Jig hooks and jig heads: Reading the bite
| Sign | What it is | Do |
|---|---|---|
| Line jumps or ticks on the fall | A fish took it in mid-air | Reel down, set |
| Line moves sideways or swims off | Fish carrying the jig | Set now |
| The fall stops early | Fish or cover; treat as a fish | Reel slack, feel: weight or mush = set |
| "Mush" or spongy weight | Fish holding the jig | Set |
| Nothing, then the jig feels light | Fish swimming toward you | Reel fast until you feel it, then set |
← Jig presentations · Hook set and fish control in cover →
Jig hooks and jig heads
Hooks whose shank bends at the eye so a head can be poured on: the bare jig hook, and weighted jig heads for soft plastics classified by head shape and build (ball in four builds, strolling jigs by mechanism, football, swing, stand-up, Ned in four builds, shaky, darter, swimbait, underspin, tube, weedless, grass), because each fishes differently; and the skirted jig itself, by head shape (casting, flipping, football, swim, finesse, punch).
- Bare jig hooks
- Skirted jigs
- Casting jigs
- Flipping jigs
- Football jigs
- Swim jigs
- Finesse jigs
- Punch and grass jigs
- Tuning a jig
- Weedguard length and trimming
- Modifying the weedguard
- Trimming the skirt
- Trailer and colour
- Fishing a jig
- Jig presentations
- Reading the bite
- Hook set and fish control in cover
- Swimbait heads
- Original swimbait heads
- Underspin heads
- Texas-rigged swimbait heads
- Weedless swimbait heads
- Swing swimbait heads
- Darter heads
- Damiki rig heads
- Ball jig heads
- Original ball heads
- Texas-rigged ball heads
- Weedless ball heads
- Swing ball heads
- Strolling jigs
- Shank-weighted heads
- Hover heads
- Raised-CoG heads
- Ned heads
- Original Ned heads
- Texas-rigged Ned heads
- Weedless Ned heads
- Swing Ned heads
- Football jig heads
- Original football heads
- Texas-rigged football heads
- Weedless football heads
- Swing football heads
- Shaky heads
- Original shaky heads
- Texas-rigged shaky heads
- Weedless shaky heads
- Swing shaky heads
- Stand-up jig heads
- Tube heads
- Swing heads