Weighted Squirrely Burt

[JJJ]

Got a weighted suirrely burt this spring. Tried it out and it spirals through the water as I jerk it. Does not dive and rise. Should I twitch it or pull it to get the best action out of this lure? Help needed...

[Quackaddict9]

mine is not weighted and usually I jerk it and let it rise a little bit and jerk again, or sometimes reel it in and shows alot of taily action. Sometimes people modify their squirrley burts but I am not sure how they do that. My burt will sometimes go sideways when jerking it. Not much of help here but try reeling it in and jerking it and let it rise a bit. wait and see what others have to say

[fishonnopeoff]

My first. 45"

[Lals]

I read that 1 foot jerks works best and when I tried it, I agreed. It gave the bait a slight side to side action.

[RK]

Hiya -

Biggest mistake most guys make with Burts, especially the weighted ones, is over working them... Really don't need to snap hard, just softer taps, and he should dart around pretty good. Part of why I like Burt a lot is they're easy as all get out to work.

If Burt's still rolling over on you, look to make sure the seam on the twister tail is lined up with the seam on the back of the bait. If that's off, he'll get unstable. If that is ok, try *slightly* bending the eye like you were tuning a crankbait - bend it opposite the way it's running off to the side as you look at him head on. If he's STILL rolling over and the seam's fine, may need to shave the lip - every once in a while there gets to be a little extra paint on Burt's nose that can mess him up. Take a pocket knife and shave a very little bit of paint off the edge of the nose on the side opposite the direction of twist. So if it's running off to the right as it comes in, shave a little off the left as you look at it head on. Don't take off much - just a little maybe 1/4 of an inch up, then test it.

Best thing to do with a burt if you haven't used one before is take it to a dock or throw it on a calm day so you can try different things out and see what it can do as far as how hard you can work it and which side it likes to dart to. They're all slightly different even though they're made of plastic, so you have to spend a little time on them to see what they can do.

With a good burt, you can set up a following fish like you can't believe. I have one squirrley that will really dart off to the left if he's facing right and you give it a hard snap. About that time he gets his teeth knocked in. Plus squirrley burts are about the best hooking jerkbait there is. Great baits - worth the effort in figuring them out for sure...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm