I plan on jigging big smallmouth on Lake Michigan with flutter spoons. Mostly 1/2 ounce with some 3/8 to 3/4 ounce once in awhile, like War Eagle jigging spoons for example. My lead jig spoon mold goes up to 1 ounce, but I can’t imagine needing to use that weight for smallmouth. 90 percent of the time I will be dropping the baits on them as I hover over the schools with spot lock. 10 percent I’ll cast to schools on live view.

What blanks are everyone using for this technique? I currently have a handful of blanks in my nfc cart and thought I might as well toss one more blank in to keep as a spoon rod.

Thanks

Ben

I jig for Alabama bass in Lake Lanier regularly and use a store bought 6 1/2' medium for 1/2 oz and mh for heavier with a mf action. 8 lb fluorocarbon for under 20' and braid with a 3' leader for over 20'.

I built a similar rod this winter for spoons and jigging raps up to 7/8 oz. I went with a slow jig salt water rod from NFC. It has a very moderate action but a very good back bone. I've only made a few cast to see if it feel right and I like the feel. Have not had a chance to fish all day with it so as of yet it is untested.

I wondered how those slow jig blanks would handle the lighter jig weight and smaller fish. I usually picture heavy spoons fishing for big fish when I think of slow jigging salt.

The medium light looks way heavier than my typical medium light spinning rod.

The rod is lighter than I thought I think with will work fine I'm using it for walleye. Blank is SLJ 640-1 (X-Ray LMX)

How well does it move the 7/8 oz jigging raps? That’s the other bait I use a lot. I’m not overly familiar with the characteristics of a slow jig blank. It appears these blanks can handle a wide range of lure weights.

It handles it well. What I like is how the rod loads then springs the jig off the bottom but I don't feel like I loose track of it like you do with a fast action rod. When I was researching I also noted that it could handle different weights as well.

I liked the G Loomis MBR 783 C for jigging, the NFC MB 665-1 (HM) would be similar. It had the guts to get the job done and a light enough tip to keep fish anchored on the smaller hooks used on the lighter spoons, it starts losing it's efficiency in the 40+ ft. depths, than I move to a 7 1/2 ft. rod.

I really like the American Tackle Bushido Nanophene Extreme series. I have been using it for jigging rockfish and Ling Cod off the West Coast and it performs brilliantly! The lightest one is rated 12-20 / 3/4-2 1/2 so may be a bit heavy for your application.

Another AT line is the Bushido Nanophene Ultra Load that is specifically designed for jigging but again, the lightest option is rated 15-30 / 150g-5oz.