Jerkbait fishing

[East Rush Rules]

Hey guys,

I need some info on jerkbait fishing. I have zero experience in doing it so i have no clue which companies lures are the best to be using in the spring, etc. I have a college fishing tournament down on Bull Shoals Lake in Branson, Missouri in early March. After watching some footage from a tournament that was held there last year at this time, it seemed like this lure along with some crankbaiting were the go to lures. Any help on a color, type, length, favorite technique, etc. would be awesome! Thanks!

[TR21HP]

I would get some X Raps in various colors as you get rain that time of the year down there and you could be fishing clear water or chocolate milk depending on the amount of rain. There is a lot of docks on Bull Shoals and, the few times I've fished there, we caught a lot of Largemouths off them. Depending on the weather you might also encounter a lot of pleasure boaters similiar or worse than Minnetonka so fishing open water in the middle becomes tough. A simple 3 jerk and pause usually works best with the fish telling you how long a pause you take.

[TonkaBass]

I agree, either a 2 jerk or 3 jerk and pause with the length of pause and power behind the jerk (sometimes more of a twitch) varying. I however would rather have one Lucky Craft pointer than 2 X raps, just my opinion. I am a big fan of the 78 and the 78 deep. I also would recommend using flourocarbon. Some guys like braid with a floro leader if the fish are real hot, but most times I like just straight floro. Good luck...

[RK]

Hiya -

I'm a terrible cheapskate when it comes to lures, but that goes out the window when it comes to jerkbaits. I love Lucky Crafts - both the Pointers and the Slender Pointers (which are even more $ than a regular Pointer). They're the most consistent in terms of buoyancy from one bait to the next, so I rarely have to tune them. If the water's cold and I really want a bait to suspend on a long pause, I use a Pointer. I also really, REALLY like Strike King Wild Shiners. They run a little deeper than Pointers, and they're one of my favorites for OW smallies. Excalibur makes a pretty good jerkbait too, but the name escapes me right now.

I like X-Raps and Husky jerk-baits, but they're a lot less consistent from bait to bait. Some sink slowly, some float up slightly, some rest head-up, some rest head-down... The X-Raps seem better in this regard than the HJs. If I'm fishing fast and really using it as a slashbait, HJs and X-Raps are great.

I fish jerkbaits on spinning gear (7' medium power fast action) with 10# Fireline and a fluoro leader. I like braid because it is more precise - with no stretch, you have a lot more control over the bait, even at the end of the cast. Amazing how much stretch even fluoro has. Braid also really helps you feel it when fish hit while the bait's paused. Especially in cold water, they don't hit very hard sometimes. Plus you can cast a mile... If I'm around cover I will sometimes switch to heavier fluoro on casting gear though.

My $.02 of random jabbering...

cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Deitz Dittrich]

Here is an article I wrote quite a few moons ago..I have posted it before, so if you wish not to read it feel free not too...

Jerkbait 2 Step.

After reading the title of this article, you can probably guess that the

article that you are about to read is about the jerkbait. The two-step part

of it has two separate meanings: One being the two separate styles of

jerkbaits, hard and soft, the other the importance of rhythm in fishing. A

jerkbait can be worked with a rhythm and still be erratic. I think this is

very important. In this article, I plan to tell you everything you would

ever want to know about fishing jerkbaits and probably a lot that you could

care less about but can digest anyway. Jerkbaits can out produce many other styles and techniques in fishing, even during the toughest times. Fishing jerkbaits can be thought of as finesse fishing tactic as well as an aggressive fishing tactic with just a few minor changes. Jerkbaits can produce almost year round. I say "almost" because they are less effective during the dog days of summer and the dead of winter. During the dog days of summer, the water tends to fill with

algae--jerkbaits are most effective if the water has a visibility of greater

than 2 feet. In the dead of winter, fish are usually deeper than the jerkbait works effectively. In other words, you could still catch fish on the jerkbait, but there would be many other ways that would be more effective. Jerkbaits probably work best during the pre-spawn when water temperatures reach mid 50's and up.

HARD JERKBAITS

When selecting a hard jerkbait you need to consider three things: speed,

action, and depth that you want to cover. It's important to always have a

plan to start with. You can change from that, but it's essential to have a

plan. Hard jerkbaits can be broken into two categories, those with a tight

wobble and those with a wide wobble. The tighter wobble is better for cooler

water. The tighter wobble bait usually runs deeper and is less erratic. This

suits cooler water perfectly. Another thing with the tighter wobble baits is

they can be slightly harder to tune and keep tuned, but don't let this scare

you. YOU CAN DO IT! The Rapala series and Smithwick Rogue are baits with a

tight wobble. Baits with a wide wobble are more erratic, generally run

shallower, and stay tuned better. These are much more effective in warm

water. Wide wobble baits that I use are the Bomber Long 'A' and the Storm

Thunderstick. Another thing to keep in mind is that any bait that is

suspending is usually less erratic than those that float because of the

weight added to the bait to get it to suspend.

Now that we have that down, we can talk about working these baits and the

equipment that I use to work them. I like a 6' baitcasting rod with a soft

tip. The soft tip is the most important part of the equipment being used.

The tip of the rod puts the action in the bait and is less fatiguing. If you

use a rod that is too stiff you will have to work much harder to get the

bait to do the things that you want. Not only that, but any bait that has

treble hooks are easiest to throw for the bass. The soft tip in the rod will

help you play the fish better so that won't happen. I like to use 10 lb test

line--the line is limp enough so that it doesn't hamper lure movement.

However, if you would like your lure to run shallower or deeper you can play

with line size. If you want your bait to run deeper, you can go to a thinner

line and get more depth without adding weight to the lure. A jerkbait is a

lure in which the rod imparts the action, not the reel. Because the reels

only job is to pick up the slack line, a high speed reel is best. I like to

use a 6.3:1. I tie directly to the o-ring with an improved clinch knot,

however there are times when I want a more erratic action and will use a

clip or loop knot. When working a jerkbait, I tend to use the

jerk-jerk-pause retrieve with the rod tip pointing down while trying to move

the lure 12-15 inches per pull. I will vary the lengths of the jerk-baits and

pauses according to what I feel will work best that day. Once you jerk the

rod, point the rod tip directly back at the bait to create slack. This is

the most important step, read that again! Without slack in the line the bait

doesn't work its magic. Look at how your fish are hooked, you can learn a

lot from them. If you are hooking a lot of the fish with just the rear

treble, you may want to change your retrieve with a longer pause and shorter

jerk-baits. Or switch all together to a sweep-pause retrieve. If you are catching

a lot of fish with all three hooks across the mouth, remember what you

did...IT WORKED! You may notice during a day that you were hooking fish

well, then you will catch 3 fish in a row with just the rear treble. Try to

figure out what changed: Maybe the wind switched slightly, or cloud cover.

Something has changed, and you need to adjust. Your ability to adjust will

determine how many fish you are going to catch. The final paragraph of this section related to hard jerkbaits contains some

hot tips to help you put more fish in the boat. First, change factory hooks

to premium hooks-- many times bass will slap at a bait to wound it. With

super sharp hooks, you will get many of these fish. Another hot tip that I

like to keep to myself but will reveal to my close friends is...SHHH don't

tell anybody this...During late prespawn, add suspend strips or lead tape to

the area just in front of the front treble so that the lure sits face down

in the water. Bass will see this as a feeding stance and will sometimes

devour this bait. Another fun tip is to work a floating jerkbait on a

Carolina rig in shallow water. You can work the bait much slower and keep it

in the strike zone longer. For a different look, try adding a treble hook

off a POP-R or other feather type hook to the rear of the jerkbait.

SOFT PLASTIC jerk-baits

Probably most popular in the early 90's due to the onset of tubes and

creature plastics like spider grubs and brush hawgs, the soft plastic

jerkbait has lost a little bit of its original popularity, but they still

catch as many fish as they ever did. The soft plastic jerkbait is usually

worked with a 4/0 hook, the 4/0 is not needed for its size but more for its

weight. Where you put the eye of the hook will directly affect the lure's

action. The lower the eye is on the bait, the more it will rise with the

jerk-baits. You can change hook size to get the fall that you are looking for. If

more weight is needed, add a barrel swivel 12-15' up the line. This will add

weight without hurting the action of the lure. You can also add a 1/32 oz

sliding worm weight to the front but it will put a totally different action

to the lure. Another thing I will do is add a finishing nail to the body of

the lure. Sometimes that is all that is needed. I tend to use a spinning rod combo with soft plastic baits, because of the

lack of weight. I have used a baitcaster, but I like the presentation of the

spinning outfit better. I like to skip soft plastic jerkbaits into cover,

they are a great cover bait because they are weedless if rigged correctly,

and with a few skips can get where no other bait except a tube can go. I use

10lb test again but have used as little as 6 lb and as much as 17 depending

on the structure or cover being fished.

COLOR

If you read my last article, "My theory on bass and I'm sticking to it", you

will find the acronym K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Stupid). There is no better

example of that than here. At the beginning of this article, I stated that

jerkbaits are a clear water technique, so use natural colors. My favorite is

probably dark green back with gold sides, or black back with silver sides. I

have other baits, but these are the two that produce best for me and that I

have confidence in.

IN CONCLUSION

Remember when fishing jerkbaits that you are fishing clear water. Keep this

in mind when approaching structure. Stay back far enough so that you don't

spook the fish, yet close enough that you can make an accurate cast to the

cover you're fishing. Also remember to keep a rhythm. I think fish can key

in better if you do the same movement repeatedly so that they can time their

attack. Just keep in mind that just because you are fishing with a rhythm

doesn't mean it can't still be erratic.

[TR21HP]

Very well done Deitz!

And all this from a guy who wears or wore red shorts.

[Cecil]

Maybe this has been said, I don't like to read but I play a song in my head and and retreive according to that song's beat. Usually doesn't take more than a song or two in order to figure it out. Or I will just make up a beat in my head. Helps keep the same retrieve rate if it is working...

[Superduty]

What is everybody's thought on feathered trebles on jerkbaits? I know some guys that always use a feather and other guys that swear the feather takes away from the action of the jerkbait.

[bklimek]

I prefer spinning gear but I have issues with superline not winding tight on the reel resulting in line poofs. Is it the reel or what? I back it with mono and it's and older sahara. Maybe I just need to pay closer attention?

[RK]

bklimek -

What kind of superline are you using?

Others may have different opinions, but on spinning gear, I really prefer a fused superline like Fireline. Handles far better, IMHO, especially in lighter weights like 10 or 12#. Far fewer wind knots or spilling off the spool once you get it broken in.

Just a thought.

cheers,

Rob Kimm

[TonkaBass]

What is everybody's thought on feathered trebles on jerkbaits? I know some guys that always use a feather and other guys that swear the feather takes away from the action of the jerkbait.

shhhh... Smallies hate feathered trebles! I do think that they hinder the action a little, but I think that is because most of the manufactures put too much bulk in the tails. I tie my own now and they don't affect the action nearly as much.

[bklimek]

I've spooled 14# fireline on a few occasions with the same result. Maybe i should drop to 10-12. I also probably need to break it in better and watch what I'm doing more closely when I'm doing that. I love how it feels when I get a strike I just never make it through a season without having to take the scissors to my spool!

[Fulldraw84]

Do you guys that use braid find the lure doesn't go as deep. I usually throw on flouro because I pause for as long as I can stand it, then pick up the pace later on. I think with braid, the lure would sit head up in the water,or float up slowly

[Deitz Dittrich]

monarch, its all going to depend on water temps some.. Actually, braid should maybe get you down deeper as its thinner diam will allow less resistance.. Floro helps as it sinks some.