Jerkbaits for smaller lakes and ponds

[TriStateBassin106]

8 minutes ago, Big Hands said:

 

Hard to beat a Megabass Vision 110 generally speaking, but if you're open to something other than a jerkbait. If the price of the Vision 110's are a deterrent, there are some offerings from Lucky Craft like the Pointer, or the Jackall Rerange that are still good, and a little easier on the wallet.

 

There are also a plethora of 'soft jerkbaits' on the market as well like the Fluke that are even more budget friendly and potentially weedless so you can get them right down in the salad where the fish live.

 

However, I think with 6" bluegill and nice fat shiners like that, I'd be going with swimbaits. The Gantarel and Gantarel Jr are excellent bluegill imitations and are not that expensive. The Gantarel Jr. can be thrown with regular bass gear, but you'll want a heavier duty setup for the full size Gantarel. 

 

An S-Waver 168 or 120 could be a decent shiner imitation and can also be thrown on regular bass gear.

My bass aren't that big though. Most are 1 to 2.5lbs are a dozen or more 3 to 4lbers that bite every now and then. 

19 hours ago, Bankbeater said:

I would start off with a floating minnow.  That will tell you if the fish in your lake want a jerkbait style bait without getting hung up on the bottom.

Wouldn't the jerkbaits just rise up aswell? I'm not really knowledgeable between the floaters and normal JBs 

[Big Hands]

7 minutes ago, TriStateBassin106 said:

My bass aren't that big though. Most are 1 to 2.5lbs are a dozen or more 3 to 4lbers that bite every now and then. 

2.5 to 4 lb bass can maul all of the baits I listed. You may be surprised what a bass will try to eat, especially the smaller versions.

 

7 minutes ago, TriStateBassin106 said:

Wouldn't the jerkbaits just rise up aswell? I'm not really knowledgeable between the floaters and normal JBs 

Jerkbaits come in all sorts of different varieties as far as buoyancy is concerned, and you can 'tune' them on your own to alter the buoyancy and angles they suspend at by changing hooks and split rings or by adding weight (using suspend-dots or even wrapping the lead from lead core line around the shank of the hooks among others). 

[Hammer 4]

12 minutes ago, TriStateBassin106 said:

My bass aren't that big though. Most are 1 to 2.5lbs are a dozen or more 3 to 4lbers that bite every now and then. 

Have those ponds/lakes been shocked to verify those weights.? Could be some bigger fish in there if they haven't been shocked.

[TriStateBassin106]

13 minutes ago, Hammer 4 said:

Have those ponds/lakes been shocked to verify those weights.? Could be some bigger fish in there if they haven't been shocked.

I've caught some pretty big fish out of one of them. Pic below was a 3.8lb on a zoom baby brush hog with a 3/16oz tungsten weight last September. Both ponds are ran by the same park officials who restock it every 2 years with baby bass and catfish to keep it in check. 

[Hammer 4]

Unless those ponds have been shocked, there is no way to tell if there are larger bass in there. I fish a 14 acre pond and in May of last year, the dfg shocked it. I talked to one of the agents, and she said that they counted 8 bass that weighed over 14 lbs.

Only 1 bass that I know of caught by a friend was a tad over 12 lbs, and caught at night. Biggest bass I ever caught there was 7 lbs+. So ya never now .. 

[TriStateBassin106]

On 2/21/2021 at 2:58 PM, Boomstick said:

So one is pretty shallow. For those shallow waters, I've had great success with the Berkley Cutter Shallow 90. The Skinny 110 model isn't too bad either. For slightly  deeper water I would switch to the Lucky Craft pointer which you can get down to 5-6 feet pretty easy. I would try both the 100 and 115 sizes and see what works better.

What colors would you recommend for stained water? 

2 hours ago, Hammer 4 said:

Unless those ponds have been shocked, there is no way to tell if there are larger bass in there. I fish a 14 acre pond and in May of last year, the dfg shocked it. I talked to one of the agents, and she said that they counted 8 bass that weighed over 14 lbs.

Only 1 bass that I know of caught by a friend was a tad over 12 lbs, and caught at night. Biggest bass I ever caught there was 7 lbs+. So ya never now .. 

80% of my pond fish are usually at the 1lb or slighty higher mark, if I had to generalize at least 3 of the community ponds I fish have bass mostly around this size 

[Boomstick]

33 minutes ago, TriStateBassin106 said:

What colors would you recommend for stained water? 

I would try the three I mentioned earlier, ghost bluegill, yellow perch and blue silver.

[MIbassyaker]

Your ponds sound pretty typical of all northern public small waters with largemouth I'm familiar with....lots of 1-2 pounders, a few 3-4s, and here-and-there a wily, experienced 5-6 trying to live out its best life with minimal inconvenience.

 

1-2lb bass have no reservations about hitting 4-5 inch jerkbaits. Neither do pickerel, for that matter. But you can downsize to the 3-4 inch range if you want.  It sounds like you have your heart set on suspending models.

 

You have somewhat stained water.  How much visibility? Many jerkbait experts attest that jerkbaits lose their effectiveness if visibility falls under a foot or two.  Regardless, the less visibility, the more opaque (less translucent) I want my baits. I also tend to want them brighter and gaudier.

 

I would get three jerkbaits:

-Berkley Cutter 90 or 110 -- Ghost Bluegill, Yellow Perch, or "Gilly"

-Smithwick Suspending Rattlin' Rogue -- Clown or "Lerch"

-Strike King KVD  100, 200, or 300 -- Natural Bream, Yellow Perch or "Sugar Daddy"

 

All affordable, in case you snag or have them broken off by a pickerel.

 

[TnRiver46]

14 hours ago, TriStateBassin106 said:

My bass aren't that big though. Most are 1 to 2.5lbs are a dozen or more 3 to 4lbers that bite every now and then. 

Wouldn't the jerkbaits just rise up aswell? I'm not really knowledgeable between the floaters and normal JBs 

They don’t float up if you just keep twitching slowly and lightly . And you need them to float up when it gets near the bank 

[TriStateBassin106]

7 hours ago, MIbassyaker said:

Your ponds sound pretty typical of all northern public small waters with largemouth I'm familiar with....lots of 1-2 pounders, a few 3-4s, and here-and-there a wily, experienced 5-6 trying to live out its best life with minimal inconvenience.

 

1-2lb bass have no reservations about hitting 4-5 inch jerkbaits. Neither do pickerel, for that matter. But you can downsize to the 3-4 inch range if you want.  It sounds like you have your heart set on suspending models.

 

You have somewhat stained water.  How much visibility? Many jerkbait experts attest that jerkbaits lose their effectiveness if visibility falls under a foot or two.  Regardless, the less visibility, the more opaque (less translucent) I want my baits. I also tend to want them brighter and gaudier.

 

I would get three jerkbaits:

-Berkley Cutter 90 or 110 -- Ghost Bluegill, Yellow Perch, or "Gilly"

-Smithwick Suspending Rattlin' Rogue -- Clown or "Lerch"

-Strike King KVD  100, 200, or 300 -- Natural Bream, Yellow Perch or "Sugar Daddy"

 

All affordable, in case you snag or have them broken off by a pickerel.

 

My ponds are both about a foot 1/2 of visibility on a good day, it's better with polarized glasses but eventually it gets more dirty in the summertime because of its runoff from drains. (Both waterbodies have drains) here's a pic I took last year from the spawn on the rocky side and you can get the basic idea of the stained conditions if you look closely in the second pic you can see two bass spawning.