Real World Tests: I rarely dedicate combos to specific baits or techniques these days because I usually have an array of rods and reels I need to fish in order to write them up properly. So lures usually take a back seat in terms of priority and get fished on whichever rod, reel, or combo needs time on the water. I say this as a qualifier because it is my intent to fish Keitech's Crankin' Football Jig on a dedicated combo featuring one of my Phenix K2 736H builds paired with Abu Garcia Zenon MG-X. Specifically, this is my MG-X 8.3 spooled with Seaguar Threadlock and a leader of 20lb Seaguar Gold Label. We'll see how that pans out.

The interesting thing about this bait is, fished as the name would suggestion it does drag along the bottom kind of stirring things up. but it does so in a straight line. This is where the Swing Impact FAT helps because that tail just waves around during the retrieve. However, when you give the bait a pop with your rod tip, it swims up, then down, landing tail up, head down. The Crankin' Football Jig actually stands up when hopped, looking like a swimbait sized Ned head.

Flip the jig on its side, and that football shape is no longer there. Keitech calls it a delta head

That's where the idea to fish it with Roboworm's Ned Worm came from. I needed a Ned style worm, but bigger and something that would easily float up. Robo's Ned was perfect for that and really presented like a giant, swimbait sized Ned rig.

Hop this bait along the bottom, pause, and it will stand up like this presenting like a big-bait sized Ned head

Design & Ergonomics: Keitech's Crankin' Football Jig is available in nine different patterns in four different head sizes. This is a lead headed jig which is a little surprising to me given the company's extensive array of tungsten jigs. The hook, as mentioned earlier is forged by Decoy with the official size being 4/0. I feel some of these hook size call outs on baits have become arbitrary, so I went ahead and took some measurements readers can use to compare against their favorite baits and determine if this one is suitable for your purposes. The diagram below breaks down the method of this quick little analysis.

A closer look at the finish and the bait's horizontal line tie

Price & Applications: Keitech's Crankin' Football jig retails for $6.39 per copy. This is a price that I initially thought was a lot, but a quick glance at football jigs on TackleWarehouse reveals a different story. Bass Patrol is my constant go-to for a quality, inexpensive jig. Formerly a $1.99 jig, their round rubber football jigs are now $2.79 - $3.29. The most expensive football jigs I saw were $8.99 while the median really seems to be in that $4.97 - $6.99 range, so the Crankin' Football is actually rather average in price. I need to recalibrate that price tracker in my brain with regards to jigs.