Jigs and jig heads
Lure · Last reviewed 2026-08-10
A hook with weight moulded at the eye end, which makes a lure fall nose-first and lets the angler control depth precisely.
A jig head is a hook with lead or tungsten moulded around the shank near the eye. That weight distribution is the entire point: it makes the lure fall head-down, in a nose-first flutter, which is exactly how an injured or dying fish falls through the water.
Because the weight is fixed and known, a jig gives precise depth control by counting down. It also puts the hook point uppermost when the jig is on the bottom, which reduces snagging considerably compared with a hook hanging beneath.
Head shape is a real variable rather than a cosmetic one. Round heads fall vertically and are the general-purpose choice. Flat or darter heads plane and glide. Stand-up heads sit with the lure tail-up on the bottom, which keeps a soft plastic visible when everything has stopped moving.
At a glance
- Depth range
- Anything, and precisely. Weight is known, so counting the jig down gives repeatable depth control — the most reliable depth measurement available in lure fishing.
What it does in the water
The head weight drives a nose-down fall with the body and tail trailing and fluttering. On the lift, the jig darts upward and forward; on the drop, it falls with whatever action the attached body provides. Head shape modifies this: round heads drop vertically, darter heads glide forward, stand-up heads settle with the tail raised.
How it is worked
Lift and drop, which is jigging proper; or a steady swim, where the jig is simply retrieved and the soft plastic's tail does the work; or a slow drag along the bottom. Almost all takes come on the drop, so maintaining a semi-tight line during the fall is the single most important habit.
Fish it catches
Black crappieA small marabou or plastic jig suspended at the depth of a crappie school is the whole of this fishery, because the fish suspend in the column around cover rather than sitting on the bottom.- Black sea bassSmall jigs fished on the bottom over wreck and rock take black sea bass consistently, and the fishery has moved substantially from bait to jig for that reason.
- Cuckoo wrasseLight jig heads worked slowly along the bottom over deep rock are how cuckoo wrasse are taken deliberately on light tackle.
Largemouth bassThe skirted jig is the cold-water and heavy-cover answer, imitating a crayfish on the bottom rather than a fish in the column, which is what a largemouth is mostly eating outside the warm months.
PollackThe jighead is doing the fishing, not the tail. Pollack hold at a depth set by light and tide, and the weight is chosen to reach that band and hold it against the drift — which is why the same shad on the wrong head catches nothing.
Summer flounderBucktails and teasers drifted along the bottom over sand.
WalleyeThe jig-and-minnow is the defining walleye presentation, and it works because a walleye feeds close to the bottom in low light and takes a slow-moving item at its own level rather than chasing through the column.- White crappieSmall jigs worked at the depth a suspended school is holding.
3 more
- Yellow perch Fish
- Zander Fish
- European perch Fish
What it imitates
A head-down fluttering fall is the specific signature of a fish that has lost control of its swimbladder or been injured. It is not a general imitation of a healthy fish; it is a targeted reproduction of a vulnerable one, which is why it triggers takes so reliably.
Where it stops working
- An exposed hook point snags on weed and rough ground, unless a weedless design is used.
- Fixed weight means changing depth capability requires changing the head.
- Lead jig heads are a source of lead in the environment where they are lost, and tungsten alternatives cost substantially more.
- Takes on the drop are easily missed by anyone used to feeling a pull.
- The wrong weight for the depth and current means the jig never fishes correctly at all.
Where to go next
Understanding it
More lures
Not related to this page — just the rest of the section. There is little else joined to this subject yet, and a short page should still lead somewhere.
Sources and evidence
Why the 16 connections on this page are here, and the sources
Fish it catches
What experienced anglers do — 11 connections
Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.
Black crappie
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated North American lure practice for this species.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements — International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish taken on artificial lures, and the tackle conventions used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Black sea bass
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated North American lure practice for this species.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements — International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish taken on artificial lures, and the tackle conventions used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Cuckoo wrasse
What anglers actually use a lure for, recorded as convention.
- Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: UK shore lure fishing practice: tackle scale, presentation and ground.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Angling Times — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary UK angling practice and the adoption of imported techniques as reported in the angling press.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Largemouth bass
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated North American lure practice for this species.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements — International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish taken on artificial lures, and the tackle conventions used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Pollack
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Established shore and boat lure practice for the species in north-west European seas.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated lure selection for this species, recorded as practitioner consensus rather than as tested fact.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Summer flounder
A practitioner claim about tackle commonly used for Paralichthys dentatus.
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practitioner accounts of this presentation for summer flounder.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Angling Times — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Practitioner treatment of comparable presentations for the species group.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Walleye
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated North American lure practice for this species.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements — International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish taken on artificial lures, and the tackle conventions used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
White crappie
A practitioner claim about tackle commonly used for Pomoxis annularis.
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practitioner accounts of this presentation for white crappie.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Angling Times — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Practitioner treatment of comparable presentations for the species group.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Yellow perch
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated North American lure practice for this species.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements — International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish taken on artificial lures, and the tackle conventions used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Zander
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- Freshwater Fishing — Macdonald & Jane's, 1975 (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Lure and spinning practice for freshwater predators in Britain and northern Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Angling Times — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary British and European lure practice for this species in the weekly angling press.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
European perch
Contemporary light lure practice, independently described.
- Angling Times — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Jig head and soft plastic practice for perch.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Light jig practice from a separate tradition.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
How it is worked
What experienced anglers do — 3 connections
Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.
Drop shotting
The drop-shot record presents a bait above a weight on a dropper, which is the exact inverse of a jig head's weight-at-the-eye. Recording the pairing as a contrast keeps a reader from arriving at a jig head and rigging it drop-shot.
- Angling Times — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Specialist treatment of which bait or lure family this technique is fished with.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: The independently restated practitioner pairing of this technique with this family.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Jigging
The jig-head page describes weight moulded at the eye so the lure falls nose-first and depth is controlled precisely. That is a description of what a jigging retrieve requires, written from the tackle's side.
- Angling Times — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Specialist treatment of which bait or lure family this technique is fished with.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: The independently restated practitioner pairing of this technique with this family.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Light rock fishing
The method's whole identity is head weight: the jig head is the component that was miniaturised, and the rods, lines and rock marks followed it. The pairing is definitional rather than conventional.
- Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Specialist treatment of which bait or lure family this technique is fished with.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: The independently restated practitioner pairing of this technique with this family.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Understanding it
What experienced anglers do — 2 connections
Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.
Jig weight and fall rate
Weight selection against current and depth is standard practice in jig fishing.
- Angling Times — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary lure angling practice with modern materials and lure types.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Saltwater lure angling practice with the same materials and lure types.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Soft plastic rigging
The jig head is described as one of several rigging options rather than as the default.
- Angling Times — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary lure angling practice with modern materials and lure types.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Saltwater lure angling practice with the same materials and lure types.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy.