I have a few jigs in various colors and have never caught a smallmouth with them over the years in the river that I fish. I have caught a few largemouths on a lake.  I don't spend much time trying mainly because  I just don't have any confidence in them.   I have most success on shakyheads, dropshotting and crankbaits and churn out a good number of bass but never seem to get that 5 lb trophy that I know is in there.  My thought is I better learn to fish with a jig to land the bigger fish especially if I decide to tournament fish.  Just wondering if others struggle as much and if there are any learning tips to get better at it especially fishing  smallmouths in rivers.

Here's the age old tip that you probably have heard, but really works. Read everything you can, then take all the other tackle out of the boat. Bring an assortment of jig types and trailers but keep it simple. Go out to familiar water and go catch fish using as much of the gear you have. Drag em, hop em and swim them near the top or mid depths. Deadstick em too. Heavy cover to no cover. You will learn more than we can tell you. 

I have a few jigs in various colors and have never caught a smallmouth with them over the years in the river that I fish. I have caught a few largemouths on a lake.  I don't spend much time trying mainly because  I just don't have any confidence in them.   I have most success on shakyheads, dropshotting and crankbaits and churn out a good number of bass but never seem to get that 5 lb trophy that I know is in there.  My thought is I better learn to fish with a jig to land the bigger fish especially if I decide to tournament fish.  Just wondering if others struggle as much and if there are any learning tips to get better at it especially fishing  smallmouths in rivers.

If you can fish a shaky head you can fish a jig! Jigs = big bass. Like Makuka just take your jigs out and fish them and maybe down size your jig at first and go from there!