I might mention that SHARPNESS of hook is a very big factor in a successful jig! Research and my own observations always amazes me as to the huge number of hits and positive in-the-mouth gulps that we anglers get during virtually EVERY day out, that we are never even aware of! We jiggers have an advantage in our natural lifting motion to sting ,by shear great hook points, a number of these finny phantoms! I prefer VMCs and sickles on my woolies/boolies and in small,better penetrating sizes! I once penned an article who's theme was "if ya feel a fish hit a jig, you're half way TOO LATE to set properly" (what we often feel in that "tick" is the lure being rejected!).
Some here,have mentioned structure, which,of course, is fundamental to jigging or any successful fishing. As pal, Red Denmark, mentions "when fish are on structure and very active, even a clothespin with a hook will score! But that activity &frenzy doesn't happen very often -so I've trial-n-erred my way into proper lure components such that if I don't get fish on a point,bar, or weedbed within a few minutes,they're simply not there, and I move! Anything will work when they're biting, but my jigs work ALL THE TIME !"
Years ago I had many face-to-face talks with legendary Buck Perry, the "father of structure fishing". He often confided that a structure alone was not necessarily the key, but,rather, a tiny difference on that structure that would draw most fish-and sometimes even there,ya have to wait them out for results. Unknown to many, Buck did a LOT of his initial structure research with JIGS, and he showed me several of his own personal designs that were obviously geared to vertical jigging to locate those tiny "spots on a spot" down below. Mr. Perry was of the conviction that skillful work with just the right designed, most functional jig was better than any depth finder for really locating fish!
