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Hi guys I’ve had a tremendous amount of success on jerkbaits this year and purchased my first lure specific combo because of how much year round success I have had on them. I usually use the berkley Stunna and I tend to do really well making the lure do a walk the dog motion back and forth then every 10-12 ft popping the weight transfer bb so it makes the bait fall tail first back to the fish. However watching a tactical bass on video their jerkbaits did just hops forward sitting nose down and it seems those guys really know what they’re doing. Even when I use other baits like rhe Kvds rappala shadow rap and vision 110 I go for that side to side gliding motion. Am have I been fishing this wrong this whole time ? I catch tons of fish on them and they have become a huge confidence bait for me. But am I working them wrong , should I look for a more straight line approach? What do you guys try to make your jerkbaits do

While most people think of jerkbaits as a strictly cold water bait fished with a slow cadence this is not unlocking the true potential of this bait. Hard and soft jerkbaits are something I always have rigged everytime I go fishing. let’s start with the differences and application of hard vs soft jerkbaits listed below is how where and why I fish each and the subcategories that hard jerkbaits are best divided into. Imo soft jerkbaits Soft jerk-baits excell in weeds and heavy coves they can be absolutely deadly under docks lay down and in super thick cover as you can texpose or in some baits even cover the hook point completely this is due to most hard jerks having 3 sets of trebles making them a nightmare in weeds and cover. The exception to this is deeper vegetation and shallow hard jerkbaits that allow you to fish 1-4 feet over the submerged vegetation but I almost always like a soft jerk-bait on those situations. Moving your soft bait quickly over the thick stuff and letting it shiny down into holes in the grass is absolutely deadly as well as skipping it under docks and cover and fishing them slow in the summertime. All in all soft jerkbaits are best utilized wherever you don’t want to lose your 15-25$ lure the cadences for these baits are not as important but the fall of shimmy when you kill it is these are almost never moved with the reel instead by snapping the slack in your line back and forth like a walk the dog style bait. they can also be a deadly follow up bait and can catch fish in similar situations to a wacky senko but offer a different shape and movement that can be deadly when everyone else has a wacky wig. hard jerkbaits are best broken up into 2 categories twitch baits and rip baits rip baits and example is the Kvd jerkbait if you look at the body and it’s wide and thick the bait takes more energy from your rod to move these baits are best when you are tying to drawl a fish attention through a flash most of the time they will have a roll when they twitch and put off a crazy flash into the water these baits are killer on sunny days year round but need to be worked very aggressively to be effective i generally go to a 1-2-3 pause 1-2 and they speed of the snaps and pauses will vary depending on water temp twitch baits are arguably the best all around jerkbait my favorites are the rapalla shadow rap berkley Stunna witch can work as a rip or a twitch bait and the notorious megabass vision 110 comming in at whopping 25$ per lure but well worth the investment. The lure I carry and throw 90% of the time is the Stunna because it is so versatile and I love the slow sink action. In the winter this is Uber important as you want your bait to shimmy down to the fish. In cold water i favour the vision as it has a less aggressive action. Spring- fall you will be surprised how hard fish will hit a jerkbait especially on either side of the spawn or around the shad spawn. I use the same 1-2-3 pause 1-2 cadence but I only every fish a slack line unlike the rip baits that don’t do much fished on slack the twitch bait catagory is also deadly for casting at fish chasing shad and is more effective at catching feeding fish than almost any other lure. Whenever I see gosh bust I instantly stop and grab a jerk-bait rod. Try hard jerkbait a above any submerged cover fish will swim up 5-10 feet in clear water to smoke these things I promise. My rule of thumb is I want my bait to be fished about 5 feet over the structure. Rod reel and line for a rod I like a 6’10 medium fast action I swap between mono and fluorocarbon I fish mono when the water temps get over 55 fluro under 55 the reason is that with a fast action rod when are actively feeding they will hammer you bait and it becomes less important for your bait to sink down to them like during winter. and with a fast action rod the stretch in the mono helps to keep those tiny trebles pinned. modifications you want your bait to sink head down in cold water and tail down in warm water this is a presence for me but you can upsize the back or front hooks to make this happen it is especially helpful if you would like to fish mono year round

Has anyone else seen this jerkbait at iCast or the trailer on youtube? Looks like it might be giving the Vision 110 a run for it's money, especially at the 15$ pricepoint. Designed by Hank Cherry and it is supposed to release sometime this month. One of my favorite aspects of jerkbait fishing is that each jerkbait has a time and a place that it can outperform others but the Vision 110 is still my best performer 6-7 times out of 10. That being said, at 25$ for a single Vision 110, I would not mind being able to replace it with the Stunna at 15$ if it is able to compete. Thoughts?

I am located near Lake Harding in Alabama. I have used very few jerkbaits and have not been successful. I am just curious if anyone around the area of Lake Harding, Martin, Eufaula, West Point, etc. ever use jerkbaits successfully?

Hey BR, Just posted a new video on Jerkbaits for Fall bass. Its kind of an overview...hope you all like it! Thanks for Watching! JN

When I river fish for bass, pike usually make their presence known. Since I don't like losing lures left and right, I use a steel or bronze leader. For most larger lures, that's fine. But for jerkbaits/twitchbaits, it's not. The weight of the metal leader ruins the balance. So I saw these Titanium leaders, which are supposed to be very light weight. Light in weight, but not in price! I double-checked; these things are 8 to 10 bucks EACH. https://www.rapala.com/vmc/terminal-tackle/leaders/tls-titanium-leader-7-strand/TLS+Titanium+Leader+7-Strand.html?cgid=vmc-terminalTackle-leaders&taglist=VMC|Terminal Tackle|Leaders#start=3&cgid=vmc-terminalTackle-leaders Has anyone used these? Are they reliable? Most of all, would it ruin the action of a #8 or#10 X-rap? Anyone have any complaints about them? Thnx for all help. jj

So, I've been at this bass fishing thing for about two years and my confidence started in Texas rigged worms, moving to weightless sticks and flukes, and then finally to jigs and smaller paddle tailed swimbaits. I've been a skeptic about power fishing for a while, but today I got on them and a combination of cooling temperatures and the H2O Xpress Ultimate Jerk Shad and H2O Xpress CRS Crankbait produced my first ever 30+ fish day. Nothing exceeded two pounds, but it was a great action packed afternoon from 5:15-6:30 PM. I caught 8 on 8 casts bouncing the squarebill off the bricks of the pond overflow drain, and also fired up a school with the jerk shad before that. I am now a believer in a jerkbait and the crankbait, and very happy to gain confidence in the lower priced academy brand.

Hi everyone, Yesterday I decided to try targeting some largemouth on a predominantly smallmouth populated lake. I found that the fish were holding under floating mats of vegetation that had been blown into existing structure, whether it be timber, lily pads, weed beds, or docks. The water depths varied from 1' to about 6' and as usual some of the areas had lead in cover while others did not. My first choice in lures was a frog and it really helped me locate fish in the mats that I found myself fishing. The bass would usually blow up on the lure but weren't able inhale the whole bait. I think a lot of this had to do with the thickness of the mats I was fishing. I would follow up with a punching rig and proceed to bring in whatever fish were located under the mat which made the day quite enjoyable. My query is this; when fishing mats situated in deeper water, like 4' or deeper, has anyone ever tried a reaction bait like a jerkbait or spinnerbait along the edge, and if so, were you successful? Or do you just go straight to the punching rig? Normally I'm not adverse to try different things but I didn't have a big window to fish so stuck with what was working until the evening jerkbait bite picked up. Thanks in advance for any feedback people can provide.

What fishing style or technique is your favourite or catches you the most fish?

So I'm wondering what sort of rod power I need to throw jerkbaits and finesse jigs (up to 3/8oz), I'm trying to get one setup to do both. I have 12lb Fluoro spooled up. I'm looking at probably getting a Medium/Fast rod. What are your opinions?

with the weather here in the north east lately things have finally opened up so i went out to throw a jerkbait and build some confidence in it. so i'm throwing a Lucky Craft slender pointer mr 112 to a spot that is roughly 5'-6' deep from the bank. slowly twitching waiting about 10-15 seconds between twitches and i sped it up a little and immediately got hit i know it was a pike by the way it hit but i'm still stoked to get my first jerkbait fish, he got all 3 hooks and was about 3 lbs. the rest of the time was spent throwing the same bait to similar areas, no luck but still a good night

6.4:1 BPS Pro Qualifier 7.5:1 Lews Tournament MB Which one would you use for Jigs? Which for Cranks/Jerkbaits/Spinnerbaits? Thanks!

I use all kinds of crankbaits, but began using jerkbaits more in the Fall and discovered how much I liked them. They were the suspending jerkbaits of three different colors. Someone told me that using Storm suspen strips/dots enhances your ability to keep your jerkbait or crankbait at the level where your fish finder shows the depth where fish are schooling. Has anyone used the suspen strips or dots? If so, how did they perform? Do you think they increased your strike to cast ratio? Which did you use the strips or the dots? Thanks!

Hey guys, I'm in the market for a line to go on my jerkbait/crankbait rod. It's most likely going to be YZH. I know a lot of you use YZH and was wondering what size you guys suggest. Tackle Tour used 12lb when they tested the vision 110 but that seems a little thick. Suggestions? Thanks!

Am i the only one that steers clear of sinking jerkbaits and crankbaits? I dislike them mainly for their snagability on the bottom, it sucks. I know they have their place and i know there are ways to prevent snagging the bottom with them but I still dislike the whole idea of them sinking. does anyone feel the same way? and if not when do you feel is the best time to use a sinking jerk/crankbait?

Getting a new baitcast reel (Johnny Morris Carbonlite). I use braid w/ flouro leader on my other baitcast reels, and I am going to put fluorocarbon on this one so my bait gets to the right depth in certain situations. I am going to fish crankbaits (deep and mid), jerkbaits, shad raps...on this new one. Should I go with the slower 5:4:1 (22" per turn) that is usually ideal for slower cranks, the middle ground at 6:4:1 (26" per turn), or 7:1:1 (29" per turn) usually recommended to help pick up that slack line when hit ? Also...do the JM carbonlites really all have the roughness while reeling? Thanks ahead of time and sorry if this has already been covered here (tried to find it). ?

Need help finding some old jerkbaits looking for any 5" bagleys bang I lures in any crawfish patterns or stripped side and smithwick pro rogue 5 1/2 " golden bass color any help greatly appreciated

I am in the market for a new spinning rod that will be used for wacky worms and hard jerkbaits.I will be getting a 6'6 Medium Power/fast action rod. I am debating between the St. Croix Premier(130$) and the Abu Garcia Veritas(on sale for 80$). The Veritas would be 50$ cheaper which is huge for me but I would have to get extra-fast action(Thats okay with me). Which rod would you guys reccomend? P.S. I used to hear a lot about the Veritas line breaking, is that still an issue? Not a huge concern because they have great customer service but still... Thanks for any advice

Good day: I`ve been doing some research about jerkbait setups so I figured I`d see if there was a rough consensus about what I should be using. What do you guys think about what kind of rod, reel and line to put together for such a setup? A general purpose setup as I can`t quite justify multiple setups for now. I thank you in advance!

Has anyone out there used the Sebile Stick Shadd Sinking model for Bass yet? I'm very interested in finding a hard jerkbait that will sink quicker than say, a Rapala Countdown. The Stick Shadd seems to be exactly what I'm looking for but haven't been able to find much info. on them. If anyone has used the Stick Shadd or uses a sinking hard jerkbait that they like a lot, I'm all ears. Thanks, Mike

I admit, I woefully underuse soft plastics, most likely due to my having taught myself to fish at a young age. I needed a fast, more interesting way to fish. (I was ten and got bored easily.) Now however, I would like to better utilize them. When do you use soft jerkbaits vs paddletails vs soft craws vs worms vs tubes. Which ones are used for used for what situation as opposed to others. I fish most w/ a t-rig. Which do you rig in what ways for what circumstances? Mostly I use jerkbaits in more open spaces, above and around the edges of weedbeds/stumps. I use soft craws to drag/yo yo along the bottom. I use tubes in heavier cover, and worms for smaller spaces where short casts are necessary (I fish from the bank) i.e. through lily pads, heavy cover, and bluffs/steep areas where vertical presentations are used. I tend to use paddletails as an alternative to jerkbaits, especially in muddier water. I have no experience w/ grubs, or really any soft plastics outside of these listed. Also, which are better search baits and which are fished slow (oviously the got worm there) and how? Rereading this I feel like I total novice. So, I guess this is soft plastic 101.Thanks in advance.

I'm curious as to why people choose the $15-$25 jerk baits as opposed to the cheaper Smithwick Rattlin Rogues. Had a guy tell me he only fished pointers because they worked so much better, but didn't specifically cite any major differences in the action of the bait. What do those more expensive jerk baits do that the cheaper Rogues don't?