Bass Fishing Tip of the Week Official Post.

[Deitz Dittrich]

HotSpotOutdoors.com Tip of the week..

Soft plastic jerkbaits are some of my fave lures to throw opening day. They have a wounded baitfish look to them that is almost unmatched. Playing with how you put the hook in the nose can greatly change the action of the lure. If you come in the bottom nose of the lure and then texpose it, you will build sort of a ramp. And when you jerk it, the lure will dart back towards the surface, giving a minnow jumping out of the water look that can attract bass… If you need a pict of what I am talking about I should be able to find something!!!

Deitz

[Bass Whacker]

I would love to see a pic of how you rig these to dart twards the surface if you can find one. I just started playing around with some flukes a buddy left in my boat and was very impressed with them. Thanks for the tip.

[Central Bassman]

Great tip!!

[bassNspear]

Awesome tip Dietz. It would be cool to see what you are talking about in a photo if you do have time for them.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I'll try and get a pict..

[Juan Grande]

Soft plastic jerkbaits aren't senkos then right? They're more like fluke baits?

[Deitz Dittrich]

Correct.

[TonkaBass]

Dietz, whats your fav type of soft jekbait.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Being on the Mr.Twister Pro-Staff, I do like the Exude RT Slug- its one of the few products that MR.Twister still makes in Exude.. which I have always been a big fan of. And I hate to admit this, but my fave color is "Funky Chicken" A pink green laminate.

[Cecil]

You're correct, you should hate to admit that.

[JConrad]

I would think this would be an excellent technique for early Smallies on lakes like Mille Lacs or some of the Northern great Smallie lakes. Hmmmm.

[RK]

JConrad - Soft jerkbaits can kick smallie butt sometimes. I fish 'em on spinning gear with Fireline and a weighted hook like Northland and Falcon make. If you want to get a little deeper, or fish them a little faster, they work great with a 1/16 or 3/32 oz jighead too. Great baits in mid-summer. They have the attracting quality of a hard jerkbait, but when you pause them they have that soft plastic shimmy and glide hard baits just don't have...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[TonkaBass]

Not to mention they are golden on a carolina rig. Rk do you use them for suspended smallies on a jighead?

[RK]

Rk do you use them for suspended smallies on a jighead?

Why would anyone want to do something like that? I'm sure it wouldn't work.... Ever. Don't bother. *cough* Hey, look over there! A baby wolf!

Seriously - yeah, it can be great for suspended smallies.

When they're within 10 feet of the surface I think other things work better, like topwaters, grubs, jerkbaits, or a ribbon-tail worm, but when they're down 15-20 feet and won't come up and chase something, a Super Fluke, Power Minnow, or Jerk Shad on a jighead works pretty well. You can fish them a lot of different ways too. Sometimes if they're right over a reef or something you can just vertical jig and watch your electronics. Other times you can cast them, and either count them down, or let it hit the bottom then pop it up and just reel it in. Or, 'stroll' with it out behind the boat and just move along with the trolling motor. It'll kind of waft and flutter out behind the boat. You can cover a lot of water this way. I fish them on fireline with a fluoro leader. The fireline helps you feel hits, which are really subtle sometimes.

What's interesting is that when suspended fish aren't chasing the less you 'work' the bait the better. (Probably why drop-shotting can work so well on suspended fish too.) When I fish soft jerkbaits shallow, even on a jighead, I'm constantly popping and snapping it. When I fish them deeper though I try to hold them as still as I can when vertical jigging, or just drag it if I'm casting or strolling. No lift/fall or swimming or anything. Just reel the thing in at a slow, steady pace.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[TonkaBass]

is "strolling" illegal in minnesota tournaments? I think it's ok to do for the fort francis tourney, but I think it's a no-no for mn tourneys

[Cecil]

As long as you aren't using the big motor you can do it.

[RK]

is "strolling" illegal in minnesota tournaments? I think it's ok to do for the fort francis tourney, but I think it's a no-no for mn tourneys

I haven't the foggiest - I don't fish tournaments, so I don't care if it's 'legal' in tournaments or not - heh... So I'd listen to Cecil on this one

Since you brought it up though - trolling being 'illegal' in bass tournaments has always sort of baffled me. It's as valid a fishing method as anything else. It's not unethical. It isn't an unfair advantage over any other anglers as long as they can do it too if they want... I can't remember if it was the Sturgeon Bay Open or some other early season GL smallie tournament a few years ago, but the winning team won (and won by a large margin) trolling jerkbaits over open water. A bunch of other teams screamed bloody murder because they'd 'cheated' by trolling - even though nothing in the rules stated trolling wasn't allowed. I thought the whole controversy was kind of funny. Big ol' bowl of sour grapes...

Both the Fort Francis tourney and I think the KBI have been won in the recent past by guys strolling over open water...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Cecil]

It was the Sturgeon Bay Open. It was VERY interesting way they fished them. I'm pretty sure they weren't even over open water (I may be wrong), it was the only way they could get the baits that far from the boat since the fish were spooked if you were on top of them. I fished the spot two weeks later and couldn't figure out how to do it if you held a gun to my head. But still caught the fire out of them in another area.

[JConrad]

RK and Tonka Bass...... Great tips.... Thanks... I will put them to work this coming year!

Joel

[Deitz Dittrich]

LOL- One tip has led to 2 pages of replies and other tips.. THIS IS GREAT!!!~~~ I cant wait for all the rest of the tips, and I hope we have as good of conversation with all the rest of the tips!!!

[TonkaBass]

Rk- it's baffled me too. Other than this suspended smallie techinque, I couldn't think of another way to troll where a guy would outfish casting and retrieving. Trolling just doesn't seem like that good of a way to catch bass compaired to casting imho

[Ray Esboldt]

Tonka,

Yep, don't do it - trolling for bass.

RK,

Shut the heck up already.

[RK]

[Cecil]

Similar reason to why they dont allow trolling in Wisconsin at all (maybe its just for Muskies?). Not that I know what that reason is. I guess I could see the advantage for Muskies and Walleyes, but not for bass.

[Nick Kuhn]

Similar reason to why they dont allow trolling in Wisconsin at all (maybe its just for Muskies?). Not that I know what that reason is. I guess I could see the advantage for Muskies and Walleyes, but not for bass.

Trolling is decided on a county to county or lake to lake basis. It's not a muskie thing, probably more like a tribal treaty thing. There are a few situations where trolling works for bass, but casting usually is the better option. I've used it on my lake towards the fall when fish start to scatter over large weedless flats with some success.