Jerkbait help

[GoneFishingLTN]

I catch them on jerkbaits, but my current issue is knowing what depth to fish them at. I understand that you always want to keep the bait above the fish, and I do. I also know that you can weight jerkbaits to make them sink slowly, and I have tried that. However, when the wind is blowing 15+ mph, it often feels like I either drift over my bait or get pushed past it before it reaches the strike zone. On top of that, I struggle with casting distance in the wind, which doesn’t give me enough time to let the bait sink properly.

[softwateronly]

My take for cold water is I want a jerk that gets down 1/2-2/3rds of the bottom depth, 10-12' flat a 5-7' diver, 15-20 fow I like a 10-12' diver.  I also have to anchor to properly fish a jerk, whether that's a spot lock or old school anchor and line, I don't want to impart action at all until I hit the slack line.  The extremes do best for me, no movement to highly erratic darts and dives.  The wind is always a challenge, and for me I'm willing to always place my boat to  throw with the wind.  Cross wind just kills the action as my braid on the surface and floro underwater gets blown or pushed by the current, interrupting my dead still to dart and dive.  And into the wind on most days just eats too much into the distance. 

  I carry various small swivels and add them to my front hook hanger to weight a vision 110 jr.  For larger jerkbaits, the nishine outer weight system is nice, but somewhat more expensive as lead wire is way more cost effective.  Casting distance is super important to me as well.  I get almost all of my fish on the furthest 1/3rd of the cast, probably has to do with very clear water.  Throwing with the wind helps me a lot, as does having multiple combos for different sized baits to get the distance I need.  Vision 110 jr+1's do best for me on a MC Days360 610M/RF and larger, heavier jerks, like the nishine erie darter 115MD, do best for me on a PA 6'11M+/F.  These 2 jerkbaits account for 3/4 of all the jerkbait fish I'll catch in a year.

  I guess it's a long winded version of saying, try anchoring up wind of where they are before you buy anything new.

 

scott

[Dwight Hottle]

The wind can be your friend if use it to your advantage. When it prevents you from casting try strolling the bait well behind the boat & let the wind push you along covering water. If the fish are tight to structure set up above them (up wind)  & let the wind work you over them then go out & around & reset up wind for multiple passes over a productive spot. 

[GoneFishingLTN]

This is what I thought, thank you for the detailed replies also! My only concern is you see everyone using live scope and the fishing into the wind and getting it done and I just can't figure that out lol also is the jerk bait better around center cover? hasn't seemed like the best way to target rock for me 

[Dwight Hottle]

@GoneFishingLTN Smallie love jerk baits & they love rock. The only time jerk baits don't work well over rock is when they are feeding down rather than feeding up. But they still will eat a jerk bait if you get it down into their feeding zone. 

[GetFishorDieTryin]

Jerkbaits can be tough to get hang of because they're unique in the way they fish and there are so many variables.  That makes it hard to gain confidence in them. 

Generally wind is your friend with a JB.  It can make it difficult to cast, but the benefit is that it can cause the fish stack up or school.  When those fish are together, even if they aren't actively feeding a JB is one of the best things to throw at them.  Sometimes throwing a JB at a school of inactive fish will fire them up.     

Its very important the JB stop and start immediately.  If you have too much pressure on the line or the wind is throwing a bow into the line, you can catch a few, but you're leaving a lot of fish behind.  You need to anchor the boat with the wind at your back in in your face. 

The depth of the JB really depends on the fish.  You want to get the JB as close as possible to them without going under them, as its harder to get fish to go down than come up.

IMO FC is probably the best way to go if that outfit is going ot be dedicated for a JB.  There are sinking braids around and more will come, but I have no experience with them, so I can't help you there.