What is your Jerkbait set up?

[TotalNoob]

What are you throwing jerkbaits on? I hope this question reaches not just Bass guys, but vampire shift Walleye guys and everyone else who has these incredible multi-species lures in their arsenal.

 

As I try to understand what most folks are using to throw jerkbaits I'd like to ask a series of quick questions. This would act as something of an informal poll I suppose. Definitely looking forward to understanding what kinds of set ups are being used and the reasons. 

 

1) Do you have a dedicated jerkbait set up (or a set up that doubles as a jerkbait set up which is frequently used to throw jerkbaits)?

2) What is the primary species you're targeting when throwing jerks?

3) Is your jerkbait set up spinning or baitcasting? 

4) What is your preferred rod length for jerkbaits? 

5) What is your preferred rod Action and Power for jerks?

6) If your jerkbait set up is baitcasting, what is your preferred gear ratio?

7) If you don't have a dedicated jerkbait set up but could have ANY specific set up for jerks, what would it be?

[Deleted account]

6'6" med fast for smaller ones, 6'9" MH fast for larger ones. 6' spinning med for tiny ones. Not really dedicated, but almost.

I fish jerks for both LMB, SMB and to a lesser extent pickerel and pike. Also fish jerkbaits without jerking them for other fresh and salt water fish as well.

[5by3]

Dobyns 704cb paired with a curado 70 and 10-12 lb flouro 

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

A med power , fast action, soft  tip, 6'6" +/-  spinning mostly but casting too. Same rod works well for flukes and finesse jigs/drop shot. 

[NHBull]

For JB over 1/4, MB flatside special on 11 lb Defier Armilo 

........darn near perfect setup 

 

For JB  1/4, e6x Med. EFS, spinning rod

[JustJames]

I separate jerkbait into two groups, 3/8 and below and 3/8 up. 

I have two dedicated jerkbait rod both 6'6" , M and MH, short handle and no action rated (castaway). I don't use these very often unless I plan fishing for nothing but jerkbait on when I'm on a boat.

I mostly use 6'10 M/F for 3/8 and less where can be good for anything plastic and 6'10 MH/F for 3/8 and up and good for all around.

[Log Catcher]

I use a 6' BPS crankin stick With a lews BB1 baitcaster. 5 to 1 gear ratio with 12lb mono on it. Same set up I use for crankbaits. Most of my jerkbaits are around 3/8 ounce.

[Yudo1]

I use a megabass xx orochi jerkbait special with an alphas sv 7.2 gear ratio reel and 10lb sniper.

[fvogel67]

Falcon Jason Christie 6’8”MH +Shimano Citica 6.3

I use this setup for Smallies and Sauger/Saugeyes 

[J.Vincent]

4 setups: 

 

6ft6 Berkley Shock Medium ModFast Casting with 7.2 Reel

 

6ft6 Abu Veritas Medium Heavy ModFast Casting with 6.6 Reel

 

6ft6 Abu Veritas Medium Fast Spinning with 5.1 Reel 

 

7ft Abu Veritas Medium Moderate Casting with 6.6 Reel

 

I also like these rods for Poppers and Sammy style Topwaters. 

[deep]

9 hours ago, TotalNoob said:

1) Do you have a dedicated jerkbait set up (or a set up that doubles as a jerkbait set up which is frequently used to throw jerkbaits)?

2) What is the primary species you're targeting when throwing jerks?

3) Is your jerkbait set up spinning or baitcasting? 

4) What is your preferred rod length for jerkbaits? 

5) What is your preferred rod Action and Power for jerks?

6) If your jerkbait set up is baitcasting, what is your preferred gear ratio?

7) If you don't have a dedicated jerkbait set up but could have ANY specific set up for jerks, what would it be?

 

1. No- all my rods are multipurpose; and yes- I have 3 (at least), respectively.

2. LMB, but pretty much every gamefish species here eats jerkbaits. So I do target stocked trouts and crappies too occasionally.

3. Casting.

4. All my rods are 7.5' or longer.

5. Medium to medium-heavy and fast, *with a soft tip*.

6. Anything 6.x:1 and higher is okay.

7. N/A.

 

P.S. IMO the line is more important than the reel.

[papajoe222]

My rod is a casting rod built on a Forecast spinning blank. 7ft. Med./Fast paired with a Lews Speed Spool 7:1. It also doubles as a Fluke combo and I use it for both bass and walleye.

[Bluebasser86]

I love fishing jerkbaits, so I have several jerkbait combos. They all serve as rods for other techniques also, but they're most of them are jerkbait rods first.

 

small jerkbaits in wind or with light line;

6' 8" M/F Ethos/Pflueger President 30 8lb Seaguar AbrasX

 

Small jerkbaits I want to make turn sharply without moving far

6' 2" XF/M Avid/100B Curado 10lb HI-SEAS Grand Slam

 

small to average size jerkbaits

6' 3" MF/M Fenwick smallmouth Elite Tech/100B Curado 10lb HI-SEAS Grand Slam

 

all around jerkbait rod

6' 8" M/F Ethos/50B Calcutta 10lb HI-SEAS Grand Slam

 

large jerkbaits

6' 10" MH/F Ehtos/Helios 12lb Seaguar InvisX

[WIGuide]

1) Do you have a dedicated jerkbait set up (or a set up that doubles as a jerkbait set up which is frequently used to throw jerkbaits)? It's dedicated during certain times of the year, the rest of the year it's one of my lighter plastics setup.

2) What is the primary species you're targeting when throwing jerks? My primary species are usually largemouth or smallmouth, but occasionally walleye and regardless northern pike are usually caught as well.

3) Is your jerkbait set up spinning or baitcasting? Baitcasting, unless I'm throwing a very small one.

4) What is your preferred rod length for jerkbaits? 6'6" or right in that range, too long and you slap the rod on the water or boat gunnel 

5) What is your preferred rod Action and Power for jerks? Medium power, fast action

6) If your jerkbait set up is baitcasting, what is your preferred gear ratio? Gear ratio doesn't matter to me since a jerkbaits action is usually caused by the rod action and the reel just picks up slack in the line in between jerks.

 

[A-Jay]

As indicated by the somewhat similar responses here - a 'shorter' medium action stick usually does the job.

 I fish jerkbaits quite a bit and will admit to following suit right there for the most part.

 

 I'll use 10lb braid & a leader on spinning gear and 10 lb fluorocarbon on casting gear.

 If I'm throwing a 'bigger bait' (LC 128 size) I'll bump up the casting gear line to a notch or two. 

 

And while 'jerkbaits' are sort of in their own lure category, they're still a treble hook hard bait.

So I'm always conscious of what my gear 'needs' to accommodate that.  Early and late season the water's cold(er) and the fish 'fight' slower - less jumping, changing direction with speed and the head shakes seem to be in slow motion.  Tends to increase the margin for error as far as landing them is concerned.   

Once the water warms - all that goes out the window.  Fish (especially smb) go ballistic when hooked & any mismatched tackle or repeated fish fighting faux pas, can & often do lead to less net use.

 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

A-Jay

 

[Dwight Hottle]

I tend to fish 1/2-1 oz jerk baits exclusively. I use both casting & spinning outfits. When I'm long lining on Erie I use 10lb braid with a mono/fluoro leader from 10-15 lb test on casting gear. My preferred rod is a medium heavy moderate action St Croix legend extreme blank 7' to 7'-4". This setup works really well for all species I encounter on Erie smallies, largemouth, walleye, lake trout, steelhead, channel cats & pike. My target species is usually smallmouth. 

My secondary casting outfit consists of a Kistler Z-bone LEXF 3 medium heavy 7' This rod is a light medium heavy extra fast. I use it exclusively with seaguar tatsu fluorocarbon 10-12 lb test or sunline defier armilo mono. Both lines are expensive but highly durable & eliminate the aggravation factor of mono/fluoro. 

 

For casting I use either one of the above outfits or a St Croix Legend Tournament walleye spinning rod rated medium heavy moderate action a 7' TWS 70 with 10lb braid & a 10-15 lb mono leader. Reel ratios vary from 6.0:1 to  7.0:1. All three of these outfits are exclusive jerkbait setups but I'll also use them for other treble hook baits like topwater or crankbaits. The whole idea using jerkbaits is to have some stretch in the system. That's why I use moderate action rods with braid & mono/fluoro for fast/extra fast action rods. I like a high quality modulus blank in moderate action because of the crisp delivery when working a jerkbait. It gives me better feel & helps establish a rhythm when working a jerk bait.

[Dangerfield]

My cranking rod does double duty for my jerkbaits - 7' Med Moderate with 14lb sufix siege. I'm not crazy about the mono for this technique as I can't tell how my twitches and jerks are being presented due to the stretch in the line. I have the same issue with cranking, might go back to braid to a short leader.

[tander]

Using a Falcon Low Rider 6'6" Med. fast witha Lews BB 6.3:1 reel. I use 14# mono. I also used this set up for top water.

[All about da bass]

I use them dock demons, they are xtra short and have a ton of give.?

[Scrapiron]

Megabass OneTen Special- 6'11" Medium/Fast

Daiwa Steez SV TWS in 7.1:1

Sufix 832 braid in 30# with mono leader

[J Francho]

On 7/15/2018 at 11:38 AM, TotalNoob said:

What are you throwing jerkbaits on? I hope this question reaches not just Bass guys, but vampire shift Walleye guys and everyone else who has these incredible multi-species lures in their arsenal.

 

As I try to understand what most folks are using to throw jerkbaits I'd like to ask a series of quick questions. This would act as something of an informal poll I suppose. Definitely looking forward to understanding what kinds of set ups are being used and the reasons. 

 

1) Do you have a dedicated jerkbait set up (or a set up that doubles as a jerkbait set up which is frequently used to throw jerkbaits)?

2) What is the primary species you're targeting when throwing jerks?

3) Is your jerkbait set up spinning or baitcasting? 

4) What is your preferred rod length for jerkbaits? 

5) What is your preferred rod Action and Power for jerks?

6) If your jerkbait set up is baitcasting, what is your preferred gear ratio?

7) If you don't have a dedicated jerkbait set up but could have ANY specific set up for jerks, what would it be?

1.  The same characteristics I prefer for jerk/slash baits is what I like for walking/popping topwater baits.  It's a a good short range, sniper style spinnerbait setup.

2.  Black Bass

3.  Casting

4. & 5.  I use an old Avid AC62MXF 6'2" Medium, X-fast

6.   I don't find gear ratio matters that much.  I'm currently using 6.3:1, but I've used faster and slower.  I was always able to adjust.

7.  I'd really just like to have duplicates of this rod.  It features a shorter rear grip, which makes the tip twitches more comfortable.  It's actually about the same length from the real seat to the tip as a 6'6" model, just a shorter rear grip.

[Big-Bass]

Daiwa Tatula 701MLRB

Daiwa SV103H

10lb. test line

[GReb]

St Croix LTB 6’8” medium fast

Revo SX 7.3:1

12 lb flouro 

[TotalNoob]

What an eye opener .. so many fantastic responses. 

 

I noticed in a couple of responses (below) that a Fast action/"soft tip" is specifically noted. My understanding of rod action is that it's on a spectrum of Slow to Extra Fast - determining how quickly the tip of the rod recovers. 

 

When I think (or hear) "soft tip" I'm associating that with Rod Action ... so I'm interpreting that as meaning a slower action. Clearly my interpretation isn't correct - what am I missing in terms of a "soft tip" and how is that identifiable on a rod labeled, say, MH/F?  

On 7/15/2018 at 11:11 AM, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

A med power , fast action, soft  tip, 6'6" +/-  spinning mostly but casting too.

 

On 7/15/2018 at 6:49 PM, deep said:

5. Medium to medium-heavy and fast, *with a soft tip*.

 

[TotalNoob]

On 7/15/2018 at 6:49 PM, deep said:

P.S. IMO the line is more important than the reel.

Yes, absolutely. Should have asked that in the OP, glad the responses picked up on that and mostly reflected line type. 

On 7/16/2018 at 8:21 AM, Dwight Hottle said:

For casting I use either one of the above outfits or a St Croix Legend Tournament walleye spinning rod rated medium heavy moderate action a 7' TWS 70 with 10lb braid & a 10-15 lb mono leader. Reel ratios vary from 6.0:1 to  7.0:1. All three of these outfits are exclusive jerkbait setups but I'll also use them for other treble hook baits like topwater or crankbaits. The whole idea using jerkbaits is to have some stretch in the system. That's why I use moderate action rods with braid & mono/fluoro for fast/extra fast action rods. I like a high quality modulus blank in moderate action because of the crisp delivery when working a jerkbait. It gives me better feel & helps establish a rhythm when working a jerk bait.

Why Moderate Action and why a mono leader (as opposed to fluoro)? You state that the whole idea is to have some stretch in the system but isn't the desired crisp delivery (I like that wording btw) achieved better with a Fast Action rod and braid to fluoro? 

 

I feel like a mono leader would prevent the lure from darting as crisply and would result in having a sub par feel and interfere with establishing a rhythm when working a jerkbait. I base this statement on the sensitivity and low stretch properties of braid and fluoro. Can you help me to fill in the missing pieces in how I'm interpreting this?