Lucky Craft Jerkbait Question

[Alpha Male]

I have been looking at getting a few more jerkbaits and im looking for some deeper ones. I found the lucky craft flash pointer 115mr. On tackle warehouse the chart lists it as a 7-9ft diver that is slow sinking but the description says it dive 3 ft and is a floater. Can anyone tell me which it is?

Also looking at the smithwick perfect 10, lc pointer minnow, sk kvd, and maybe a megabass vision. The vision is more than i want to spend for one bait.

I am currently thinking i will use 20lb cxx due to the places i will be fishing for bass are known to house large walleye and northerns. Is this really going to kill any action? I used 12lb sufix elite last year with shallow jerkbaits in lakes not known for sharks and was happy with the performance. Does anyone use braid for their jerkbaits? I will be using a snap on the line same as i do for all my crankbaits.

Thanks guys.

[A-Jay]

The Pointer 100DD is Great Deep Bait.

 

And as for 20lb killing the action - check for yourself but I've taken 9lb + bass on a Pointer 128 using 20lb mono.

 

A-Jay

[Scott F]

According to Lucky Craft's web site, the information on the Tackle warehouse site is correct.  I use nothing but braid for my jerkbaits. I want all the action I impart to move the bait, not be absorbed by the stretch of fluoro or mono. A snap on a suspending bait will cause it to sink.

[Alpha Male]

According to Lucky Craft's web site, the information on the Tackle warehouse site is correct.  I use nothing but braid for my jerkbaits. I want all the action I impart to move the bait, not be absorbed by the stretch of fluoro or mono. A snap on a suspending bait will cause it to sink.

 

I am hesitant to use braid because the lakes i fish have upwards of 15 foot visibility but i would worry less about losing a fish with braid. I will have to check when i put each one on how much it will affect the way it acts.

The Pointer 100DD is Great Deep Bait.

 

And as for 20lb killing the action - check for yourself but I've taken 9lb + bass on a Pointer 128 using 20lb mono.

 

A-Jay

I will look into that one

[Scott F]

 

I am hesitant to use braid because the lakes i fish have upwards of 15 foot visibility but i would worry less about losing a fish with braid. I will have to check when i put each one on how much it will affect the way it acts.

 

 

I literally catch hundreds and hundreds of prespawn smallmouth every year in very clear water with 10 pound braid and no leader. Try it, you may find the "visibility" of braid makes little if any difference.

[RoLo]

Braid is very thin line, and as line-watchers will tell you, can be very difficult to see

Fluorocarbon is twice the diameter of braid, so I use a fluoro leader so bass can follow my leader to the lure.

 

OKAY, I made up the part about the leader  

[A-Jay]

^{Any second now Dwight Hottle, who also knows a little about jerkbaits, is going reply here to pass on how he's managed to catch a few decent smallies now & then while using 10lb braid as well.}

 

^{I do believe he utilizes a leader, but I'll let him tell you about it.}

 

^A-Jay

[Comfortably Numb]

Lucky Craft Stacee is the deep suspending jerkbait you want. Goes about 8' and suspends great out of the box.

 

River2Sea Fetch deep is great quality and performance and half the price.

[yakingfisherman]

lucky craft 100xd is my jerkbait of choice for the deeper ranges. I use 12lb sunline supernatural mono on mine and have no trouble landing 10+ lb stripers. Biggest landed was a 15lb striper.

[bassinyea]

I like the pointer 100DD and the staysee, both are great jerkbaits.  I catch more fish on the staysee though for some reason than the pointer DD but could just be a coincidence.

[Alpha Male]

All great looking designs now that i have a better understanding of the differences.  next question...color? there are soooo many choices and at over 15$ each I cant get all of them.  I think I will get at least 2... one shallow and one deep... one lighter color and one darker.  with that in mind and that up here in the frozen north we dont have any shad so what color spectrum would you recommend?  I might stay away from the perch pattern as I already have numerous cranks and rapalas of every variety with the perch pattern and to my recollection I cant say for sure that I have caught a fish on one.

[Bluebasser86]

I'd suggest not getting too hung up on color at first. Get a natural color that looks like the bait fish in your area, and then something flashy. I think you'd do very well to get something like Bone and American shad. If I fished both of those here and couldn't catch something, they're not eating jerkbaits that day. With your location, I'd probably have to really consider a perch or clown pattern as well but if you're only wanting two I'd stand by my first two colors to catch fish. 

 

A couple more great deeper running jerkbaits that haven't been mentioned are the Spro Mcstick and McRip, and the Duo 100DR. Megabass 110+1 is a great deeper running jerkbait, but I can't get myself to buy them, so I buy blanks and have them painted for less than half the cost. They've been working well for me so far this year. I got this one off a rockpile in 14' of water on Monday.

[Dwight Hottle]

I have been looking at getting a few more jerkbaits and im looking for some deeper ones. I found the lucky craft flash pointer 115mr. On tackle warehouse the chart lists it as a 7-9ft diver that is slow sinking but the description says it dive 3 ft and is a floater. Can anyone tell me which it is?

Also looking at the smithwick perfect 10, lc pointer minnow, sk kvd, and maybe a megabass vision. The vision is more than i want to spend for one bait.

I am currently thinking i will use 20lb cxx due to the places i will be fishing for bass are known to house large walleye and northerns. Is this really going to kill any action? I used 12lb sufix elite last year with shallow jerkbaits in lakes not known for sharks and was happy with the performance. Does anyone use braid for their jerkbaits? I will be using a snap on the line same as i do for all my crankbaits.

Thanks guys.

 

The confusion about the flash pointer 115 and the flash pointer 115MR is that the 115 is a slow floater while the 115MR is a slow sinker. The 115MR is a 7-9 ft depth while the 115 is a 3-5 ft depth.

The smithwick perfect ten is the deepest runner of the shallow divers. It will get down 10-12ft for me.

 

For deep divers you should look at the pointer 100 DD and the pointer 100 XD and the staysee 90 & 120 version in lucky craft. Other good deep divers are smithwick rogue DD, rapala husky jerk DD, duo realis 100DR and some misc  other baits.

 

I use mostly all 10lb braid for jerkbaits with a mono leader between 8lb-15lb depending on conditions. I like to use a mono leader for abrasion and to help add some give (stretch) into the overall system between rod action & braids lack of stretch. The thin diameter of 10 braid gets the baits deeper. I always use a small snap & do not find the snap to be a problem in the weighting of the jerkbait or loosing fish because of snap failure.

 

Will straight braid to jerkbait catch fish? Yes. I have seen 6lb smallies hit a jerkbait on straight braid on lake erie. The whole braid versus mono/floro argument can be very contentious. If you are fishing very slowly & have clear water then use a leader. If you are ripping a bait & fishing off colored water it probably makes no difference. I have never gotten a fish to answer the braid versus leader question so I can only go by what works for me on any particular body of water.  

 

On your color selections I like gaudy high visibility colors for off color water, like clown, pink or chartreuse. For clear water I like indigenous bait colors (match the hatch) & I like white/bone.

[Fishes in trees]

I have a few of the pointer 100 DD's, but I don't fish them very often.  I do think that my regular pointers, the 100 sp work better with one or two suspend dots or one suspend strip.  I'm no help on color.  Most of the time I reach for Table Rock Shad, which looks like nothing in particular, but more or less everything in general.  Other guys say the same think about the MS American Shad, so go figure.

 

For lines, I use 14 lb Fireline Crystal and a short (2' or less) 15 or 20 lb fluorocarbon leader.

[tomustang]

Academy has a very nice pointer 100dd knockoff for the lower budget minded.

http://m.academy.com/shop/pdp/h2o-xpress-8482-suspending-jerk-bait/pid-22547?deviceType=true

[Alpha Male]

The confusion about the flash pointer 115 and the flash pointer 115MR is that the 115 is a slow floater while the 115MR is a slow sinker. The 115MR is a 7-9 ft depth while the 115 is a 3-5 ft depth.

The smithwick perfect ten is the deepest runner of the shallow divers. It will get down 10-12ft for me.

 

For deep divers you should look at the pointer 100 DD and the pointer 100 XD and the staysee 90 & 120 version in lucky craft. Other good deep divers are smithwick rogue DD, rapala husky jerk DD, duo realis 100DR and some misc  other baits.

 

I use mostly all 10lb braid for jerkbaits with a mono leader between 8lb-15lb depending on conditions. I like to use a mono leader for abrasion and to help add some give (stretch) into the overall system between rod action & braids lack of stretch. The thin diameter of 10 braid gets the baits deeper. I always use a small snap & do not find the snap to be a problem in the weighting of the jerkbait or loosing fish because of snap failure.

 

Will straight braid to jerkbait catch fish? Yes. I have seen 6lb smallies hit a jerkbait on straight braid on lake erie. The whole braid versus mono/floro argument can be very contentious. If you are fishing very slowly & have clear water then use a leader. If you are ripping a bait & fishing off colored water it probably makes no difference. I have never gotten a fish to answer the braid versus leader question so I can only go by what works for me on any particular body of water.  

 

On your color selections I like gaudy high visibility colors for off color water, like clown, pink or chartreuse. For clear water I like indigenous bait colors (match the hatch) & I like white/bone.

Thank you that answers a lot of questions.

Now one more for all you guys that fish jerkbaits. How deep do you want them to go in relation to the bottom? I.e. 4ft jerkbait for 6-8ft of water? Or 10 ft je4kbait for 15-20 ft of water? Do you ever fish a shallow one in deep water or do you ever ride the bottom?

[Crestliner2008]

I concur with Dwight. There is no need to use 20# test anything with jerkbaits for LM's - unless you're fishing heavy cover. I bring up 6 - 9 lb. lakers, out of 90 of water regularly, on 10# test PP with a 8# test fluoro leader, so there really is no need to go so heavy - unless you want to.

[Alpha Male]

I concur with Dwight. There is no need to use 20# test anything with jerkbaits for LM's - unless you're fishing heavy cover. I bring up 6 - 9 lb. lakers, out of 90 of water regularly, on 10# test PP with a 8# test fluoro leader, so there really is no need to go so heavy - unless you want to.

My reason for the heavier line is that some of the waters i will be throwing them in is going to be shared with walleye, northerns, and muskie so i want the thicker line to prevent breakoffs crom the teeth. The main rod i will be using is strung with 30lb sufix 832 and a 20lb sunline leader. I have 8lb seaguar invisx, 12lb p-line 100% fluoro, 12lb yo-zuri, and also 20lb p-line cxx for leaders. On the side lakes without a high probability of toothy critters i will use a rod with 12lb yo-zuri.

[Dwight Hottle]

Thank you that answers a lot of questions.

Now one more for all you guys that fish jerkbaits. How deep do you want them to go in relation to the bottom? I.e. 4ft jerkbait for 6-8ft of water? Or 10 ft je4kbait for 15-20 ft of water? Do you ever fish a shallow one in deep water or do you ever ride the bottom?

 

 

Both to answer your question. If the fish are suspended in 20 fow over 40 fow you want a jerkbait that runs at that depth or higher based on visibility. If the fish can see a bait they will come up to eat it. When the fish are located on or near bottom you want to try to get down close to them. I always run two rods drifting with jerkbaits. One high rod & one low rod. After you see a pattern developing you can just work  baits high or low. I let the fish tell me. Sometimes they will come up & chase. Other times they want the bait near bottom. Some times the fish are moving away from your boat in shallow water & you don't mark them but they are still there. I often get bites from suspended fish that I don't mark, especially prespawn.  

[Scott F]

My reason for the heavier line is that some of the waters i will be throwing them in is going to be shared with walleye, northerns, and muskie so i want the thicker line to prevent breakoffs crom the teeth. The main rod i will be using is strung with 30lb sufix 832 and a 20lb sunline leader. I have 8lb seaguar invisx, 12lb p-line 100% fluoro, 12lb yo-zuri, and also 20lb p-line cxx for leaders. On the side lakes without a high probability of toothy critters i will use a rod with 12lb yo-zuri.

The heavier line will no nothing to stop you from getting bit off if a pike or musky decides to inhale your bait. You'd need to increase your flouro leader to at least 60 pound test and that just will make it a bit more difficult for a musky to slice through your line. Walleyes won't cut your line. Everybody hates to use steel leaders but sometimes it is necessary if you want to keep your $16 lures.