Jigheads come in a huge array of sizes, styles, and even colors

Jigheads are so versatile because there is a setup for just about every application. They can be worked along the water bottom or swam throughout the water column. Over the years jigheads have only become more popular with the introduction of new trailer designs. With so many different jigheads and trailers determining the right combination for your application can be brain racking at times, so let's take a look at some of the most popular styles and examine what applications they are best for and some recommended trailers. 

Ball style jigheads are great for vertical applications

Ball Style: The good old ball style, is great at getting down quick to fish holding near the bottom. Many heads are now painted and can be matched with trailers. The best trailer to pair a ball style jighead with are worms, minnows, bucktails, and grubs. Ball style jigheads are great for situations where you know fish are holding below you. Paired with quality electronics ballheads are great for vertical presentations.      

The football jighead is great for searching out fish and can be pitched and flipped

Football Style: A favorite among bass anglers, including myself, this traditional jighead is great for searching out fish in a wide range of structure ranging from rock walls to humps and structure ridden humps. Football jigheads can be paired with pigs, craws, or grubs. This head is often paired with Yamamoto twin tail grubs. Football heads are available with wire or brush weedguards and can even be used in very heavy cover making them a great pitch and flip lure. In the winter I often catch fish by slowly dragging or hopping a football jighead and trailer over and around structure.      

Darter heads are designed for "swimming" setups

Darter Style: Darter style jigheads feature an angular head and are designed to be hydrodynamic so they can glide through the water with little resistance. Some manufacturers decorate the heads with great detail to better mimic baitfish. The style has become so popular that rod manufacturers have even introduced application specific "darter head" rods. These jigheads are best paired with either plastic minnows or curly tailed grubs. Fishing them is as easy as casting and retrieving, and they can even be trolled.  

The Slider style jighead is basically a Texas rigged with a fixed head, no need to peg your sinker with this head 

Slider Style: The Slider style jigheads are a substitute for a Texas rigged hook and sinker. This all in one design makes it easy to rig plastic worms without having to peg the sinker. The bullet shaped head on the slider makes it easy to work the rig through vegetation. Anglers pair this jighead up with worms, lizards, and creature baits.      

The tube style jighead stealth's completely within tubes

The Standup Jighead is ideal for targeting fish on the bottom

Standup Style: One of the most application specific jigheads, the standup style is designed to keep you bait upwards when on the bottom. This is ideal for crawdad imitating baits, and some lure manufacturers have designed floating plastics to fool fish into thinking the prey is feeding while hovering right above the bottom. The standup jigheads can be paired with worms, leeches, craws, and curly tail grubs. While suitable for vertical presentations the standup really shines when targeting fish right on the bottom.   

The Spinner/Prop style jigheads are good for targeting fish chasing bait

Spinner/Prop Style: The Spinner prop jighead is much more of an east coast bait and can add flash to swimming jigs. When aggressive fish are targeting bait the spinner/prop style can be deadly, especially on species like Walleye and Pike. Smaller jigheads can be used with grubs to target Panfish and Crappie. Ideal trailers for this style jighead are curly tailed grubs or fly type materials like marabou plumes. Fishing these jigheads is similar to darters, simply cast and retrieve or troll.

Conclusion: Jig it, swim it, shake it, pitch it, flip it, and dart it...there are so many ways to effectively fish jigheads. Versatility is the key with these simple yet very valuable elements of tackle, and not carrying at least a few styles would be a mistake. So many anglers make the mistake by thinking jigheads are only good for bottom fishing. It is possible to catch fish all day just with various jigheads and switching up trailers, so get "jiggy" with it and start hammering those fish with the right jighead the next time you hit the water.