Favorite Jerkbait Rod Action?

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

Back when I started fishing, lots of folks broke the tips off their rods to use with jerkbaits. I never did that, but rather just used a MH/F. Never did this much though; I don't like treble hooks.

I'm exploring lures that tend to be my weak points, and jerkbaits fall into that category. Modern technology has given me tools that make these presentations make sense to me without ultralight leaders etc.

I am finding that I like a M/F 6'6" rod for 3/8oz to 1/2oz jerkbaits. The reel has a 31ipt pickup. I'm using 30lb Power Pro with 8lb fluoro leader. The drag has carbon clutches and is backed off quite a bit.

The idea behind this setup is to give me the ability to barely move my hand to twitch the lure, while being a "soft" enough setup to keep the trebles from ripping out. I still need to fully test it, likely in the river this weekend.

What do you all use for jerkbaits? I am a bit concerned over the seeming 180 degree turn from how we used to fish jerkbaits, but the setup makes sense to me.

Thanks!

Josh

[68camaro]

Previously I was using a G Loomis e6x 843 CBR for crank and jerkbaits, it is a medium power with mod-fast action. This is great with cranks but fir jerks wanted a faster action tip.

I recently got a Dobyns 634CB med-moderate power with fast action to use as dedicated Jerkbait rod. I paired this up with a very light Lews Team Lews Speed Spool in 6.8:1. The weight of the whole setup is very very light and the fast action really allows me to work jerk baits with very little movement. After letting bait hoover for a bit, I like to tap rod to make lure vibrate just a hair, hoping to mimic final moments of dying bait.

I use both above for topwaters, although for Megabass poppers Dobyns 634 works a better.

[Dwight Hottle]

Josh I use a St Croix legend elite MM for 3/8 to 5/8 & a MHM for 1/2 to 1oz. Even though the blanks are moderate they still deliver crisp movements to the baits because of their high modulus. These are used with 10 braid & mono leader. Sometimes I will use a Loomis NRX 802C with 11lb mono or flouro. It is rated MXF. If your are using a fast or extra fast action rod you will need to compensate with either some line stretch (mono or flouro) or a loser drag or both. I use short taps with the rod & sweeps to impart action mixing it up until I find what is working best. Hope that helps.  

[S Hovanec]

I prefer M/XF rods for jerkbaits and topwater.

[badzr2]

6'4" Ike series rod with a Daiwa SS SV 6.4:1 reel

 

10lb mono and it doubles for topwater too

[DubyaDee]

Jerkbaits are my first lure of choice, specifically a perch vision 110. I think I finally found the best set up for jerkbaits. 

 

Dobyns 704cb (med mod/fast action)

Shimano 51e

12 lb Sniper flouro

[carlm01]

I use a GL2 med/hvy  6"8' fast tip   

[Lucky Craft Man]

6'9" Medium Heavy Power / Moderate Fast Action baitcasting rod with a 28 IPT reel.

[Jrob78]

I prefer M/XF rods for jerkbaits and topwater.

Generally speaking, I do too.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Fast action, but soft tip. Med power is usually sufficient for the baits I throw.

[MickD]

The old way of fishing hard jerks was to use glass, sometimes even adding weights about 8 inches below the tiptop to slow them down.  That may still work for some jerk fishing , but if you're fishing smallies in waters like Lake St Clair, you may never get a bite.  The ticket there is to have a VERY aggressive twitch/jerk, and you just cannot get it with a slow action.  For that you need something like medium power, XF action.  Braid helps keep the twitch aggressive with minimum effort.

[Hogsticker]

Fast action, but soft tip. Med power is usually sufficient for the baits I throw.

Bingo. I can't tell you how many rods I've gone through trying to find what I consider perfect for jerkbaits. Finally found it with the Mhx high mod series popping blanks.

[timsford]

I use short fast action rods for more bait control and better side to side bait movement and mono line to absorb some of the shock to the trebles. I prefer spinning gear also for jerks, but thats just personal preference. I mostly fish them with hard downward snaps and pulls. Some people like using longer rods to sweep the bait and softer rods to keep from losing fish, but i get more bites woth my current setups than my old softer "crank" rods i did use. I fish jerks year round for several species and im actually having 2 custom st croix 6'3" spinning rods built for jerks mainly but also a do it all type finnesse set up.

[illinifan4152]

I have a couple rods I like to fhrow jerkbait a on. Almost always use 10 lb flouro, mainly because that's what I started with and have had success with it.

6'8 MXF St Croix Avid X (favorite)

6'6 MHM St Croix Avid

6'6 MF St Roix Avid

all will work, just have to see what works for you the best!

[smalljaw67]

I had quite a few jerkbait rods, I was using a Fenwick Elite Tech Smallmouth 6'10" MH-MF for my larger jerkbaits and it was great but I'd still end up hitting the water at times so I went back to what works for me. I now use 2 rods as it is the best solution for me, my large jerkbait rod, 1/2oz and up is an old Cabela's XML medium power, fast action, it is rated 1/4oz to 3/4oz but it has a soft tip. My other one is a Fenwick Aetos 6'6" medium light power, moderate action, it is rated 1/4oz to 1/2oz and I find that 3/16oz to 7/16oz is more like it as I can throw a #5 shad rap with it as well as a size 10 X-rap. The reason I got that rod is for finesse cranking but I discovered something by reading these forums, I saw a lot of guys liked the Pointer 78 and similar size jerkbaits, I would only use them as a last resort but as I read I found that most were throwing them with cranking rods, I've tried cranking rods for larger jerkbaits and I didn't like it as I fish them aggressive and the slow action left me feeling like the I had no control. Well I decided to try my finesse cranking rod with a smaller jerkbait and it was awesome!! I was overpowering the smaller baits with the fact action rod so they didn't really work well for me but with this moderate action rod I found I liked using that size bait and now I use them about 50% of the time. So for me, using baits that weight 5/8oz and 2 that weight 3/4oz as well as using baits that weigh 1/4oz and 3/8oz, I find that 2 rods are the best for me but if I was forced to have one rod and I'd be getting a new one, I'd say a 6'6" medium power with a fast action but it would have to have a soft tip.

[sprint61]

6'9"MH/XF kistler mag with lews speed spool in 7.5.1 and 10lb mono.

[tander]

I use a Falcon LowRider 6'6" Med. I also use it for topwater. Works great for both.