I got into jerkbaits in a more serious way last year. I tend to fish neighborhood ponds/lakes and smaller rivers/streams. One day I saw a guy just yanking smallies out just below a dam and he was using a small jerkbait, that's what really got me interested. From what I've experienced and read, they do quite well in early spring and late fall because the fish are slower/less active and the jerking motion triggers a reaction but also allows them time to catch up in between jerks. Longer pauses for slower (colder) fish.
One of my go to jerkbaits is the husky jerk 08 in baby bass color. Costs about $6 bucks. I throw that on a spinning rod w/ 10# mono. I generally prefer baitcasters but the 08 is just 1/4 oz and so it's right at that threshold of being too light to effectively throw on a baitcaster IMO. Being a smaller jerkbait, I think you're more likely to catch more fish as it doesn't scare the smaller guys off. Then again, I've seen tiny smallies eat baits twice their size so there's that. I think you're described setup will be good for jerkbaits. I only fish from the bank and will get them as close as I can to the bank before bending down to pick them up.
More recently, I've been fishing a Vision 110 Jr which has been great. It's a 3/8oz and also has an internal moving weight to help with castability, so you can cast it a country mile with a baitcaster.
As far as technique, I randomly switch between 1, 2, or 3 jerks and then pausing for anywhere from 1-5 seconds. Some people will pause for 30 secs or more. A key tip is to only turn your reel to bring in slack, not to actually advance the lure. So it's really the twitching/jerking that move the lure and then you're just reeling up slack, always keeping sure to have a bit of slack when you jerk. Otherwise you're jerking and immediately reeling the lure which takes aware from the jerking motion of the lure. Hope this helps!
