| Jigs are one of the oldest artificial baits used in | | | | other shapes and actions are also available. Stick |
| angling. The earliest examples used a weighted | | | | to these two common types and you will no |
| hooks with animal hairs or bird feathers tied to | | | | trouble attracting those lunker bass. |
| them. The jigs used today are still just that | | | | One light style is the tube jig, its a split-skirted |
| simple, but come in a wide variety of styles. By | | | | plastic sheath that covers the jig head. You can |
| adding an assortment of jigs to your tackle box | | | | use standard heads with them, but the newer |
| will make you a much more versatile and | | | | elongated styles, developed for tubes specifically |
| consistently productive bass angler. | | | | are of course best. When using a tube you can |
| Jigs can be broken down into two general | | | | also use fish scents to help attract more bass. |
| catagories; those that are designed for light-line | | | | Heres a great bass fishing tip, put a few small |
| use, for smallmouth and finese largemouth bass | | | | chunks of alkaseltser in your tubes the bubbles |
| fishing; and those designed for the heavier line and | | | | created will drive the bass crazy. The bubbles will |
| largemouth bass in and around cover. | | | | also attract bass from a longer distance. |
| The light-line jigs are a lot less bulky than their | | | | Be sure to use light jigs for largemouth and |
| larger cousins. The hooks are also a lot smaller. | | | | smallmouth bass in open-water situations. When |
| Relatively snag-free conditions are fished with | | | | you are fishing in heavy cover, switch to bulkier |
| these jigs, allowing the use of spinning outfits with | | | | flipping jigs with weed guards to help keep them |
| 6 to 10 pound (2.7 to 4.5 kg) lines. | | | | from fouling or snagging. These baits usually have |
| Jig heads come in a large number of varieties, but | | | | rubber or plastic skirts and large hooks. They |
| a few basic styles are all you really need to get | | | | work great with a pork rind, plastic or one of the |
| yourself started. The standard ball-head is a great | | | | newer trailers. They also add bulk and action and |
| choice to begin with. However, the banna shaped | | | | help slow down the jigs fall to better imitate a |
| head will snag a lot less vegetation in the weedy | | | | crayfish or other creature. Use flipping jigs when |
| situations you get into. Other styles, like the | | | | fishing short-range targets, such as docks, |
| arrowheads, can be used in both situations. Add | | | | submerged stumps, or holes in heavy vegetations |
| to them a new array of sliders, rockers and | | | | and weedbeds. To pull large bass out of this |
| wobblers are used mainly by walleye anglers, but | | | | heavy stuff, use strong baitcasting equipment. |
| horizontally flattened sliders are useful for fishing | | | | Jigs come in an assortment of colours. Try to |
| over and around shallow bass cover. | | | | match the forage of the water body you are |
| One of the oldest jig dressings is buck tail. When | | | | fishing. Blacks, browns, and orange are the |
| worked properly, the deer hairs pulsate as the jig | | | | standard. When they fail to fool the bass, |
| is pumped through the water to resemble a | | | | experiment with the brighter colours, such as |
| darting minnow or baitfish. There is no built in | | | | yellow, chartreuse, orange, red, or blue. For |
| action to jigs. The plastic rails are the easiest jigs | | | | clear-water smallmouth bass the smoke bodies |
| to use. Their actions attract bass and can be | | | | are effective. Just experiment and get out there |
| worked effectively even by the novice angler. | | | | and go fishing. |
| Twister tails, shad tails, twin tails and a host of | | | | |