Top water/Jerkbait

[Luke Taylor]

I want a rod and reel that can do a good job with popper spooks and jerkbaits, and also what pound braid?

[CroakHunter]

I like a high speed reel like a daiwa tatula ct 8:1 gear ratio. Medium power fast action Shorter rod 6'6-7'. And 30lb braid. 

[roadwarrior]

I'm fishing a 6'8" Medium Power/ Fast Action rod with a soft tip. The reel is an Aldebaran spooled with

#12 Sunline Shooter Defier Armilo.

 

[fishnkamp]

Take a look at this video. I like a shorter handled rod for jerkbaits. It allows you to jerk the bait without hitting my wrist. I own this exact rod and throw Pop Rs and jerkbaits on it all the time. I catch not only bass but stripers as well with it. As for a reel look at a Daiwa Tatula CT in a 7.3-1. i personally like my reel for this to be a left handed one since I want my dominate hand on the rod.  That is personal preference.

 

 

[JustJames]

1 hour ago, roadwarrior said:

I'm fishing a 6'8" Medium Power/ Fast Action rod with a soft tip. The reel is an Aldebaran spooled with

#12 Sunline Shooter Defier Armilo.

 

Mostly This ^^^ but all depend on weight of lure too if 1/2 oz or more I trend to use MH/F with also soft tip. The rod I like 6'8 or 6'10. Any reel would be just fine but I don't like high speed reel 8:1 or more. For line I use both braid 30lbs and hybrid #8.

[CTBassin860]

1 hour ago, roadwarrior said:

I'm fishing a 6'8" Medium Power/ Fast Action rod with a soft tip. The reel is an Aldebaran spooled with

#12 Sunline Shooter Defier Armilo.

 

Its some good line. I started using it for swim jigs and the Spro rat.

im using a 6'8" MXF spinning rod with 20# braid for my topwater stuff.

[Chance_Taker4]

I use a 6'9" Medium Mod Fast Carrot Stix Wild Wild Orange for both presentations. I have it paired with a 7:1 Ardent Apex Elite and 12# Vicious X-ACT CoPoly. This my my favorite setup mostly because Jerkbait fishing is my favorite way to fish.

[Attila]

I went with a Daiwa Lexa 6'6" Medium Action XF rod matched with a Tatula 100HSL in a 7.3:1 ratio spooled with 30lbs braid for my walking topwaters. I use a separate setup for my jerkbaits.

 

I like the Ike rod noted above and feel it will help you with the presentations you're looking to do. My suggestion, and my suggestion only, is to run a fluorocarbon leader when using the setup for jerkbaits.

 

Cheers!

[Bass_Fanatic]

Hard to beat a Powell max3d 6'10" cb rod. It's built for jerkbaits and topwater.

[Robert Riley]

We just got a shipment of Lew's TP1s. We got 2 topwater/jerkbait rods and I really like them so far. Very light in the hands and they have a shorter split grip, just perfect for jerking/walking the dog. I don't know what your price range is, but it's an excellent rod for $100. 

As far as line, I've used braid, but it gets caught in the trebles too often for me. 

[WRB]

I just picked Don Iovino's MajorCraft Top Water-Splash It rod, 6'8" med mod/fast with flexible tip. This rod is excellent quality with Fugi Mirco guides and reel seat, split handle and very light weight at 3.6 oz. Black blank with black giude wraps and silver trim, very nice look.

This is labeled as a top water rod but it's a very versitile rod and can used for a wide verity of lures and presentations from small jig and worms, smaller crank bait to 5/8 oz and top waters or jerk baits....very impressed. 

Tom

[Iowa Basser]

I fish a lot of jerk baits and I like a 6'-6" rod instead of a 7'-0" rod... when snapping the rod in a downward motion, a longer rod can sometimes be a hindrance.  I'm a spinning reel/rod guy and I like a medium or even a medium/light rod with 10# braid.  This set-up works well for poppers too; though in clear water I might use a mono-filament leader if I think line visibility is an issue.  (An argument could be made for a heavier braid if you're throwing the around lay-downs or heavier cover.)  

 

Spooks are heavier and can be thrown easier with a bait-caster, but I still use a spinning rod.  I use the same rod for frogs and spooks: a 7'-0" medium/heavy with 30# braid.  I use a longer rod for spooks and frogs because I keep the rod-tip high when retrieving the lure to keep the line out of the water.  This allows me to twitch the bait to get the side-to-side action (I probably could use a lighter braid for spooks if I didn't also use this rod for frogs.) 

 

I avoid fluorocarbon mainly because I found it to be a hassle on a spinning reel.  Also fluorocarbon sinks, which makes it a poor choice for top-water lures.

 

Edit:

A spinning reel allows you to have the rod in your dominant hand, an advantage that fishnkamp noted above.