Jigging is vertical jigging; pitching jigs to shallow rocks, weeds, or wood; tossing jigs middle distances on shallow to middepth flats; vertical jigging in current; pitching and drifting jigs in current; snapjigging; and power casting jigs and plastics long distances.  Three spinning rods can handle it all, though adding several specialty rods through the years improves the arsenal.

A 6-foot rod rated for 4- to 8-pound test handles light pitching in shallow water with 1/16- to 1/8-ounce jigs.  A medium-power rod with a fast tip is optimum.  It handles most vertical jigging duties well, though many expert anglers prefer a 5-foot 9-inch stick for that duty.A 61⁄2-foot rod rated for 6- to 10-pound line with a fast action and a medium-power rating handles middle-distance casting and some deep vertical jigging, though a 51⁄2- to 6-foot rod with a fast action and medium-heavy power is a better choice for jigging vertically with heavy jigs or in heavy current.  This slightly heavier rod makes a better ripjigging tool and works well with jigging spoons in current.

Finally, a 7-foot graphite with a fast action and medium- to medium-heavy power rating is required for power casting 1/4- to 3/8-ounce hair jigs or jig-and-plastic combos from shore or along deep weedlines.  Power is needed to lift moderately heavy jigs aggressively for long sweeping hops.  This rod’s rating should include lines in the 8- to 12-pound-test range.

Jigs are among the most versatile items in your fish repertoire, which is somewhat surprising, because unlike crankbaits or spinners, which display their own action, most jigs lack inherent wiggle or wobble. Instead, they simply reflect whatever motion is imparted to them by the movement of your rod tip. Thus you become the master of your own destiny by making the jig appear lifelike and edible, selecting and imparting an attractive combination of color, head shape, size, bulk, profile, action, and speed.

Speed is an important factor often misunderstood or ignored by fish anglers who use the same subtle lift-drop jigging motion every time they’re on the water. While subtlety is deadly under most circumstances, added speed and action may at times be key to fishing success. This applies equally to casting and trolling.

Say you’re anchored off the edge of a point or hump and make a cast into a spot that just looks fishy, such as shallow boulders or woodcover. Your instincts suggest that a half dozen hungry fish should be where your jig falls. Once your jig sinks to bottom, you close the bail on your spinning reel and slowly pump the rod from 9 o’clock to 11 o’clock, lifting the jig off bottom and making it glide to rest a couple of feet nearer the boat. Repeat. This is the single most popular and effective way to cast and retrieve jigs—most of the time.

The standard round or ball jighead probably applies to 70 percent or more of all jig fishing situations. It excels for traditional lift-drop retrieves when casting, as well as for vertical jigging applications in deep water. When casting and incorporating rapid snapjigging retrieves, round heads remain productive because their hook eye is on top of the jig or at least within the upper third of the jighead. This causes the bait to rise quickly when pulled and to plummet immediately back to bottom under slack line.

A jighead with the eye at the front of the head, as is typical with wide planing or weedless jigheads, is more likely to sail a long distance with each jerk of the rod tip, gradually drifting back to bottom. Such head styles are good for slipping at a slow pace through sparse weeds or woodcover, but they fall too slowly to be good snapjigging choices for triggering fish with speed retrieves.

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When fishing a jig quickly, move the rod with a sidearm sweep rather than an overhead motion. This keeps the jig in a zone closer to bottom during most of the retrieve instead of raising it above bottom. Alternately sweep, then rapidly reel up slack while pointing the rod tip back toward the jig, picking up line as the jig falls. Repeat. Fish that respond to this jig motion tend to be triggered into an aggressive strike, rather than a passive inhalation of the jig. The sweep of the rod tip often doubles as a hookset for fish that strike undetected during the jig’s fall to bottom.

Position the boat along the outside edges of weedbeds, rims of humps, and edges of points, within casting distance of inside turns in a drop-off, and near any windblown shoreline or structure that may attract fish into shallow water. Begin fishing the area with traditional lift-drop retrieves to determine if active fish are present, using a jig as light as 1/16 or 1/8 ounce to try to tease a strike.