Football jigs are designed to crawl over hard bottoms such as rock, sand, and gravel with minimal snagging while mimicking fleeing crawfish or bottom-feeding bluegill sunfish. Bassmaster Elite Series pro Bob Downey shares some tips on how and where to fish football jigs. He dives into some detail on tackle selection and the right rod and line setup for the job.
On this day, Downey found bass schooled on deep offshore rock and gravel. Crawfish and bluegills often frequent these areas in late summer and early fall, and a football jig is an excellent imitator of both. Rather than park on top of the school, Downey prefers digitally anchoring his boat downwind and making long casts to the fish — doing so reduces spooking so you can catch as many possible.
Unlike short-range jig flipping and pitching, fishing football jigs on long casts is best accomplished using a longer medium-heavy rod and fluorocarbon line. And don’t think about using slack line or snap hooksets. Downey explains and demonstrates why powerful sweeping hooksets are essential for hooking and keeping bass buttoned.
TACKLE USED
- JIG – All Terrain Jim Moynagh’s Football Jig, 1/2-ounce
- TRAILER – Reaction Innovations Spicy Beaver
- ROD – St. Croix Legend Tournament Casting Rod, 7’4″ Med Hvy
- REEL – Shimano Curado 200K Casting Reel, 7.4:1
- LINE – Sufix Advance Fluorocarbon, 17-pound
- BOW GRAPH – Humminbird HELIX 10 MEGA SI+ GPS G4N
- BOW SONAR – Humminbird MEGA 360 Imaging
- TROLLING MOTOR – Minn Kota Ultrex Trolling Motor
- SUNGLASSES – Costa Del Mar Corbina Sunglasses
