Jigging

A jig consists of a heavy metal (typically lead) sinker with an attached fish hook that is usually obscured inside a soft lure or feather-like decorations.

Jigs are intended to create a jerky, vertical "jumping" motion to attract fish, as opposed to other common lures like swimbaits, spoons and spinnerbaits, which move through the water more or less horizontally.

The jigging technique mainly involves rapid lifting motions of a fishing rod, which jerk the line exert a temporarily upward pull upon the sinking lure.

Jigging is a low-cost, low-energy technique that does not necessarily require a bait and its catch can be captured live and hauled into the fishing vessel.

[2] The simplest and most common is a round head, but others include fish head-shaped, coned-shaped, cylinder-shaped and hybrid varieties that resemble spoons or spinnerbaits.

These come in many different weights usually ranging from 1⁄80 oz (0.35 g) for small freshwater panfishes (e.g. aji) to nearly 1 pound (0.45 kg) for large saltwater groundfishes, and can also be found in a wide array of colors and patterns.

Some jigheads even offer a spring latch known as a weed guard to prevent unwanted snagging on aquatic plants/weeds and underwater structures by the hook point.