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).

Each head is one page with its four-market top 10. Skirted jigs (flipping, football, swim …) are lures: see Jigs under lures. Tokyo, free and jika rigs hang a separate sinker on an ordinary hook and are rigs, not jig heads.

1. Bare jig hooks — Every other hook on this page starts here: a jig hook is a hook whose shank bends at the eye so a head can be poured onto it. Put a round head on it and it is a ball…
2. Skirted jigs — The jig proper of bass fishing: a head poured on a stout jig hook, a silicone or rubber skirt, a weedguard, and a trailer you add. Everything else on this family page…
3. Casting jigs — The all-round skirted jig: a pointed Arkie-style "casting" head that slides through grass and glances off wood, a medium weedguard, and a 4/0–5/0 hook. The pointed nose…
4. Flipping jigs — The heavy-cover jig: an Arkie or compact head (a flattened round head), a heavy fibre weedguard and a strong 4/0–5/0 hook. Pitched to targets, it falls, is hopped and…
5. Football jigs — A wide head shaped like a football. On rock it rolls over rather than wedging in cracks, and rocks side to side as it is dragged, like a crawfish. Feel for the change…
6. Swim jigs — A pointed head with the line tie at the nose, so it comes through grass and swims level. Fished like a swimbait with a skirt. Match the trailer to the baitfish: a slim…
7. Finesse jigs — A scaled-down jig on a light-wire hook, for clear water, cold fronts and pressured fish. Fished on spinning tackle. Light wire on spinning tackle: set with a sweep, not…
8. Punch and grass jigs — A compact, cone-shaped head, often tungsten, that drops through a mat of grass where a normal jig would sit on top. The heavier the mat, the heavier the jig: if it…
9. Tuning a jig — A jig out of the packet is a starting point. Tournament anglers cut every one before it is tied on: the weedguard for the cover, the skirt for the mood of the fish, the…
10. Weedguard length and trimming —
11. Modifying the weedguard —
12. Trimming the skirt —
13. Trailer and colour —
14. Fishing a jig — Most jig bites come on the fall, and most jig fish are lost in the first two seconds. The presentation puts the jig in the fish's face on slack line; the hook set and…
15. Jig presentations —
16. Reading the bite —
17. Hook set and fish control in cover —
18. Swimbait heads — A narrow, often fish-shaped head with the eye set forward, so a paddle tail tracks level and does not roll. Four builds plus the underspin, darter and Damiki rig heads…
19. Original swimbait heads — The original build : the shape as it first appeared. Every variant on the sibling pages started from this one: some fit a rig (Texas-rigged), some get through cover…
20. Underspin heads — A swimbait head of a special kind: a jig head with a small blade on a wire under the chin: a swimbait head that flashes and thumps. The jig-head cousin of the bladed…
21. Texas-rigged swimbait heads — A swimbait head on an offset / EWG hook: the paddle tail is Texas-rigged with the point buried, so it comes through grass and wood and skips under docks.
22. Weedless swimbait heads — A swimbait head with a fibre or wire guard, for swimming a paddle tail through grass edges and docks with the hook still exposed.
23. Swing swimbait heads — A swimbait head hinged to the hook: the paddle tail swings free on the retrieve and the fish cannot lever the head against the hook.
24. Darter heads — A swimbait head of a special kind: an arrowhead or cone-shaped head that darts sideways when the rod is jerked and cuts through current. It pairs with its own baits…
25. Damiki rig heads — A swimbait head of a special kind, made for the Damiki rig: a stiff, slim minnow bait (Damiki Armor Shad and its copies) held dead level by the keeper and hovered in…
26. Ball jig heads — The round head is the all-round jig head, and it comes in four builds, each its own page: original (exposed hook), weedless (a guard over the point), swing (the head…
27. Original ball heads — The original build : the shape as it first appeared. Every variant on the sibling pages started from this one: some fit a rig (Texas-rigged), some get through cover…
28. Texas-rigged ball heads — A round head cast on an offset / EWG hook, so the bait is Texas-rigged with the point buried: weedless without a guard, at the cost of a firmer hook set.
29. Weedless ball heads — A round head with a fibre or wire guard over the point: the same fall and swim, but it comes through brush, dock posts and grass edges.
30. Swing ball heads — A round head hinged to the hook: the bait swings free on the retrieve and the fish cannot lever the head against the hook. A ball-head build of the swing head. Every…
31. Strolling jigs — The Japanese strolling techniques swim a 3–4" minnow-shaped worm through the water column on a continuous rod-tip shake with slack line (mid-strolling, ミドスト) or hold it…
32. Shank-weighted heads — The lead is poured down the hook shank (or a sleeve / insert weight sits on it) instead of in a head: the bait hangs level, glides on the pause and rolls less. The…
33. Hover heads — Heads and hooks that hold a small minnow suspended, level and nearly still in mid-water: for pressured or cold fish, and for forward-facing sonar. Three forms, two of…
34. Raised-CoG heads — The lead sits high, on or above the hook eye, so the bait is top-heavy: on every slack-line shake it pendulums and rolls. The strongest roll of the strolling heads…
35. Ned heads — A mushroom head with a flat face on a light-wire hook, paired with a short buoyant stick bait that stands up when the head rests. Four builds, each its own page.
36. Original Ned heads — The original build : the shape as it first appeared. Every variant on the sibling pages started from this one: some fit a rig (Texas-rigged), some get through cover…
37. Texas-rigged Ned heads — A mushroom head cast on an offset / EWG hook, so the stick bait is Texas-rigged with the point buried: weedless without any guard, for the heaviest cover a Ned rig goes…
38. Weedless Ned heads — The same mushroom head with a wire or fibre guard over the point: the Ned rig keeps its exposed-hook feel but comes through brush, dock posts and grass edges. A guard…
39. Swing Ned heads — A mushroom head hinged to the hook: the Ned rig's third build, and at the same time a swing head. The articulated joint lets the buoyant bait crawl and tumble on its…
40. Football jig heads — A wide head shaped like a football: on rock it rolls over instead of wedging in cracks, and rocks side to side as it is dragged, like a crawfish. Four builds, each its…
41. Original football heads — The original build : the shape as it first appeared. Every variant on the sibling pages started from this one: some fit a rig (Texas-rigged), some get through cover…
42. Texas-rigged football heads — A football head cast on an offset / EWG hook: the bait is Texas-rigged with the point buried, weedless without a guard.
43. Weedless football heads — A football head with a fibre or wire guard: the rock-crawling action, through brush and riprap.
44. Swing football heads — The classic swing head: a football body hinged to an offset hook. The bait crawls free on a straight retrieve and the fish cannot lever the head against the hook.
45. Shaky heads — A head with a screw-lock or wire keeper that holds a worm straight, nose on the bottom and tail up. Four builds plus the stand-up head, each its own page.
46. Original shaky heads — The original build : the shape as it first appeared. Every variant on the sibling pages started from this one: some fit a rig (Texas-rigged), some get through cover…
47. Texas-rigged shaky heads — A shaky head on an offset / EWG hook: the worm is Texas-rigged with the point buried, so the tail-up presentation goes into grass and wood.
48. Weedless shaky heads — A shaky head with a fibre or wire guard: the worm still stands up, and the head comes through brush and dock posts.
49. Swing shaky heads — A shaky head hinged to the hook: the worm stands up at rest and swings free on the drag.
50. Stand-up jig heads — A shaky head of a special kind: a flat base makes the head lie still while the hook and the bait's tail stand up, like a crawfish in a defensive pose. The flat face…
51. Tube heads — A weighted head slid inside a hollow tube, the eye poking out through the plastic. The off-centre weight makes the tube spiral as it falls.
52. Swing heads — The weight is a separate football or hybrid body, and the hook hangs from it on a wire loop, split ring or swivel and pivots freely. The idea runs through every head…