you'te setting hook in the second half of that time frame, your hook set is at the same time the bass is starting to open its mouth.
Let that sink in real good & then watch a video if a bass inhaling & spitting a lure.
smalljaw67 reply :
On 6/21/2015 at 6:48 PM, Catt said:Fishing deep water requires keeping a certain amount of tension on your lure while at the same time keeping a certain amount of slackness in your line. Maintaining contact with your lure at all times is extremely vital for early strike detection.
If y'all are blowing their mouth open on hook set it's because you are setting hook late, sorry if that bruses you ego but its fact.
You have a time frame from when the bass inhales your lure to when they spit it. If you are setting in the first half if that time frame the bass has it's mouth closed solidly & you have hook up.
If you'te setting hook in the second half of that time frame, your hook set is at the same time the bass is starting to open its mouth.
Let that sink in real good & then watch a video if a bass inhaling & spitting a lure.
If the fish has the bait in its mouth when you set the hook, it isn't late, it is on time but the hook doesn't always hit the mark. Standard wire hooks on football jigs were the norm when they came out, and the best anglers at using them opt for those types as it allows them to use lighter line and rods and that lets them feel more of what is going on. Most guys are using 12lb to 14lb fluorocarbon or 15lb braid with that jig, and when they were the prominent ones being made you didn't hear of guys missing fish on a football head like you do now. I got a chance to hear Kevin Van Dam talk about football head jigs and he said that when you are making long cast and dragging a football head, you want a jig with a lighter hook and softer weedguard because it isn't like flipping, you are trying to feel differences in the bottom and often times, light bites. The reason for the lighter hook and weedguard is because you aren't in heavy cover and the hook up percentage is a lot higher as that hook will penetrate much better when you have a lot of line out. The only time you want a heavy hook in a football jig is for stroking or fishing shallower, heavily stained water with heavy braid when you typically aren't making really long cast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D9Lo6fYh2I
dam0007 reply :
I personally lose fish on those deep throat hooks. I think they're a gimmick. Try a regular football jig with a standard 3/0 hook. And I do a sweeping hook set. Deep footballs on structure is my go to summer routine.
Sam reply :
X2 on what Bluebasser and GoBig penned.
You have to understand the physics of jig fishing, especially in Louisiana where the bass are larger and meaner than the rest of the world, other than for Florida and Texas.
The line problem can magnify the hook set problem as noted. You want to start cranking in the line as you set the hook. and keep the line tight.
You are using braid, right? So there is no or very little line stretch.
Depending on how the bass takes the jig the jig's hook may penetrate the bass' mouth on the top, which you want. Or, it can just be easily slipped out of the bass' mouth due to the angle it entered the flesh and the place the hook finally ended up in the bass' mouth. And with braid you can actually pull the hook out of the bass' mouth.
The distance to the jig, the depth, structure, grass/rocks/wood/sand/clay bottoms, the direction the bass swims off with the jig, the way the bass takes the jig in her mouth, the rod power, the time it takes for you to figure out that something is amiss and to set the hook - take in line - and start to reel all play a factor in your hook set.
That is part of jig fishing that no one has figured out how to master.
So what do you do to solve this problem? It is actually simple.
Wear purple and gold clothes and yell "Geaux Tigers!" on every jig hook set. You will never loose a fish!!!!
Catt reply :
When the bass inhales your jig his mind is made up he want to eat it so his mouth is shut tight, a hook set during this time frame will dramatically increase your odds of hook up.
When the bass decides your jig does not feel natural he starts to split it out, at this point his mouth is no longer shut tight & is starting to come open. If you set hook during this time frame your odds of hook up is dramatically reduced. With his mouth starting to come open the odds of blowing his mouth open also increases.
Maintain contact with your jig at all times, set hook at the first hint of a bite, & do it with speed & authority.
Bass_Fanatic reply :
I use Jewel baits 3/4 oz fb jigs on Toledo Bend and have caught 1000's of fish one me with no hookup problems...
martintheduck reply :
On 6/21/2015 at 8:11 PM, dam0007 said:I personally lose fish on those deep throat hooks. I think they're a gimmick. Try a regular football jig with a standard 3/0 hook. And I do a sweeping hook set. Deep footballs on structure is my go to summer routine.
Ever since I changed to a deep throat hook for my flipping jig, I have never had a fish spit a hook. **knocking on wood**
martintheduck reply :
On 6/21/2015 at 8:20 PM, Sam said:X2 on what Bluebasser and GoBig penned.
You have to understand the physics of jig fishing, especially in Louisiana where the bass are larger and meaner than the rest of the world, other than for Florida and Texas.
The line problem can magnify the hook set problem as noted. You want to start cranking in the line as you set the hook. and keep the line tight.
You are using braid, right? So there is no or very little line stretch.
Depending on how the bass takes the jig the jig's hook may penetrate the bass' mouth on the top, which you want. Or, it can just be easily slipped out of the bass' mouth due to the angle it entered the flesh and the place the hook finally ended up in the bass' mouth. And with braid you can actually pull the hook out of the bass' mouth.
The distance to the jig, the depth, structure, grass/rocks/wood/sand/clay bottoms, the direction the bass swims off with the jig, the way the bass takes the jig in her mouth, the rod power, the time it takes for you to figure out that something is amiss and to set the hook - take in line - and start to reel all play a factor in your hook set.
That is part of jig fishing that no one has figured out how to master.
So what do you do to solve this problem? It is actually simple.
Wear purple and gold clothes and yell "Geaux Tigers!" on every jig hook set. You will never loose a fish!!!!
I use fluro right now and am going to swap to braid with a 30lb leader if needed.
Smokinal reply :
On 6/22/2015 at 12:19 PM, martintheduck said:swap to braid with a 30lb leader.
That's your fix
martintheduck reply :
On 6/22/2015 at 6:19 PM, Smokinal said:That's your fix
I imagine it's going to help.
WRB reply :
I agree with Catt and will add the majority of jig anglers don't detect the majority of jig strikes from big bass.
Proof is in the catching. Anyone can detect a strike when a bass eats the jig and swims off with it and that doesn't happen very often. Strike detection is what separates jig anglers who catch big bass consistantly from those who don't.
Tom
Catt reply :
No Tom it can not be operator error!
It has to be the tackle
martintheduck reply :
On 6/24/2015 at 2:12 AM, WRB said:I agree with Catt and will add the majority of jig anglers don't detect the majority of jig strikes from big bass.
Proof is in the catching. Anyone can detect a strike when a bass eats the jig and swims off with it and that doesn't happen very often. Strike detection is what separates jig anglers who catch big bass consistantly from those who don't.
Tom
What advice would you give for improving strike detection?
WRB reply :
To start with ask yourself if you could detect strikes using tackle 40 years old or 70's vintage.
During the 70's we caught 100's of big bass by using inferior tackle because we didn't rely on rod sensitivity, braid or FC line, we used our skills to detect strikes. Total concentration visualizing what the jig is doing and knowing when it feels different to set the hook.
Can't speak for Catt, my guess he has developed similar skills, knows what it shouldn't feel like or taking too long to recontact structure. I am a line watcher and feeler, running the line over my index finger to feel what is going on with the jig. Today's tackle helps, but no substitute for total concentration, keeping in touch with the jig at all times, extremely sharp hooks, perfect knots and solid hook sets and keeping big bass under control every second. Lapse of concentration misses strikes.
Tom
Catt reply :
Feeling a jig bite or Texas rig is not just about sensitivity of your line or rod, even though those two are important. It's about interpretation; you have to ask yourself, what did I just feel?
Denny Brauer was asked what a jig bite feels like, his reply was "I don't know but I can tell you what it does not feel like!"
How do you improve your strike detection, Night Fishing!
I do not mean going out once or twice a year but fish for an entire year at night. You will have a completely new understanding of Texas Rigs, Jigs, & Carolina Rigs.
For 40+ years & 9 months out of the year I've night fished.
On a fairly calm night when casting into 15-20' of water I can feel the thump of a 1/4 oz jig as it hits bottom. Many guys can feel their jig slipping up & over a limb, I feel my line rubbing on the limb before my jig even gets to the limb.
martintheduck reply :
On 6/24/2015 at 10:20 PM, Catt said:Feeling a jig bite or Texas rig is not just about sensitivity of your line or rod, even though those two are important. It's about interpretation; you have to ask yourself, what did I just feel?
Denny Brauer was asked what a jig bite feels like, his reply was "I don't know but I can tell you what it does not feel like!"
How do you improve your strike detection, Night Fishing!
I do not mean going out once or twice a year but fish for an entire year at night. You will have a completely new understanding of Texas Rigs, Jigs, & Carolina Rigs.
For 40+ years & 9 months out of the year I've night fished.
On a fairly calm night when casting into 15-20' of water I can feel the thump of a 1/4 oz jig as it hits bottom. Many guys can feel their jig slipping up & over a limb, I feel my line rubbing on the limb before my jig even gets to the limb.
I like that. I do a lot of night fishing already but I guess ive never really had much intention of leaning anything about "feel" when i go out there. Will keep this nugget of gold for the coming trips. I also like the tips about concentrating. I know, like many of us, i am sometimes the victim of just being oblivious to whats REALLY going on - I'm just chucking and winding. STAY FOCUSED! Like it!
Catt reply :
When I read answers to problems that include lure, line, rod, or reel it pretty much tells me how good they are at jigs & t-rigs.
When I miss a fish it is operator error 99.95% of the time.
Most guys throw a jig/t-rig out there & they drag it, hop it, bump it, or crawl it back while remaining oblivious to what is actually taking place.
Texas rigged plastics & a jig-n-craw are the #1 & #2 most productive lures for both quality/quantity. Yet most anglers refuse to learn how to use them to their full potential.
WRB reply :
Have ever watched your jig in the water?
The 1st thing I do whenever using something new to me is watch how it works, how long it takes to fall to the bottom at known depths, etc. Every jig trailer changes how the jig falls and what the action is of that trailer while it's falling, hits the bottom and stops, starts, swims and what the skirt is doing while all this going.
Does your jig stand up without line tension or roll over and lay flat on the bottom. How does it crawl over rocks, through brush over limbs, etc.
You can't visualize what a lure is doing if you haven't studied what it does the way you fish it.
Tom
Shanes7614 reply :
On 6/24/2015 at 2:12 AM, WRB said:I agree with Catt and will add the majority of jig anglers don't detect the majority of jig strikes from big bass.
Proof is in the catching. Anyone can detect a strike when a bass eats the jig and swims off with it and that doesn't happen very often. Strike detection is what separates jig anglers who catch big bass consistantly from those who don't.
Tom
How do you fish a jig so well if bass don't eat off the bottom?!?!?
Catt reply :
On 6/26/2015 at 10:44 AM, Shanes7614 said:How do you fish a jig so well if bass don't eat off the bottom?!?!?
That's cold
Shanes7614 reply :
On 6/26/2015 at 11:56 AM, Catt said:That's cold
I hear the eat exclusively top water when it's cold... Lol
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