Floating jerkbaits

[KP Duty]

I've never thrown a jerkbait that floats.  As a kid in the 80's, all the jerkbaits floated, but we used lead tape to make them suspend.  Out of the 4 JLS orders I placed this year, 3 orders came with a floating Megabass 110 (type R)as the 'gift'.  It says 'hi float' on the packaging.  I don't know whether to weigh it down to make it suspend, or fish it as is.  Maybe someone can enlighten me on where/when this bait excels.  

[Smells like fish]

I’ve caught more bass in my life on floating jerks than I have on soft plastics. I have hundreds of them. Primarily a creek and pond fisherman however. 2.5”-5” lures twitched, steady retrieved or jerked in gets bit. I’ve never even saw a MB floating model! Sounds good to me.  Do they have the same outbarb hooks like the Vision 110 has?

[A-Jay]

1 hour ago, KP Duty said:

I've never thrown a jerkbait that floats.  As a kid in the 80's, all the jerkbaits floated, but we used lead tape to make them suspend.  Out of the 4 JLS orders I placed this year, 3 orders came with a floating Megabass 110 (type R)as the 'gift'.  It says 'hi float' on the packaging.  I don't know whether to weigh it down to make it suspend, or fish it as is.  Maybe someone can enlighten me on where/when this bait excels.  

I would fish that bait in the same places and in a similar fashion as

A Popper.

Twitch, Pause & Repeat. 

Be careful though.

You might get you're arm broke.

A-Jay

 

[Kirtley Howe]

4 hours ago, A-Jay said:

I would fish that bait in the same places and in a similar fashion as

A Popper.

Twitch, Pause & Repeat. 

Be careful though.

You might get you're arm broke.

A-Jay

 

Sounds to me that you are fishing a top water original Rapala.

[A-Jay]

5 minutes ago, Kirt Howe said:

Sounds to me that you are fishing a top water original Rapala.

Pretty much the same deal.

Except that Megabass (Type R) offering will not cast like a potato chip

which IMO is one of the downfalls of the Original Rapala minnow. 

A-Jay

[NittyGrittyBoy]

November to March I keep a suspending jerkbait tied on, then April to Oct floating jerkbait gets the nod.

 

Usually a twitch, twitch, pause cadence. Always been an excellent producer in local rivers. Definitely don't underestimate them as they are often overlooked.

[Mobasser]

A twitch pause with a Smithwick Rogue can work great at times.

[Munkin]

Smitchwick floating Rogue works great in warm shallow water.

 

Allen 

[FishTank]

I have received a few as well and bought one in an odd JDM only red/gold/yellow color that was only available in the Type R High Float. I fish it like most other jerkbaits but I let hit the top of the water, I pull hard on it once, a soft jerk after that, then let hit the top of the water again and repeat.  

[smalljaw67]

The floating Smithwick Rogue is one of my favorite summer river baits. It is also deadly over grass flats and rip rap in lakes. You can twitch it and fish it as a topwater, I like the Rapala Original Floater and the Bagley Bang-O-Lure for that kind of presentation. I have the hi-float 110 and you will want to use it anytime you would use a soft jerkbait like a fluke. There are a couple of reasons I will go with the hard floating jerkbait over the soft jerkbait.  The first is speed, sometimes the way to get bit is through a rection strike. That means working the bait fast, work a fluke too fast and it will come out of the water. Now sometimes that is a major trigger and you'll get your arm broke doing that. However, more often than not they stop chasing it. The hard jerkbait you rip-rip-rip pause for 2 seconds and repeat, it will open up a door to a new way to generate strikes and a lot of big fish!! The second reason is determing by how the fish are hitting the bait. If you are using a fluke type lure and you are missing strikes it is because of how the fish are hitting it. They often will swipe at it rather than straight up eat the thing. There are times when you can just stop the bait dead after that happen and the fish will come back and get it. Most of the time they don't so you need to do something else. You can either rig the bait with a treble hook or you can use the floating hard jerkbait. There are surprisingly a lot of anglers that continue to use these and the evidence is that they are still producing them. Your floating 110 can be used as a jerkbait or a surface twitch bait, both techniques are deadly when used in the right situations.

[ChrisD46]

*Top water Rapala Floating Minnow , Bang-O-Lure Floating Minnow , Bomber Long A Floating Minnow , etc. all were popular at one time but fell out of favor as newer lures and tactics came about ... I say it's time for a return !

[frenchy]

I use the top water floating rapala every spring, lays on my deck religiously waiting for the right time.

When they are on that bait you can't beat it.

 

[Functional]

I use jointed floating rapalas more than any other jerkbait. I use 1 piece ones like mentioned, top water, twitching it back with decent success. 

 

What has been excellent is using the large jointed ones (5"+ if I can find them) and reeling it in just so most of it is under the surface and creating a wake with the tail wobble. I've caught just about every species in my lake of every size with it. d**n good lure in the spring/early summer.

[scaleface]

Use them post spawn on points and cover between spawning coves and the main lake . Use as a top water or wake one .

[Deleted account]

Floating JB is a thing. When fishing shallow water, grass flats, spawning areas, or drop offs in the late winter through post spawn. I only put them down when the grass gets to within inches of the surface, and then have them at the ready situationally. I like the Long A and the Shadow Shad Rap, as well as my HJs that float out of the package sometimes, but pretty much any of them work well.

[scaleface]

21 minutes ago, Deleted account said:

I like the Long A

Me to , with the silver flash inserts .

[Deleted account]

7 minutes ago, scaleface said:

Me to , with the silver flash inserts .

Don't get me started on the screw tails...

[waymont]

I frequently throw a 3.5” Rebel jointed minnow fished as both a jerkbait and top water bait. It casts better than an original Rapala which I also use all the time. Both have done great for me. 
try that new bait out!