How do you fish jerkbaits

[jclap86]

Im an avid angler, but I only know the basics. Im good with texas rigs, crank baits, hollow bodied swimbaits, and spinnerbaits. Im wanting to try out some jerkbaits, so my question is whats the best way to fish them?

[roadwarrior]

BassResource.com has an extensive library,

including "Fishing Articles" and "Tacklebox"

at the top of the page. Here is a place to start:

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/Jerkbait_fishing.html

8-)

[SportMN]

I too wrote a few articles on jerkbaits a few years back.. hope this helps you..

Jerkbait 2 Step

After reading the title of this article, you can probably guess that the

article that you are about to read is about the jerkbait. The two-step part

of it has two separate meanings: One being the two separate styles of

jerkbaits, hard and soft, the other the importance of rhythm in fishing. A

jerkbait can be worked with a rhythm and still be erratic. I think this is

very important. In this article, I plan to tell you everything you would

ever want to know about fishing jerkbaits and probably a lot that you could

care less about but can digest anyway. Jerkbaits can out produce many other styles and techniques in fishing, even during the toughest times. Fishing jerkbaits can be thought of as finesse fishing tactic as well as an aggressive fishing tactic with just a few minor changes. Jerkbaits can produce almost year round. I say "almost" because they are less effective during the dog days of summer and the dead of winter. During the dog days of summer, the water tends to fill with

algae--jerkbaits are most effective if the water has a visibility of greater

than 2 feet. In the dead of winter, fish are usually deeper than the jerkbait works effectively. In other words, you could still catch fish on the jerkbait, but there would be many other ways that would be more effective. Jerkbaits probably work best during the pre-spawn when water temperatures reach mid 50's and up.

HARD JERKBAITS

When selecting a hard jerkbait you need to consider three things: speed,

action, and depth that you want to cover. It's important to always have a

plan to start with. You can change from that, but it's essential to have a

plan. Hard jerkbaits can be broken into two categories, those with a tight

wobble and those with a wide wobble. The tighter wobble is better for cooler

water. The tighter wobble bait usually runs deeper and is less erratic. This

suits cooler water perfectly. Another thing with the tighter wobble baits is

they can be slightly harder to tune and keep tuned, but don't let this scare

you. YOU CAN DO IT! The Rapala series and Smithwick Rogue are baits with a

tight wobble. Baits with a wide wobble are more erratic, generally run

shallower, and stay tuned better. These are much more effective in warm

water. Wide wobble baits that I use are the Bomber Long 'A' and the Storm

Thunderstick. Another thing to keep in mind is that any bait that is

suspending is usually less erratic than those that float because of the

weight added to the bait to get it to suspend.

Now that we have that down, we can talk about working these baits and the

equipment that I use to work them. I like a 6' baitcasting rod with a soft

tip. The soft tip is the most important part of the equipment being used.

The tip of the rod puts the action in the bait and is less fatiguing. If you

use a rod that is too stiff you will have to work much harder to get the

bait to do the things that you want. Not only that, but any bait that has

treble hooks are easiest to throw for the bass. The soft tip in the rod will

help you play the fish better so that won't happen. I like to use 10 lb test

line--the line is limp enough so that it doesn't hamper lure movement.

However, if you would like your lure to run shallower or deeper you can play

with line size. If you want your bait to run deeper, you can go to a thinner

line and get more depth without adding weight to the lure. A jerkbait is a

lure in which the rod imparts the action, not the reel. Because the reels

only job is to pick up the slack line, a high speed reel is best. I like to

use a 6.3:1. I tie directly to the o-ring with an improved clinch knot,

however there are times when I want a more erratic action and will use a

clip or loop knot. When working a jerkbait, I tend to use the

jerk-jerk-pause retrieve with the rod tip pointing down while trying to move

the lure 12-15 inches per pull. I will vary the lengths of the jerks and

pauses according to what I feel will work best that day. Once you jerk the

rod, point the rod tip directly back at the bait to create slack. This is

the most important step, read that again! Without slack in the line the bait

doesn't work its magic. Look at how your fish are hooked, you can learn a

lot from them. If you are hooking a lot of the fish with just the rear

treble, you may want to change your retrieve with a longer pause and shorter

jerks. Or switch all together to a sweep-pause retrieve. If you are catching

a lot of fish with all three hooks across the mouth, remember what you

did...IT WORKED! You may notice during a day that you were hooking fish

well, then you will catch 3 fish in a row with just the rear treble. Try to

figure out what changed: Maybe the wind switched slightly, or cloud cover.

Something has changed, and you need to adjust. Your ability to adjust will

determine how many fish you are going to catch. The final paragraph of this section related to hard jerkbaits contains some

hot tips to help you put more fish in the boat. First, change factory hooks

to premium hooks-- many times bass will slap at a bait to wound it. With

super sharp hooks, you will get many of these fish. Another hot tip that I

like to keep to myself but will reveal to my close friends is...SHHH don't

tell anybody this...During late prespawn, add suspend strips or lead tape to

the area just in front of the front treble so that the lure sits face down

in the water. Bass will see this as a feeding stance and will sometimes

devour this bait. Another fun tip is to work a floating jerkbait on a

Carolina rig in shallow water. You can work the bait much slower and keep it

in the strike zone longer. For a different look, try adding a treble hook

off a POP-R or other feather type hook to the rear of the jerkbait.

SOFT PLASTIC JERKS

Probably most popular in the early 90's due to the onset of tubes and

creature plastics like spider grubs and brush hawgs, the soft plastic

jerkbait has lost a little bit of its original popularity, but they still

catch as many fish as they ever did. The soft plastic jerkbait is usually

worked with a 4/0 hook, the 4/0 is not needed for its size but more for its

weight. Where you put the eye of the hook will directly affect the lure's

action. The lower the eye is on the bait, the more it will rise with the

jerks. You can change hook size to get the fall that you are looking for. If

more weight is needed, add a barrel swivel 12-15' up the line. This will add

weight without hurting the action of the lure. You can also add a 1/32 oz

sliding worm weight to the front but it will put a totally different action

to the lure. Another thing I will do is add a finishing nail to the body of

the lure. Sometimes that is all that is needed. I tend to use a spinning rod combo with soft plastic baits, because of the

lack of weight. I have used a baitcaster, but I like the presentation of the

spinning outfit better. I like to skip soft plastic jerkbaits into cover,

they are a great cover bait because they are weedless if rigged correctly,

and with a few skips can get where no other bait except a tube can go. I use

10lb test again but have used as little as 6 lb and as much as 17 depending

on the structure or cover being fished.

COLOR

If you read my last article, "My theory on bass and I'm sticking to it", you

will find the acronym K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Stupid). There is no better

example of that than here. At the beginning of this article, I stated that

jerkbaits are a clear water technique, so use natural colors. My favorite is

probably dark green back with gold sides, or black back with silver sides. I

have other baits, but these are the two that produce best for me and that I

have confidence in.

IN CONCLUSION

Remember when fishing jerkbaits that you are fishing clear water. Keep this

in mind when approaching structure. Stay back far enough so that you don't

spook the fish, yet close enough that you can make an accurate cast to the

cover you're fishing. Also remember to keep a rhythm. I think fish can key

in better if you do the same movement repeatedly so that they can time their

attack. Just keep in mind that just because you are fishing with a rhythm

doesn't mean it can't still be erratic.

[zero]

i usually use soft jerkbait with 2 twitches and pause it work really well for me last year but this year i am gonna try different ways with hardbaits

[Fishbone]

Well done Sportmn. Thanks

[simplejoe]

Nice write up SportMN.

[SportMN]

Thanks for the kind words Gentlemen.

[b.Lee]

That was a very refreshing read.

[jclap86]

Thanks for the tips. They answered all my questions

[Dwight Hottle]

Very good read, SportMN

[Fishes in trees]

In-Fisherman magazine covered this subject about five years ago in depth.  My jerkbait fishing has improved since I started trying to do what they said to do.

They wrote that jerkbait fishing is basically a cover the water game.  Cast as far as you can while still retaining feel.   They went on with extensive recommendations about what to use.

What I'm currently using is a 7' medium light spinning rod, the US Reel 230 Supercaster, 14 lb Fireline crystal and a fluorocarbon leader.  I can throw a half ounce Lucky craft along ways with this rig, way over 100 ft.

You can feel the bait at the end of the cast with this rig.  The cool thing is that you don't have to, the white Fireline acts like a strike indicator.

Long cast, several jerks to get it down. Pause, slack line, anything breathes on your bait that fireline is going to twitch.

I've set the hook on keeper fish over 100 feet away from the boat with this rig.

If you are fishing from the back of the boat in a co-angler situation pay attention.  Most guys are not used to a co-angler throwing this far.  If he starts to move the boat weird, it will take longer than you think to get your bait in.  Fireline doesn't mix well with trolling motor props.  At this point your boater will really love you.  It doesn't help to point out that the white fireline is really easy to see.

I'm pretty sure you can go back into the In-Fisherman archives and find those jerkbait articles.   It seems to me that they were in a spring issue, 5 or 65 years ago.