How can I control the horizontal speed of my jig?

Controlling the horizontal speed of your jig or any style of bait for that matter is a simple lesson in physics and geometry.  First we are going to assume that your line doesn’t stretch the amount of line on the barrel of the reel doesn’t affect speed.  With those assumptions let us start simple, consider your jig on a solid smooth surface perhaps an ice skating rink.  The jig will move only as fast as you spin the crank on your reel.  Now let’s throw some geometry into the mix, this may have a big part of the overall equation or it may not really matter.  Remember pulling the jig across the ice of the rink, if you hold the tip of the rod at the same level of the ice the jig will move in a consistent or linear speed, but if you hold the tip of the rod high in the air the jig will speed up as it gets closer even though you didn’t change the speed of the crank. 

Now add gravity into the mix.  As you pull your jig through the water there are vertical forces at play.  These forces (aka gravity) want to change the geometry of the process causing your jig to speed up if you try to keep it on the same horizontal plane.  So the trick to the speed of your jig is all about defying the laws of gravity.  This is accomplished by changing the density and shape of your jig to control how it sinks in the water.