How To Choose A Combo for Jig Fishing (Rod, Reel, & Line)

He probably was going. Here we go. All right. Come here you. Little buck bass. We'll take it, on a little jig. They're fun. They're fun. I'll take it. Boom.

Let's talk a little bit about the equipment here for fishing jigs. This one here is what I'm using for fish in shallow water like fishing today up in that structure, in that cover, that flooded bushes that I have here, flooded timber, a lot of thick weeds. So here I'm heavying up. I've got a heavy power, medium fast action rod. This is a seven-foot and with it I'm using a strong reel here. This has got a, I think, it's 16 or 18-pound drag, which is what you want because when you set up on the hook... I crank the drag all the way down. So when I set the hook, I make sure I got that fish. Once I have them hooked, then I back off on the drag and fight them back to the boat. That drag to me is something you use after you have the fish hooked. Until then, it doesn't come into play. So I crank it all the way down for that reason. So I want a strong drag for that purpose.

I'm using 50 pound Seaguar Smackdown Line, braided line, you've got to use that when you're fishing around vegetation and fishing around heavy cover. And then I've got on it here, this is a Siebert's jig and this is a three eighth-ounce jig with a Rage Craw as a trailer. Perfect little jig. You can see where the line tie is. That's what I like about that. It doesn't get hung up on a lot of stuff because the line tie is actually part of the head, so it doesn't stick out. So this is a really good bait to use when you fish in heavy cover.

There's a lot of different other types of jig heads and I've got a video that goes into jigs more specifically about the different types of jig heads to use, but this is what is a universal jig it and I use this a lot and the football head jig.

That was really my two go-to jig heads that I use for fishing in the summertime. Now if I wasn't fishing in the heavy cover and fishing in a little bit open water, I'm going to lighten up a little bit. I'll use a Seven-foot Medium Heavy Action rod with a fast action tip or Medium Heavy Power Rod with a fast action tip. I'll use 15-pound Seaguar InvizX for that. That's usually because I'm fishing in deeper water and it's usually more rocky than anything else. Braid is not very good around rocks. Rocks tend to fray braid and you can have break offs as a result. So braid is not as universal lines you might think, but 15-pound InvizX is. It's abrasion resistant. It's got low visibility, high sensitivity, perfect for fishing jigs, especially out in open water, around docks, that kind of stuff. So I use that when I'm fishing in a little bit deeper water.

Smallmouth like ‘em too!

I hope those tips help. For more tips and tricks like this, visit BassResource.com.