and I am certainly glad I did. Those little jigs changed the way I interpreted jig fishing and became the basis for a subtle approach that has proved effective when conventional jigs don’t get bit.
Most standard-sized football head jigs are built around a heavy wire 4/0, 5/0 or even 6/0 hook. As such a fair amount of skirting is required to construct the jig. The end result is a jig with a bulky profile that can be just too much for lethargic winter bass.
Yes, there are a few things you can do to create a more finesse looking bait. You can thin out the skirt, or shorten its length or trim back the collar strands. But even with these modifications, a standard jig can still be too overpowering.
Unfortunately, once that initial supply of small hand-tied jigs was exhausted, I found it difficult to locate a suitable replacement. With no other option available, I started pouring my own football heads and tying my own jigs.
After a period of trial and error, I learned how to tie a scaled-down football head jig using a #2/0 light wire Gamakatsu hook and a sparse amount of fine silicone and living rubber skirting material.
Today, there are many excellent small jigs available for purchase. I really like the Pepper Custom Baits Micro Jig for my style of deep water jigging. It uses the same #2/0 light wire hook that I once poured in the garage. The skirt is made of fine silicon and is pretty full and long, despite the fact that the jig is downsized. This gives the angler the flexibility to modify the skirt to their own liking.
I like to thin out the skirt a little and will trim the length of the skirt so that it extends slightly past the bend of the hook. More recently, I have been fishing a special Micro Jig that is more sparsely-tied and features shortened collar strands. This jig is super slick and subtle.
Some anglers may question the effectiveness of using a small light wire hook. Again, this is a
WINTER 2017
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