5 Reasons Football Jigs Catch Big Bass (And How to Fish Them Right)

Jigs are some of the most popular lures in bass fishing. From top-level tournament anglers down to brand-new beginners building their first tackle boxes, jigs are often seen as cost-effective ways to get big bass on the hook without worrying about the lure constantly getting torn up. 

One of the most recommended types of jigs is a football jig. 

Today, the BassForecast team is going to go over what a football jig is, 5 reasons it works, and our favorite tips for getting the most bang for your buck with each one you buy.

Let’s dive in!

What is a Football Jig? 

A football jig is like any of the other jigs you’ve worked with. At least, it is on the surface.

Like other jigs, it consists of a lead head, a hook, and a skirt made of silicone or hair that’s banded to the hook body. Most modern models also have a little bushel of hard bristles that work as a weed guard. 

The difference isn’t in the core construction. It’s just a small tweak to the head shape.

The head of a football jig is shaped somewhat like a football running perpendicular to the hook.

Some companies take the football descriptor seriously and shape it exactly like a good old-fashioned American pigskin, and others, such as the Sausage Heads on the market, are more pill-shaped. They work the same way. 

While that seems like nothing more than a neat visual difference, it has a huge impact on how the lure works under the water.

How a Football Jig Works

That tiny tweak to the shape of the jighead changes the entire purpose of the jig from other options, such as classic round heads and swim jigs. 

When you cast the football jig and let it sink to the bottom, it lies flat on the bed of the lake. When you drag it, that football shape helps it roll over most of the debris that’s down there and keeps it from sliding into the tiniest holes. 

It’s not snag-proof, but it does greatly help, especially when fishing rocky bottoms. 

5 Reasons Football Jigs Catch Bass

There are a lot of details we could break down, but we’re going to wrap everything up in just 5 core ways football jigs get the job done. 

1: Fewer Hang Ups

Before we even start this, the football jig is not a magical lure. It can and will get snagged. However, the football design does help. 

Because the head lays flat and has a cylindrical shape, it works well with the bottom of most lakes. It’ll roll over the smaller rocks, resist digging into sandy bottoms, and wobble free from a lot of the snags you’ll find yourself in if you know how to use it. 

This is big for beginners, but it’s one of the times that snag-reduction is even useful for pros. It doesn’t matter how skilled you are. If you’re fishing on the bottom, snags are often frequent.

The more the lure or rig helps you get out of those snags, the more you get to keep presenting your bait. That directly translates to more opportunities to catch bass.

2: Wobble on the Drop

You don’t always catch bass on the drop with a jig, but it is possible. However, most jigs do a beeline to the bottom with very little action, because they’re not designed to do anything special.

The oblong head of a football jig isn’t necessarily designed for this, but it does create a subtle wobble as it falls through the water. This adds action to your lure, and it increases the chance of catching something on the drop. 

We wouldn’t strategize around this specifically, but we do highly recommend being braced for it if it does happen, rather than chucking your lure out there and not paying attention to it for a while, like many anglers do. 

3: It Lays Flat

There’s a reason the football jig is paired with craws so frequently. It lays down flat. 

When it lands, the oblong shape balances it out and stabilizes its sides, and then the weight of your hook and trailer pulls the hook down flat.

This keeps it from laying over or settling in weird ways that present your bait improperly. If you’re using a craw trailer, it looks just like a craw sitting on the lake floor getting ready to hop. 

From a presentation standpoint, this is more useful for craws and creature baits, or anything that represents a crustacean, but with other strategies, you can use different lures with great results.

4: It Doesn’t Need a Trailer

Trailers are used very commonly with jigs of all types. Whether that means putting a long worm on a swim jig or using a craw on a football jig, it’s commonplace. You’ll also rarely see the pros without them. 

However, you don’t have to use them. 

The skirt on the jig provides a decent representation of a deformed blob pulsating in the water. That doesn’t sound like it would work all that well in a sport that often tries to perfectly replicate the appearance of real bait fish, but it works wonders.

Especially in murky lakes where visibility is low. The bass doesn’t need to see those tiny details. It just notices the motion, and it goes in for the kill. 

So, not only does it have a great presentation built right in that attracts bass with ease, but you’re also not stuck using a trailer or being out of luck when you run out of your favorite trailers. 

5: It’s Easy to Use

Sometimes, it’s not anything the lure does that makes it great at catching fish. It's the angler behind that lure that makes the magic happen. 

Well, that’s one reason a football jig is so effective. Not because it’s a fancy, high-tech piece of equipment with lots of expensive features. It’s an easy lure to use.

Whenever a lure is easy for an angler to master, it’s going to put a lot more bass in the boat than something that’s technically better due to advanced technology but also requires a lot more skill to use properly. 

This is the same reason staples such as the Texas rig, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits are so wildly effective despite not being the most overdesigned options out there. 

Anglers master them in a matter of hours, and they know when, where, and how to toss them for the best results. 

How to Fish the Football Jig Right

Fishing the football jig properly might be easy, but it’s still a skill you need to learn. If you learn fast, you can pick it up within a couple of hours on the water, but even if fishing isn’t your best skill, you should get the hang of it within a trip or two. 

There are only a few things to focus on. 

1: Know What the Bottom is Like

This is a skill that you need to learn, whether you’re using a football jig or not, but a lot of anglers think they need fancy electronics to do it. 

As a little bonus tip, tie a casting weight onto your line. One of the big boys they use for catfishing, but don’t go so big that you overload your rod. Cast it out, and slowly reel it in. 

As you reel it in, you’ll feel the tugs, bumps, and vibrations as you drag that lure across the bottom. It takes some experience, but you’ll eventually learn how to tell what the bottom is like with this simple technique. 

Anyway, you want to know what the bottom is like before you cast your football jig. This will help you avoid casting it into hidden limbs; you can find the various features we’ll be talking about later, and more. 

2: Cast Beyond Cover

In most situations, you’ll want to cast beyond the cover or feature that you’re targeting. This avoids spooking the bass hidden there, and as you hop the lure back, it’ll appear more natural. 

3: Hop it Back

There are very few strategies using a football jig that change up the general retrieval type much. Anytime you’re using it, it’s typically best to twitch the rod upward, let it land, and then reel in the slack.

Like we said in the beginning, it’s not a lure that you can swim back or bounce up and down in one place like you’re jigging for crappie. How you hop it back can change dramatically, but you will almost always hop the lure along the bottom.

4: Watch the Line

A football jig is one of those lures that you let sit a lot, and you’re very unlikely to feel a fish on the end until it’s already about to spit it.  Most of your bites will come in the fall after you hop, twitch, or pause the jig.

Often the bites will be subtle as big bass suck in bait without actually chomping on it. If, after a brief pause in hopping it back, you don’t feel the weight of the jig, likely a bass has picked it up and started swimming off with it.

If you feel nothing, reel down fast and set the hook hard with an upward sweep. 

Keep an eye on your line while the lure rests or is falling. If it starts moving around, you’ve got a bass on it, and it’s time to set the hook. 

Beyond Basics: Tips for Using a Football Jig

While it’s easy to start using a football jig, there’s still a lot of room for you to mess with different aspects of it and tweak your approach. 

Here are some of our favorite tips to help you get bites. 

1: Trim the Weed Guard

Almost every modern jig comes with a built-in weed guard. One problem with that is that they’re often fairly long, and they are known to cost you bites occasionally. 

If you find that you’re missing your hook set, trim enough of that guard off so it just barely meets the tip when you push it down.

The bass will have a much easier time biting down enough for the guard to clear the hook, and you’ll get a better hook-up ratio. 

2: Hold the Pause

Like we said in the basics section, you’re almost always going to want to hop the football jig and let it settle on the bottom. “Let it settle” is a key phrase there. 

A lot of the more common beginner lures, such as cranks and spinners, get you into the habit of fishing quickly. When you use a football jig, you want to slow things way down.

Once the lure has time to hit the bottom after a hop, tighten up your slack and count to five. This gives the lure time to settle in and look like a bottom-dwelling crustacean that’s resting a bit. 

It’s often during that pause that the bass is going to strike, but if you’re hopping it all over the place like it’s a typical Texas rig retrieval, the bass are most likely to leave it alone. Hop it, tighten the slack, and let it sit for a minute. 

3: Try to Drag it

We know we said that you want to hop it a lot of the time, but the football jig is also great for dragging.

However, this is best if you’re imitating an animal that crawls around on the lake’s bottom.

For example, a creature bait that looks like a hellgrammite or centipede, a lizard, or even a worm is all good trailer options with this technique. 

The bottom needs to work with the drag technique, though. Sandy bottoms or clay bottoms are best. You risk serious snags if it’s rocky with big gaps or if there are a lot of downed trees and stumps in the water. 

4: Add a Rattle

The football jig shines down at the bottom in murkier water. As such, it’s a prime candidate for a third-party rattle. 

Now, some models do include rattles, but they’re not very common. All you have to do is head over to Tackle Warehouse, grab some lure rattles, and they go on your jig in a snap.

This helps make a little noise while you’re bouncing it around in the mud and against the rocks, and in a murky environment, it helps attract bass.

Catch Your Next Big Bass with a Football Jig

Any time you fish near the bottom, a football jig should be one of your first choices. 

It’s effective, inexpensive, and easy to use. Get out there and use a football jig to catch your next personal best!

If you’re looking to improve your chances of landing a big bass, download the BassForecast fishing app.

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