Small Jerk Baits

[Choporoz]

Been trying some smaller jerk baits lately with less than awesome results; I've been throwing size 80 and smaller, though I've little previous experience.   These get hammered, but I rarely hook up and don't think I've landed a bass larger than one pound.  Now, I did land a cat yesterday on a Jackall Squadminnow 80, so that may be a lot of the strikes I'm missing, but I want to believe that some are big bass.  I've tried different rods and different lines, softer sweeps, harder sweeps....but I'm about done....rather frustrating. 

[Scott F]

In the spring, fishing for pre-spawn smallies, the LC Pointer 65 has been my go to bait. We’ve had weeks where smallies ignored larger jerkbaits. Largemouth and rock bass were eating the bigger 80s and 100s, but if you wanted Smallmouth, you had to be using the hard to find 65s. It doesn’t happen like that every year but even when the bass aren’t so picky, I never leave the dock in the spring without a Pointer 65 tied on. 

[Munkin]

2 hours ago, Scott F said:

In the spring, fishing for pre-spawn smallies, the LC Pointer 65 has been my go to bait. We’ve had weeks where smallies ignored larger jerkbaits. Largemouth and rock bass were eating the bigger 80s and 100s, but if you wanted Smallmouth, you had to be using the hard to find 65s. It doesn’t happen like that every year but even when the bass aren’t so picky, I never leave the dock in the spring without a Pointer 65 tied on. 

Giving away the secret finesse bait I see. I use a 65 pointer in a color called "baitfish silver " and man does it work. This thing is a perfect match for the fathead minnows in the Upper Potomac. 

 

Allen 

[Attila]

3 hours ago, Choporoz said:

Been trying some smaller jerk baits lately with less than awesome results; I've been throwing size 80 and smaller, though I've little previous experience.   These get hammered, but I rarely hook up and don't think I've landed a bass larger than one pound.  Now, I did land a cat yesterday on a Jackall Squadminnow 80, so that may be a lot of the strikes I'm missing, but I want to believe that some are big bass.  I've tried different rods and different lines, softer sweeps, harder sweeps....but I'm about done....rather frustrating. 

Here’s what I’ve noticed during this past season when fishing jerkbaits.

 

Our bass season starts pretty late here in central Ontario, with opener happening the 3^rd Saturday of June. At that time of the year, most bass are in a post spawn, summer pattern that has them setup on their usual structure. For smallmouth that means rocks with weed lines and drop-offs and for largemouth it will mean heavy cover or weed flats that need to be picked apart. During the start of the season I threw average size jerk baits, namely those which were about 4-5” long which, I believe, would be in the 100 – 112 sized category. The bigger lures provided a bigger flash which helped the fish see the bait from a longer distance, resulting in more hook-ups especially when it came to the smallmouth in my lakes.

 

Because of this odd fall we’ve been having, I have continued to throw regular sized jerkbaits and have continued to have success doing the same thing that I did all summer, including using aggressive retrieves while the water temperature made its way into the low 60’s as of this Saturday.

 

There were two times when I used a smaller sized jerkbait (for me it was a size 8 X-Rap in olive green) this season; the first was when I had found myself fishing in a body of water where the fish were very highly pressured, usually from a 2 or 3 day tournament that had just taken place. The second instance was when I was on a school of fish that had seen the baits I was throwing the day before and had decided that they wanted a smaller profile bait the next day. I learned that trick from Brent Ehrler while he was fishing the BASS tournament on the St. Lawrence River back in July of this year.

 

My suggestion to you is to fish big, especially in this season, as fish are eating and will continue to feed up through ice up.

 

Here's Ehrler talking about his decision to fish a smaller jerkbait; https://video.bassmaster.com/detail/videos/2017-st.-lawrence-best-of-live/video/5518263725001/taste-the-bait:-brent-ehrler-s-jerkbait-pattern

[burrows]

Ima flint

[Bluebasser86]

I like the 65 pointer and Duo Realis Rozante 63. I fish them on a M/F spinning rod and 8lb mono. I miss very few bites.

[fishballer06]

The Pointer 78 is my go to jerkbait. I'm not sure what's going on that you're missing so many bites because I have very little issues.

[MickD]

There are times when smallies like a very sharp twitch, and times when they want more of a sweep.  I use small husky jerks most of the time.

 

My perfect setup for small hard jerks is a 7 foot, ML power, moderate action (Rainshadow IP843blank) with micros, 10-15 pound braid and an FC leader.  With the very light guides this rod can give whatever action the bass like, but is not too fast, keeps the small hooks in the fish quite well.  Could be you're using too stiff a rod?

[Choporoz]

Thanks for the input.  I have tried a couple/few different rods and settled on MF spinning.  That one was spooled with 12# Gliss and it is possible there was just not enough 'give'.  Getting the rod length/action right, not to mention line, that will afford effective castability and hook up/play for these light lures has been a bit of a challenge, I guess.  I've got a couple other slower rods that I need to break out and try again.  Most of my spinning work is with single hooks and I've grown to love fast (or XF)/Gliss for confident hooking. 

[Dwight Hottle]

Take a page out of my book & use a moderate action rod. This is especially helpful if you are using braid as a main line. The source of your problem & frustration is not what small jerk bait to use but how to hook up solidly and keep them on until landed. With jerk baits fish will often slap at a bait or bump it to stun it before mouthing the bait. You need super sticky sharp hooks to help get the job done. Also make sure your drag is set to barely slip on a hard hook set. 

[NHBull]

My buddy and I have found that many times, if they hit the small JB, they will hit the larger ones too.  I throw 110, he throws 78, and my ratio is significantly higher than his.  Of course there can be plenty of reasons, but it is common