Soft Plastic Jerkbaits Vs. Hard Jerkbaits... Kind Of A Rant?

[Master Bait'r]

I only say rant because I am at a loss for explanation.  Is it me??  As you may be able to tell from my tongue-in-cheek name it's my favorite type of fishing.  I looooooooooooooooooove light finesse baits and specifically that jerky playful retrieve and action on lighter tackle- the fight is just so much fun when you actually have to work the fish IMHO.  I am just having a mental block with throwing and believing in hard plastic jerkbaits and would like to pick your brains if I may.      

 

 

I have had relatively massive success over the years with soft plastics jerkbaited such as the Slug-gos, senkos and even straight tail roboworms t-rigged and retrieved with that jerky motion...  But on the hard jerkbaits I've had extremely limited success and can never seem to get my money's worth out of them.  Every time I throw them it seems nothing (or very little) is fooled and I give up for soft plastics which are almost always subsequently hammered on by fish immediately.

 

 

 

What gives?  For me, soft plastic seems to always outfish hardbaits of the same retrieve no matter how pretty they are.  Does anybody else share this observation with me or am I just doing it wrong??  Pretty interested to see how others gauge the effectiveness of both baits in their eyes.  Also, yes I do realize that hard jerkbaits are pretty narrow in design while soft jerking stuff can be a pretty wide range, I'm just looking for a little outside perspective into my ramblings.     

[J Francho]

Hard jerkabaits narrow in design?  You haven't done your homework, or put enough time in them.  Depth, rattles, no rattles, knockers, Suspending, sinking, floating, subtle roll, erratic walk the dog,...the list goes on.  Go to any popular lure site and do a search on jerkbaits.  I think you'll be surprised.

[Master Bait'r]

Hard jerkabaits narrow in design?  You haven't done your homework, or put enough time in them.  Depth, rattles, no rattles, knockers, Suspending, sinking, floating, subtle roll, erratic walk the dog,...the list goes on.  Go to any popular lure site and do a search on jerkbaits.  I think you'll be surprised.

 

 

 

Yes I am aware that there are many types, but I still think soft plastics take the edge in variety, no?  I'm fully aware that this could be a result of my relative inexperience so I certainly will shop around more for sure, thanks.  

 

Do you have similar success with both types though?  

[J Francho]

I have better success with hard jerkbaits.  Due to the design of the bait, the presentation is more precise.  need a bait that dives to 8' and suspends?  I have one.  With a soft bait, I'm guessing.

 

I prefer soft stuff for surface, or just subsurface.  Otherwise, it's a hard bait.

[Master Bait'r]

Darn...  I KNEW it was me.  

 

 

 

The gear monkey was right...  Again. 

[Crestliner2008]

Hard baits also have the edge in cooler water, when you need a longer periods of suspension, between jerks. They tend to hold their depth better than soft plastics and have a much wider range of action which you can impart, depending on the mood of the fish and the conditions you are fishing. The only thing I have against using the hard jerks in the warmer periods is that it wears me down, with the required rapid action usually necessary to elicite strikes. These old arms and shoulders just can do it for long periods of time anymore!

[Raul]

Darn...  I KNEW it was me.  

 

 

 

The gear monkey was right...  Again. 

 

Yup, it´s you.

 

Yup, the BaitMonkey is gonna get you, you can start with a few Megabass 110´s and LC Pointers.

[Comfortably Numb]

I like fishing soft in shallow weedy lakes or shallow brush. In open and cooler water I prefer a hard.

[Bluebasser86]

I hate fishing soft plastic jerks. I know they're effective and I can catch fish on them, just don't like fishing them.

 

Hard jerks are a whole different story. I'm a jerkbait addict and have way more than a person would actually need and I'll continue to buy more I'm sure. 

 

I have better success with the soft jerks during the warmer months and the hard, suspending jerks during the cold weather months. 

[Hogsticker]

I could say it's just the opposite for me, but I know it's not that the bait isn't effective, it's because I don't use it enough for it to become effective.

[SirSnookalot]

I have pretty much the same success with both, but prefer hard lures for my freshwater fishing.  There is a time and place for each.  

[Hooligan]

I...uh... Yeah. Francho pretty well covered it.

Hard jerkbaits are probably the single most proliferous category of baits in fishing. There is more variety here than in almost anything else. From size to color, depth to stance and action. The variable are virtually limitless. To call it narrow is ridiculous.

[Master Bait'r]

I...uh... Yeah. Francho pretty well covered it.

Hard jerkbaits are probably the single most proliferous category of baits in fishing. There is more variety here than in almost anything else. From size to color, depth to stance and action. The variable are virtually limitless. To call it narrow is ridiculous.

 

 

Apparently I've been selling the hard jerkbaits short due to my ineffectiveness with them and never really spent enough time trying to find them like I do cranks, etc.  

 

It's probably a waste to worry about which has the most styles anyways.  My problem was that I've never seemed to have much luck with them- probably because I'm not using a fishfinder either tbh but whatever- at least now I know I was wrong so I can correct something that has probably been holding me back and try to diversify my tackle a bit more.  

[SirSnookalot]

 

 

 My problem was that I've never seemed to have much luck with them- probably because I'm not using a fishfinder  

I don't use fishfinders from shore whether fresh or saltwater.  Not that fish are caught all time blind casting into water that appears to be dead, but looking for signs on the water is always most productive.  Signs are very obvious, birds working, bait, seeing fish feed and nervous water (that's bait deep enough not to see them but they still stir the water).  Then it's just a matter of picking what kind lure is going best suit the water you're fishing in, whether it's a weedless plastic, hard jerk or topwater, etc.

[Master Bait'r]

I don't use fishfinders from shore whether fresh or saltwater.  Not that fish are caught all time blind casting into water that appears to be dead, but looking for signs on the water is always most productive.  Signs are very obvious, birds working, bait, seeing fish feed and nervous water (that's bait deep enough not to see them but they still stir the water).  Then it's just a matter of picking what kind lure is going best suit the water you're fishing in, whether it's a weedless plastic, hard jerk or topwater, etc.

 

 

Well the signs like that, yes that I'm actually quite good with even from my kayak which I fish from primarily but I have pretty much come to the conclusion that I simply never gave the hard jerks enough of my effort and was staying in my comfort zone with soft baits since I always seem to catch fish on them and I suppose I just got focused on that.  It can be hard for me personally to just throw trebles around when I feel like I can toss a t-rigged plastic bait right into cover and not snag as I fish a lot of heavy cover lakes as well.  

 

Seriously, thanks for not ripping on me though.  I never really had anybody teach me anything of substance about fishing so I've been building myself up so to speak and unlearning bad habits/overcoming mental blocks has been every bit as big a challenge as learning about something new in a lot of cases.  I am trying but I get frustrated when I don't know and can't figure it out.  I got to feeling like I was just wasting money after very little success with them but back to the 'ol drawing board for me.  I've got some reading and some practicing to do, as the cold weather is upon us again and what better time to do so, right?  

[Ghostshad]

I've never tried the hard jerkbait in the heat of the summer, i've always heard they didn't work.Do they work in the summer time as well as spring?

[J Francho]

Nothing works when you don't use it.

[Raul]

I've never tried the hard jerkbait in the heat of the summer, i've always heard they didn't work.Do they work in the summer time as well as spring?

 

I´m not even going to ask from whom you heard such nonsense, jerkbaits not working in summer time ----> bollocks.

[iceintheveins]

I only use hard jerkbaits for water in the upper 50s and under. The soft jerks just are more subtle and catch a lot more fish for me year round, they spiral down like a dying baitfish.

[Deleted account]

I don't think these 2 types of lures share much in common. Both are very good fish catchers, but I never find myself fishing a hard one and thinking I should throw a soft one or vise versa. In cold water, I'm fishing the hard ones.

[SirSnookalot]

Given the choice I prefer a hard jerkbait all the time, but in my Florida canals that's not always possible.  Where I fish it's common to have floating grass, high vegetation, and low water, that's when I'm fishing a soft fluke weedless.

[smalljaw67]

I actually went through this with a friend of mine in June. The water temp was up and so I had a floating model hard jerkbait tied on and my friend was using a fluke, the fish were on the fluke but they were slashing at it and he would get 1 fish out of 4 or 5 strikes. Seeing this go on I picked up my Rattlin' Rogue in clown, shallow diving model and I was getting bit working the bait very aggressively but the difference was those fish that were just slashing at the bait were now getting hooked on the on the trebles as they weren't grabbing the fluke hard enough to get the hook into them but they were taking enough of the rogue to allow a set of trebles to latch on. There are times for the soft jerkbait but there are times you can use a hard jerkbait and do just as well if not better and then there is the cold water factor, nothing like a suspending jerkbait that gets down between 4' to 8' and just sits there and the fish if just staring at it wondering if it is even alive and then it twitches and the bass can't help itself, it strikes and now you have a nice one on and at that moment you know the power of the hard jerkbait.