The football jig is the best deep-water jig there is — a big-presence lure built to drag across rock and gravel and pull the biggest bass in the lake off the bottom. It is not a finesse tool and it is not a shallow-cover tool; it is a specialist, and used in the right place it catches giants. This is the football jig from A to Z: what it mimics, why the head is shaped the way it is, where and how to fish it, and the hook set that keeps those big ones pinned.
I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this article — at no extra cost to you. It helps support the channel and keeps these guides coming.
Football Jig Quick Reference
| Factor | Go-To | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 3/4 oz | Keeps bottom contact even in 8–10 ft of water |
| Colors | Green pumpkin, brown, black & blue | Mimics crawfish and bluegill — never baitfish |
| Trailer | Full-size Rage Craw | Adds the big bottom presence that draws quality bass |
| Where | Rock, gravel, sand, some wood | Not shallow grass, not docks, not for swimming |
What a Football Jig Is
A jig is a jig head — lead or tungsten molded onto a hook — dressed with a silicone or rubber skirt near the head and a weed guard to keep it from snagging. What makes this one a football jig is the shape of the head: a football profile. It is not that a football shape looks more appetizing to a bass — it is that the shape lets the head dig into the bottom and create commotion and presence that other jig heads cannot. That makes it the best deep-water jig available, and one of my core big-presence lures, right alongside big swimbaits, big topwaters, and big worms — the baits I reach for when I want a bigger quality of fish.
Deep Bluegill and Crawfish — Not Baitfish
Most of the time a football jig imitates a deep bluegill or a crawfish. Unlike a swim jig or a vibrating jig, it is not a baitfish lure — you will almost never see a white skirt on a football jig. The colors are green pumpkins, browns, and black-and-blues, matching the forage crawling around on the bottom. I almost always pair it with a full-size Strike King Rage Craw to complete that big bottom-forage profile.
Occasionally you will catch suspended fish on it — I landed several smallmouth chasing perch that ate the jig on the fall because a brown-amber skirt happened to look like a fleeing perch. That is the exception, not the plan. The football jig is a bottom lure; if you are getting bit on the fall every cast, enjoy it, but you are “supposed” to catch them dragging it on the bottom.
What Makes This Football Jig Different
There are plenty of football jigs on the market, but my confidence in casting distance, hookup ratio, and keeping fish pinned comes from the Outkast Tackle football jig, which does three things well.
First, a concave rocking notch on the front of the head lets the jig deflect off cover, stand up on its nose under a little pressure, and jump erratically when ripped off the bottom — a move that triggers big bass. Second, a thin frog-cut silicone skirt takes almost no movement to flare and, sitting on the bottom, spreads out to give the bait a huge presence. Third — and most important — a light-wire Gamakatsu O’Shaughnessy hook. It needs a lighter set than most jigs, makes a small hole in the fish’s mouth, yet keeps them pinned remarkably well. I fished one jig for a month in Minnesota, caught well over thirty fish on it, and only had to bend the hook back into shape once or twice.
Why 3/4 oz Is the Sweet Spot
Colors stay in the bottom-forage family — browns, green pumpkins, and black-and-blue for dirty water. On weight, most anglers get scared off anything above a half ounce, but that is a mistake on a football jig. Because the entire point is to stay on the bottom for most or all of the retrieve — dragging and bumping into things — you want a heavier head. My favorite is 3/4 ounce, and I have found no downside even in eight to ten feet of water; it simply keeps the bait pinned to the bottom far more easily than a half ounce does.
Half ounce, five-eighths, three-quarters — a heavier football jig is a feature, not a flaw. The weight is what keeps you in constant bottom contact, which is the whole game with this lure. If you have been shying away from a 3/4-ounce jig, that is likely why the football jig has not clicked for you.
Where to Throw It — and Where Not To
This is a rock, gravel, and sand jig, with maybe a little wood mixed in. It is not a swim jig, so do not fish it in shallow grass, around docks, or swimming it back to the boat, and do not skip it under docks — those are jobs for an Arky-style, skipping, or swim jig. It is also not made for deep vegetation. Throw it out over hard bottom, let it sink, and drag it back, feeling everything down there. The goal is for a bass to track it down and eat as you pull it over a boulder or rip it across a gravel flat.
How to Fish It
Make a long cast and let the jig settle to the bottom — watch your line stop feeding out to know you are down. Then drag it slowly, rod tip down, in roughly three-foot pulls, keeping constant contact with the bottom. When you feel a boulder or a stick, raise your rod tip up and snap the jig over it, let it fall, and go right back to dragging. That is the entire retrieve — a slow, methodical drag broken up by hopping over hard cover.
The closer the jig gets to the boat, the steeper the angle from your rod tip down to the bait — and a steep angle makes it much harder to keep the jig on the bottom. A long cast keeps that line angle low and flat, so you stay in bottom contact for far more of the retrieve. That is the real reason for bombing it out there.
Gear-wise: 17-pound fluorocarbon (a great all-around choice), a standard baitcasting reel, and a long, somewhat stiff parabolic 7-foot-5 medium-heavy rod. It may feel stiff when you tie on, but it bends deep on the hook set, loading evenly into the fish so you do not rip the hook out — even in twenty to twenty-five feet of water.
Set It Firm — But Not Too Hard
Reel down all of your slack until the line is tight, then give a big sweeping hook set — but do not give it everything you have. With this jig’s light-wire O’Shaughnessy hook and the parabolic rod, the set feels more like a wacky rig under a dock or a light Texas rig than a traditional jig cross-their-eyes hammer, even in deep water. Set it right and you are pinned; then just reel them in without continuing to crank on the fish.
Many football jigs use big, beefy hooks, and setting hard on those punches a large hole in the fish’s mouth — so the moment it jumps, the hook falls out. The light-wire O’Shaughnessy makes a small hole yet keeps the fish pinned with a proper, controlled set. That is why I almost never lose a fish on this jig, even boat-flipping smallmouth on the way in.
Final Thoughts
The football jig is a specialist: a heavy, big-presence bottom lure for hard offshore structure that consistently pulls the biggest bass in the system. Throw a 3/4-ounce jig on hard bottom, drag it slowly with a long cast to keep bottom contact, and set the hook firm but controlled. It is one of the best big-fish lures in the sport when you fish it in the right place. For another lure that dissects offshore change the same way, see my Carolina rig masterclass — and to round out your jig game, my every-style-of-jig guide and jig trailer breakdown cover the rest.
Source: Based on video content from TylersReelFishing — “Football Jig MASTERCLASS!! (Everything You NEED To Know)” · youtube.com/@tylersreelfishing
Q&A Flashcards: The Football Jig
Tap any card to reveal the answer. Great for reviewing before your next trip.