As I write this we are still about two weeks away from the start of the Bassmaster Classic. The key factor in this year’s Classic will definitely be the weather. If Old Man Winter keeps his grip, this tournament will likely be won deep – just the way it was in 2008. However, if we get some warm weather it could quickly become a shallow water slugfest. Looking at the long range forecast, my prediction is that it will remain cold and will be a deep fisherman’s game. If that is the case the football jig will again be a key bait.
Football head jigs are made for dragging along the bottom. That head design allows you to keep from getting hung up and allows you to cover a ton of water. It has replaced a Carolina Rig for many anglers. I use a 1/2 ounce most of the time. If fishing over 20 feet deep, I drop down to a 3/4 ounce or full ounce if there is wind.
Watch Lester’s football jig instruction video here.
I look for banks that feature transition areas in the rocks. Chunk rock and boulder size rocks down to pea gravel are ideal as well as rocks positioned on a long flat. Points are also perfect places for a football jig as well as old underwater road beds.
Lake Hartwell has a vast amount of mud and clay flats. To the naked eye they look featureless and barren, but if you can find a rock outcropping or an area where it transitions from mud to big rock it is a magnet for bass. Another good thing about the football jig is that it is just as effective in 5 feet of water as it is in 40 feet of water, and everywhere in between. On Hartwell ditches run through these flats and can be good as well. Ditches serve as highways for bass going from wintering areas to spawning grounds.
Most of the time you just cast a football jig out and drag it back to the boat. If you notice you’re getting bites when the jig is falling, either on the initial cast, or when you come over a depth change, then start hopping it up and down more. That day the fish may want it hopped instead of being drug slowly on the bottom. I suggest always starting with the dragging technique.
When you feel the bait contacting cover on the bottom you can shake it a little and hop it up once. The bite feels like a small tick and then they swim off with it. Usually though you get a “mushy feeling” or the sensation that something feels different. It is a fun way to fish because you constantly feel the bait moving along the bottom and get a lot of feedback about the bottom.
I trim the jig’s skirt right behind the hook. That gives it a little smaller profile and lets the skirt flair out easily. For colors I go with natural crawfish colors. Green pumpkin and orange are great as I am trying to imitate a crawfish. If you want to get real dialed in, spend some time turning over rocks near the ramp and see what the crawfish look like at that time of year. They do change color during the year.
From the photo you can tell why they call them football jigs. I like the football jigs from D&L Tackle, V&M and even make some my own with supplies from Mud Hole Custom Tackle. A sturdy Mustad hook is absolutely critical for deep fishing like this. For the jig’s trailer I always use a Strike King Rage Craw. I have the most confidence in it by a mile.
The rod itself is crucial to catching fish on a football jig. The MHX MB-843 for a 1/2 ounce jig and the MB-844 for 3/4 ounce from Mud Hole Custom Tackle are perfect for this technique. They are super sensitive for feeling the bait on the bottom and detecting strikes. They also have the muscle needed for a solid hookup.
One thing is for sure and that is one or two baits and techniques will forever change a man’s life at the 45th Bassmaster Classic. He will have his family, faith, mental toughness, decision-making skills and maybe even a jig shaped like a football to thank for it.
