Suspending Jerkbait ???

[MDBowHunter]

Well last night I decided to fill up a 5 gallon bucket with cold tap water, and check out how my baits suspended. The first one I tryed was a Staysee 90 and I was surprised to see that it floated up pretty quick, so I tryed to add a splitring to the front set of hooks which caused it to slow sink. So then I removed the splitring and put a Norman speed lip on the line tie which also caused it to slow sink.

Now my main question is if I'm using 10# flouro will that be enough to keep the bait suspended? Out of all the baits I tryed only the vision 110s truely suspended. The other baits that I tried were 100 pointer minnows, slender pointer, xraps, squad minnow and a few different KVD SKs. All with the same results, thanks in advance for the help...

[Scott F]

Water temperature has a lot to do with how a bait suspends. What was the temp of the water you used? I'd do your experiment again with different water temps to see how they way they suspend changes before I made any judgements.

[MDBowHunter]

Water temperature has a lot to do with how a bait suspends. What was the temp of the water you used? I'd do your experiment again with different water temps to see how they way they suspend changes before I made any judgements.

I knew this question would come up, I used cold tap water. Which where I live is anywhere between 50 and 60 degrees. I would estimate around 50ish or so, probably not to awfully far off of the water temps I'll most likely be fishing them in.

[smalljaw67]

Vision 110s aren't suspending baits, they are slow rising, and most suspending bait really are slow rising or sinking but the test I use is different. I call a bait suspending it is stays at least 1/2 the diving depth at 2 minutes, the Vision 110 will float to the surface in less than 1 minute. A bucket with cold water is not a very good test, the first problem with it is there isn't line attached, the next problem is you are only putting the bait in 1' of water or less, and then there is the temperature, you need a thermometer and even that way doesn't tell the story. I'll give you an example, we wanted to see how well the test worked on a bait that I know for a fact suspended so we took my Super Rogue Jr to my buddys place and I tied it on and made a cast to his pond, I reeled for 5 cranks and gave 2 jerks and counted, it took 4 minutes and 39 seconds for it to hit the surface of the water. We took the Rogue inside and filled the fish tank with water and ice until we got it to 44 degrees, the temperature of his pond, we put the Rogue in and it floated up in about 20 seconds, and after seeing that I don't believe in testing out suspending baits in buckets of fish tanks, I just don't think they are anywhere near accurate.

[A-Jay]

Baits in a bucket often do not accurately replicate the same action as they will out on the end of a cast with 120 feet of line hanging of the front of it . . . .

 

Go fish it.

 

A-Jay

[MDBowHunter]

I have the 110 FX which are suspending, I guess I should've mentioned that.

[primetime]

I never know how my baits will suspend when I take them out on the water since water temps, salinity, line size, clips and type of line all change the way the bait looks and behaves and I find that most suspend well in warmer water & once I change a treble or ring it is never the same. Suspend dots are my favorite way to adjust a jerkbait since it is easy,fast, and not permanent.

 

I don't like messing around with treble hooks on quality lures since it is hard to get them back to normal if you have a good bait and try to adjust rings and hooks etc. However, if you simply replace a dull hook with the same size and style that came with the lure than all should be good....Suspend dots are a great invention for not only suspenders but floaters and crankbaits as well. That Slow rise is often the ticket for a crankbait as well.

[Shanes7614]

You need to use a larger volume of water due to the added barometric pressure created in the smaller volume and elevation may have something else to do about how much they suspend also.

[Crestliner2008]

I never assume that a jerkbait will suspend. Which is why I carry a small spool of soldering wire with me. Depending on the water temp and the current you might be faced with, adjustments to the rise / fall can be accomplished easily with a little wire wrapped around the shaft of the lead treble. Works better than those suspend dots, as it doesn't interfere with the action of the body of the bait.