Glide vs Jerk bait

[rugbymn]

I'm fairly new to muskies and I still can't figure out the difference between a glide and a jerkbait.

What is the best way to get the glide/jerk/WTD motion? Is it with shorter side pulls, direct downward pulls, etc? I have a phantom viper that looks really stupid when I try to get it to work (operator error, I'm sure).

What is the best situation for each?

[Nick Kuhn]

I think of jerkbaits as a vertical motion and glide baits as a side to side motion. The key to glide baits is rhythm, and it is different with every bait. Picking up slack line quickly is a must though for both glide and jerkbaits. Too much slack and they go all over the place and usually foul. Don't be too concerned about getting a perfect motion, just make sure it is moving erratically and isn't fouled.

As far as situations, I think of glides as more of an open water bait (over rocks and wood), whereas jerkbaits are more of a weed type bait. I think of both as triggering baits, only to be used if you know fish are present. Once I know where the fish are and they aren't hitting search type baits a jerkbait is the first thing out of the box.

[RK]

Hiya -

Well, they're all jerkbaits really, but there are different kinds of jerkbaits.

Some are dive/rise or "chop" style jerkbaits (suicks, bobbie baits, big daddies), some are glide baits (phantoms, eddie baits, vipers, hellhounds) and some are hybrids (reef hawgs, burts, sledges).

For working gliders it's all cadence and velocity. If I had to guess I'd say you might be working the bait too hard which will make it spin out of control. Try a steady tap-tap-tap downard with the rodtip as you reel. One very important thing is to bring your rodtip back up after you tap it downard to, for lack of a better phrase, throw some slack line back at the bait. Not a lot of slack, just a little to give the bait enough rope to let the bait swing sideways. Vipers, if I recall, don't take a lot of work to get them to walk.

*** That all having been said, if it's down there and wiggling around, a fish will hit it. Fish don't read bait packages. They don't know how the thing is "supposed to work." I have a Reef Hawg that I've had for close to 20 years, it's caught dozens of muskies, and it runs upside down about half the time.

If it moves, it's food... ***

As for which when and where, I tend to use chop-type baits around weeds since they back up well and track straight (Suicks are awesome in thick weeds) and gliders when the water's colder, in more open water situations, or after cold fronts.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[50inchpig]

easiest way to figure out the best action on jerk-baits is to start with a sharp jerk, more like a bounce or tap, then back to slack line. each cast continue to pull longer and harder until the bait seems to do what you think it should do. jerking your rod downward is usually easier than jerking to the side.

for instance, wtd surface baits take the sharp taps, small phantom takes little taps to work, large phantom you can really rip really hard but still return to slack line on the pause. vipers you won't snap as hard as the phantoms, but it'll still be a pretty good tap, and a bait like a suick or bobbie you can work a variety of ways but usually with longer pulls.

if you fail to get the desired action it might also be your snap. hellhounds don't work on my larger snaps, always has to be the smaller one.

and for my disclimer i'm not a big fan or jerk-baits or wtd's and i hate gliders but i'll throw them all when i have to, usually in the fall when nothing else is working.