Size And Shape vs. Application

Jowl/Erie Standup—Jigs with widened bases have in recent years been nicknamed jowl jigs. Heavy jigs with extremely wide, relatively flat bases are called bigfoot or Erie standup heads. In both cases, they’re designed for vertically jigging in deep water or swift current, due to the combination of increased weight and hookeye atop the head.

Standup/Wedge—Focusing the weight at the base of the jighead creates the “standup” aspect—the ability to hold a plastic tail or bait off bottom, particularly with a little tension on the line. Position of the hookeye determines additional characteristics.

Pointy nosed standups with the hookeye forward, sticking out from the nose of the jig, tend to be more weedless-snagless; the line functions as a weedguard, with no place for weed fragments to become caught between the hookeye and the lead body. These jigs slip and slide through weeds and are great for casting in shallow water, but create additional water resistance when fished vertically in deep water.

Standups with the eye exiting the top of the jighead are better suited to vertical presentations. They tend to hang up a bit in weeds due to eye position, but they crawl over rocks.

Football—Broad-nosed semi-standups crawl over rocks and larger pieces of wood, and they hold plastic aloft under line tension. They generally have large hooks and are most popular among bass anglers fishing with plastic.

Banana/Striper—Curved or semi-standup heads with the hookeye positioned at the nose are geared to slip across bottom without snagging. Good for shallow to moderate depths and horizontal presentations; the hookeye position at the nose lifts the jig nose first, creating water resistance in the depths. A sufficiently heavy striper jig, however, is a popular choice in relatively deep water; caution—if the hook is too large (designed for stripers), small walleyes are tough to hook.

Weedless—Jigs featuring a wire or plastic weedguard are underused and often unappreciated by walleye fishermen. Those with the hookeye emerging from the nose are dynamic in weeds.

On weedless heads typically used by bass anglers, the hookeye is atop the head and fished with a grub threaded on the hook, or inserted into a tube (awkward rigging). Eye-up heads tend to be most effective when fished vertically in open water or timber.

Rigged Weedless—Pointy jigheads lacking weedguards, Texas-rigged with plastic, can be quite weedless-snagless in cover. Bait Rigs’ Slo-Poke is a versatile classic. It also can be rigged like a regular roundhead, for a slower-falling, fairly weed-resistant effect.

Swimming/Wobble—Jigheads that are wide in the horizontal plane tend to sail and swim when retrieved. This makes them excellent for scooting across shallow bottoms and for swimming retrieves, but difficult to fish vertically or in deep water. Pointy-nosed jigs are good for weeds and extreme shallows, while those with the hookeye extending out the top of the jig may tend to run a bit deeper.

Slip Bobber/Wide Bend/Ice— Jigs with wide bend or Kahle hooks are popular among ice anglers and slip-bobber fishermen. Subtle, vertical hooksets or a simple tightening of the line tends to work better than hard hooksets, since the head and hook must turn in the fish’s mouth for the hook to penetrate. Smaller sizes are most popular among bobber fishermen and ice anglers.