Help me round out my Jerkbait arsenal

[TheRodFather]

Imagine you are a fisherman that knows what you know now, but you don't own any Jerkbaits.  What would you walk into the tackle shop and buy that would cover the most bases for LMB, water clarity ranges from clear to 1ft stained, fairly shallow, soft bottom in deep areas and gravel in shallow spawning sites.  Bluegill is primary forage.  Water temp from 40s to 80s.

 

Same question for SMB, water clarity ranges from clear to 1ft muddy, shallow and rocky.  Small silver minnows are primary forage other than craws, etc. Water temp from 40s to 60s.

 

You have room in the tackle box for 8 baits, price per bait is not a priority, although you would prefer not buying 8 MegaBass Jerkbaits

 

Go.....

[IndianaFinesse]

Megabass vision 110, and a lucky craft pointer 100 and 78.

[Raul]

I've caught literally thousands of fish with original floating Rapala minnows.

[A-Jay]

Strike King KVD 200, 300 & 300 Deep. 

Choose colors that match the crankbaits you use that work - except the Crayfish patterns - I'd skip that one.

And if there's perch around (and maybe even if there isn't) these work well.

A-Jay

[Bluebasser86]

I could cover most of my bases with the 78 pointer, RC stick, cutter and skinny cutter 110+.  Your color selection will probably vary a bit from mine, but colors like pearl/bone, herringbone chartreuse, Table Rock shad/sour grape, and pro blue are must haves for me. 

[Fishes in trees]

I don't know how many jerk baits I own.  50 or 60 for sure, maybe more.   95% of the time I have a Lucky Craft Pointer 100SP tied on.  Generally I start with the Table Rock Shad color, sometimes a clown color.   

[smalljaw67]

I don't use jerkbaits with less than 2' of visibility because there are better options. That said, for water temps under 60 degrees I like suspending baits and for someone not familiar with jerkbaits I would not spend on high end models but focus instead on good proven baits. Here is what will work for you, the Elite 8 Suspending rattling rogue, Chrome/black back orange belly for large mouth and clown for smallmouth. After that I'd get an X-Rap in the size 8 and 10 in the silver color, that will cover both species, and then for warmer water go with a Rapala Shadow Rap Shad, and a floating Smithwick Rattlin' Rogue, go with tiger minnow for largemouth and clow for smallmouth in the rogue and the shadow rap shad albino shiner does great for both species.

[TheRodFather]

7 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Strike King KVD 200, 300 & 300 Deep. 

Choose colors that match the crankbaits you use that work - except the Crayfish patterns - I'd skip that one.

And if there's perch around (and maybe even if there isn't) these work well.

A-Jay

 

A-Jay, is that a MegaBass you have pictrured there?

 

5 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I could cover most of my bases with the 78 pointer, RC stick, cutter and skinny cutter 110+.  Your color selection will probably vary a bit from mine, but colors like pearl/bone, herringbone chartreuse, Table Rock shad/sour grape, and pro blue are must haves for me. 

 

Ok, I will check those out!

 

 

2 hours ago, smalljaw67 said:

I don't use jerkbaits with less than 2' of visibility because there are better options. That said, for water temps under 60 degrees I like suspending baits and for someone not familiar with jerkbaits I would not spend on high end models but focus instead on good proven baits. Here is what will work for you, the Elite 8 Suspending rattling rogue, Chrome/black back orange belly for large mouth and clown for smallmouth. After that I'd get an X-Rap in the size 8 and 10 in the silver color, that will cover both species, and then for warmer water go with a Rapala Shadow Rap Shad, and a floating Smithwick Rattlin' Rogue, go with tiger minnow for largemouth and clow for smallmouth in the rogue and the shadow rap shad albino shiner does great for both species.

 

Ok, I will check those out.  I was reading that the X-rap was not the best choice for cold water, I have a couple of them, and have caught a fish or two, but if a better option exists for cold water I'd like to have it.

 

Thank you everyone for the replys!

[webertime]

The Staples:

Pointers (78/100)

Vision 110

Slender Pointer

Flash Minnow

 

The "Still Carry Them":

Suspending Long A

Smithwick Rogue (deep and suspending)

X-Rap (Deep and Reg)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mike L]

The first jerk I pick up is always a Bomber Long A.

 

 

 

 

 

Mike 

 

 

 

 

["hamma"]

1) original floating rapala, perch patterned

2) bomber long a, gold flash and silver flash

3) Manns baby stretch 1-, white belly silver sides and blue or black top

4) Rapala x-raps xr10, olive green, and perch

5) Kvd's deep diving 300 series, sexyshad, bluegill

 thats eight,...

  How did I end up with two plano 3700 jerbait boxes,....lol

 

[A-Jay]

2 hours ago, TheRodFather said:

 

A-Jay, is that a MegaBass you have pictrured there?

 

Yes ~

Top one is a 110 +1 in GP Pro Perch and the bottom one is a 110 in the Twilight Secret Pattern, but it's not a secret any more.

A-Jay

[smalljaw67]

4 hours ago, TheRodFather said:

 

A-Jay, is that a MegaBass you have pictrured there?

 

 

Ok, I will check those out!

 

 

 

Ok, I will check those out.  I was reading that the X-rap was not the best choice for cold water, I have a couple of them, and have caught a fish or two, but if a better option exists for cold water I'd like to have it.

 

Thank you everyone for the replys!

 

The X-Rap is one of those baits you can use all year long. It has a very aggressive action but it suspends well and can be used with a slow pull and pause that makes for a great cold water bait.

[CTBassin860]

Vision 110,pointer 78/100,x-rap11,husky jerk 10,cutter 110 and the SK jerkbait.

Oh and the shad raps

[buzzed bait]

14 hours ago, IndianaFinesse said:

Megabass vision 110, and a lucky craft pointer 100 and 78.

 

and the 110 jr..... otherwise these are about the only jerkbaits i own aside from a few jackall squad minnows.

[TheRodFather]

Thanks for the responses fellas.  I picked up a Vision 110 and a Pointer 100 and Pointer 78 so far. The Lucky Craft Lures are in the BlueGill pattern but they didn't have the BG pattern in the Vision 110 so I got Pro Blue, wishing I would have gotten Silver/black back though.

 

I figure I'll break it down by forage for now, meaning BlueGill imitating baits from the "staples", then another color pattern of the staples, etc, etc.

 

Still looking for the others.

[CTBassin860]

I still cant bring myself to drop 25 on a vision lol.One of these days.

[GoCougs14]

29 minutes ago, MassBassin508 said:

I still cant bring myself to drop 25 on a vision lol.One of these days.

You can find them a lot cheaper than that. Look at a large seller on ebay, granted their used but in excellent condition. Looks like 12-15 if I remember correctly

[CTBassin860]

12 minutes ago, GoCougs14 said:

You can find them a lot cheaper than that. Look at a large seller on ebay, granted their used but in excellent condition. Looks like 12-15 if I remember correctly

Its all custom painted "Megabass STYLE" jerkbaits

[iabass8]

13 minutes ago, MassBassin508 said:

Its all custom painted "Megabass STYLE" jerkbaits

False. You can find BNIB vision 110s for sub 20$. not just the knockoffs. search harder on the bay.

[JDNKC]

Vision 110 in GP blue and GP pro blue 2, sexy shad, ozark, and I could go on.  I primarily us pro blue.  Also when we are in Minnesota the pike love them so I switch to rick clunns so I don't destroy megabass.  They are a decent substitute.

[CTBassin860]

Just now, iabass8 said:

False. You can find BNIB vision 110s for sub 20$. not just the knockoffs. search harder on the bay.

Just saying what i was finding when i was searching.

Now im finding them

[Burntorangefan]

5 hours ago, TheRodFather said:

Thanks for the responses fellas.  I picked up a Vision 110 and a Pointer 100 and Pointer 78 so far. The Lucky Craft Lures are in the BlueGill pattern but they didn't have the BG pattern in the Vision 110 so I got Pro Blue, wishing I would have gotten Silver/black back though.

 

I figure I'll break it down by forage for now, meaning BlueGill imitating baits from the "staples", then another color pattern of the staples, etc, etc.

 

Still looking for the others.

You won't regret getting Pro Blue.  Probably the best overall color and the benchmark staple.  From there you can play around with others.  You "checked the box!"

Mine by depth:

 

Flash Minnow

Pointer 78

Pointer 100

Vision 110

Staycee v2

Shadow Rap Deep

 

Curveballs: 

 

X-Rap

Flash Pointer

[GoCougs14]

38 minutes ago, MassBassin508 said:

Its all custom painted "Megabass STYLE" jerkbaits

the seller I look at most often on there is "fishing-goods-japan" I see alot of $17 onetens right now, trick darters are $10-14. shipping becomes insignificant as long as you buy a few. they run good deals every once in a while. 20% or 30% on some I think.

[RoLo]

> Lucky Craft Pointer 78

> Rapala Husky Jerk

 

Roger