00bullitt

I've got multiple Exprides and a few Megabass Rods to include the Orochi Diablo Spec-R, Levante Tour Versatile and Jerkbait Special. For comparison sake, I also have several GLX, NRX and NRX+. The rods I use ALL THE TIME...are my Exprides. For an all around Expride, I definitely recommend the Medium Action, but I would suggest their 6'10". While its 4" shorter overall, 2" of that are in the butt and 2" in tip. Its also a thinner and lighter blank. I have 3, 6'10" Medium Exprides and 1, M/H. I LOVE THEM!!! I have a 7'2" M and M/H but they get used wayyyyyy less. I REALLY like the nimble and light feel of the 6'10 Shimano rods. I also have the Zodias and Curado versions and a 6'11" Medium Poison Adrena. The Exprides and Megabass rods always perform better in one action less than what you think as they don't compare to traditional actions. The Diablo Spec-R is absolutely their best all around action. Not too stiff and a great tip and mid section. Easy to go from light texas rig, lighter jig to up to 1/2oz spinnerbait/chatterbait. Oh.....and expect the Megabass Rods to break easily and the warranty process, while easy, is slow. I have yet to break an Expride, but have broken each of my MB rods within 10" of the tip on hooksets and just basic movement of fish around the boat.

The 1/4oz head screwd into a Crush City 3" Mayor has become my go to finesse swimbait. I use a #6 short shank round bend treble. Love how well they work and my increases hook up and landing ratio. Plus, I donf tear up my baits nearly as fast.

FFS is a great tool, but it has some quirks to it. Your pitch angle of the transducer could be giving you incorrect depth readings. Which FFS are you using? Most likely and with high probability those jerkbaits are running right where advertised.

My favorite spinnerbait of ALL time; especially on the spotted bass fisheries here in GA & SC. Its a short, stifffer arm. Comes through cover like butter because the arm deflects well. Hook is smaller and nano coated and super pointy. Skirt is wire tied and has extended tentacles for great action. The blades are the secret. They are thin and lightweight and start immediately upon ANY movement. While its not the thumpiest spinnerbait, the fish obviously don't care....it flat catches'em! Worth every cent IMO!

I have both as well as the Tatula 80. The Tatula 70 is more of a 50 sized spool in a 70 frame. The Tatula 80 is much more comparable to the Curado 70. The Tatula 70 & 80 are the same frame; very different spools. I have used them all for Jerkbaits and settled on the Tatula 70 and run 10# fluoro to a 1/4 spool of 30# braid. Its a phenomenal jerkbait/finesse reel so long as you never intend to run heavier than 12# test.

I have both. 70 and 80 frames are the same. 70 spool is SV and shallow. 80 spool is deeper and holds more line. Casting with the SV is different; if you cast too hard, it actually reduces distance as the brakes engage. I use it as my jerkbait reel on an Expride 6'10" Medium. Its very palmable....moreso than a Curado 70. Its near impossible to backlash. Super smooth. Downside is that it holds very little line. I think about 70 yards of 12# test. The 80 is deeper and will hold about 90 yards of 15# test. I love them both. The 70 casts lighter baits better than the 80, and surprisingly further with less effort.

I prefer the 6'10" rods in the Shimano line. Its a 2" shorter handle and 2" less tip - also a much thinner and lighter blank. The 7'2" rods are way overbuilt in my opinion and a full 1-1.5 ounces heavier. I have a few 7'2" Shimano rods but use the 6'10"s almost always. I have the Medium and Medium/Heavy in the SLX, Zodias and Expride and a Medium and Medium/Light Curado; all in 6'10". One word of warning....actions are similar across lines but not at all the same, but I do find the Medium to be more versatile than the M/H. The Exprides are amazing; very light and sensitive and the shape and size of the cork handles are to die for. If you are looking for an awesome one size fits all bank rod, have a look at the G. Loomis 843MBR (7') in the GCX or IMX line. I have the 843GCX and 844IMX and LOVE them!

I have an NRX(not plus) 822SYR and an Expride B 6'10" ML. While the NRX is slightly more sensitive than the Expride (mostly feel the sensitivity advantage in 30+ feet depths), I prefer the overall feel of the Expride. I use them both equally. I throw a shaky head on the Expride mostly and DS on the NRX. I LOVE the Expride line! I have 4 and want more. I have the spinning rod mentioned and plan to get a 7'2" ML. Also think I want the 7'2" ML casting. I have 2 - 6'10" B's; a M & M/H and a 7'2" M. I LOVE their 6'10" casting rods! The Medium is truly the best jerkbait rod I have ever used and probably the rod that is in my hand the most. The 6'10" M & M/H are ultra versatile and I would not mind another. I prefer the shorter handle and thinner/lighter blank of the 6'10" vs. 7'2". The 7'2" has a 2.5" longer handle than the 6'10" and the tip gain is only 1.5".

I use a few. I'm ultra picky about the action of my rods for jerkbaits. I would say my main rod for 95-112 size jerk plugs is the Shimano Expride 6'10" Medium paired with a Shimano Curado 70XG (8.1 gear ratio). I have an Aldebaran HG but its only a 7.4:1. I specifically want an 8 or better as I just prefer the way it takes up line better for faster cadence fishing. When water temps get below 60 degrees, I use 10# Seaguar TATSU. If I could afford it, I would use it all year (I buy it when I find it on sale). I back the reel with some 30# braid (braid is lighter and gets the spool moving quicker and its less expensive when I respool expensive line as I respool pretty often. TATSU is amazingly strong. I have straightened heavy jig hooks out with their 15# test TATSU. The rest of the year I use 12# Seaguar Invisx. Invisx starts to coil badly and get a lot of memory when the water temps fall into the 50's. TATSU stays very supple with almost no memory.....an ungodly strong. Casting the smaller jerk plugs on 10# test is much easier too. I have even considered trying TATSU 8# given how strong their 10# is. I have landed 20+ pound stripers on it. I have broken off several bigger fish on 10 & 12# Invisx. I honestly cannot think of a time where I had a fish break off on TATSU.

With the stock hooks the 110jr. slowly floats in water temps over 50 degrees. The Berkley Fusion Med Shank #8 EWG is 4.3 grains and the Mustad Triple Grip EWG 2x Short, 1 x strong #8 is 4.5 grains. The Stock VMC made #8's that come on it are 4.0 grains. The Berkley is a much better hook than the stock #8's in my opinion and I used them for a while until I came across the Mustad. I now use the Mustad Triple Grip mentioned on all my 110jr.'s. Our lakes are in the mid to high 50 degree temps right now and wiht the Mustads, I get a very slow sink; about .5" per second. I actually prefer a slow sink as I can often jerk it right over a suspended fish using Livescope and let it drop slowly into them often triggering a strike. I see the fish react and then watch my line jump.

I fish the SC/GA chain as my home waters plus Lanier.....all full of spotted bass.....bigguns too. A small jerkbait is my #1; Vision 110jr. and 110jr. +1 often going smaller to match forage size like Duo Realis 85, Nanahan x75 and Lucky Craft 65. A small 2.8" Keitech on a 1/4oz to 1/2oz. Bad Shad or Guppy head with 1/0 hook is good to work the 0-40' water column. Small underspins like the CoolBaits work well too. Cant beat a drop shot year round! Neds, shaky heads and nekos are great, but I prefer a tiny tungsten 1/4-3/8oz. peanut jigs like the Fitzgerald or Picasso Lil Spotty. Always have a topwater; I like the Spro E-Pop, Evergreen JT95 & ShowerBlows 77 and Lucky Craft GunFish 95....or a nose hooked Super Fluke Jr. Damiki Vault blade baits are excellent year round and super versatile. You might be able to rig up a Shane's Baits Mini Blades of Glory Finesse A-Rig to throw on a spinning rod, but even with 1/16oz. heads, you are at 3/4oz total....really more suited to a baitcaster. The above baits thrown on spinning gear will serve you well to capture spotted bass.

I have been throwing the X75 +1 and Pointer 65DD alot lately due to the fish keying in on such smaller bait. Both still throw fine on my baitcasting jerkbait rod, but its probably best suited to spinning gear. They both have produced well! Satoshin Chiayu is my color of choice in the Nanahan x75.

The Megabass 110jr. +1 is easily my favorite jerkbait as it catches the large majority of my fish; mostly spotted bass on the lakes I fish, granted it gets eaten by plenty of Larry's. The stock hooks suck as they bend out too easily, granted....Megabass design their jerk plugs to be used in a light line finesse application, so understandable. This is a discussion in an of itself in my opinion as several jerkbaits are designed around more of a power application with larger/stronger hooks. I used to be a fall/winter jerkbait guy only. That all changed once I started using forward facing sonar (Livescope) a few years ago as I now had eyes on every suspended fish in a 100' radius of my boat. The jerkbait became my go-to bait on the deck of my boat and catches the majority of my fish on any given day. I typically have 2 or 3 jerkbaits ready to go for different situations. I target these fish and catch them! Livescope opened an entire new frontier of bass fishing in my opinion and I like to capitalize on that. And by god the jerkbait bite is just AWESOME! With all that said, I throw the 110jr. +1 the majority of the time. I have finally found a hook that I trust and gets the bait to remain neutrally buoyant in summer water temps (70-90deg) and then as the lake cools, it will sink ultra slow just as I like it as I will jerk it over a school of fish and then pause it and watch it sink about a half inch to an inch per second depending on water temps. It drops into them and the school goes absolutely nuts! The Mustad Triple Grip 2x short, 1x strong #8 EWG is that hook. It weighs 4.5 grains compared to the factory #8 thin wire round bend treble by VMC that is 4.0 grains. I DO NOT lose fish with that hook and they rarely bend! I've never been a big EWG fan as I've always believed a round bend to hook up better, but after using the Berkley Stunna with their Fusion EWG and now this....I've become an EWG treble hook believer. I do wish that Megabass would consider making the 110jr. +1 in a silent version. I think that would be deadly! I watch alot of big fish shoot up after my jerkplug and then slowly turn away. I'm quite certain its the noise that deters them. Anyway, wanted to drop an update here in case it helps someone. Tight lines!

Ito Shiner for me! Casts a mile and typically entices one of the bigger spots out of the school.

I tried to go back and edit the original post, but I guess the "edit" feature goes away after some time lapses. Probably not a bad idea to revive this thread as the height of jerkbait season is upon us although its my most utilized bait all year round and has been since I got Livescope 2 years ago. Forward facing sonar has opened the door of possibility for capturing those suspended open water fish. I've caught so many 4 plus pound spotted bass in the top 10' of the water column over 70-100' of water its not even funny......and they fall for a jerkbait about every time! I weighed a few more hooks from the original list: Duo Realis Nano #8 = .32grams/4.9 grains Due Realis Nano #6 = .47grams/7.4 grains Ichikawa RC Light #8 = .28grams/4.4grains Ichikawa RC Light #6 = .42grams/6.6grains Berkley EWG #8 = .27grams/4.3grains Berkley EWG Med Shank #6 = .38 grams/6.0grains Norman Speed Clip, small = 1.7 grains Megabass 110 stock split ring = 1.0 grains Owner Hyperwire #2 split ring = 1.0 grains Owner Hyperwire #3 split ring = 1.8 grains Still loving the Stunna and the 110jr. The Berkley hooks on the Stunna have been money! I have increased my landing ratio with the 110jr. by changing stock hooks to Berkley #8 EWG's and using a Berkley #6 Medium Shank EWG on the center.