Jerk Bait Idiot, help, success finally sorta

[retiredbosn]

Ok, I have a few jerkbaits in my box. LC live pointers, Rapalas, etc. I have never caught a fish on them, and I am assuming it is because I have no idea how to present them properly. So when you are fishing a jerk bait, how hard do you pull it, how far, I know you pause more in cooler water than warmer, or do you do more of a twitch? Any tips would be great.

[skillet]

 I think you're right about the pauses in cooler water. A number retrieves can be used. There are times (after cranking it down) you can think of it as a top water, small twitches and pauses. Depending on your patience you can let it sit. Go completely in the other direction and use it as a slash bait, yank the stew out of it with long rod sweeps. May not be much help and sounds contradictory. It's just one of those baits that there seems no wrong way to work it, just wrong time...

skillet

[roadwarrior]

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/Jerkbait_fishing.html

Note "Related Links" at the bottom of the page.

Then, every article will lead you to additional links.

Now, a couple of my suggestions:

1. Think of a jerkbait as a submerged topwater lure

and work it just like you might work a popper.

2. Start with a Rapala X-Rap which they call a "slash bait".

This lure can be worked fast, without pause, and is very

effective when bass are actively feeding.

3. Buy a Lucky Craft Pointer (I like Baby Bass). This lure

suspends perfectly and is the best to learn with. A standard

retrieve is to reel the lure down and pause. Then...jerk-

jerk-jerk, pause...jerk-jerk, pause...jerk, pause and repeat

until you feel you are out of "the zone". Vary the length of

your pause until you find a pattern that works.

Fish along weedlines, next to cover and over structure. Fish

jerkbaits where you would fish crankbaits and spinnerbaits.

However, with jerkbaits you do not need to tick the bottom

or run into things. The pause is what separates this lure class

from others and it drives bass crazy!

Good luck!

8-)

[J Francho]

Another article worth checking out: http://www.burniehaney.com/files/Cold_Water_Jerkbaits_LOO_Spring_09_.pdf

[Raul]

Ok, I have a few jerkbaits in my box. LC live pointers, Rapalas, etc. I have never caught a fish on them, and I am assuming it is because I have no idea how to present them properly. So when you are fishing a jerk bait, how hard do you pull it, how far, I know you pause more in cooler water than warmer, or do you do more of a twitch? Any tips would be great.

Me telling you do this and do that and you 'll catch fish would e misleading, so when I fish a jerkbait what do I do ? here we go again....... it depends.

Let 's put an example,

I caught my first 10+ lbs bass fishing a Rapala original minnow size 11 RT pattern, the pond where I caught it is typical of the irrigation ponds we have down here, rectangular shape, 10 ft deep at the deepest part, crystal clear, weedy bottom, this pond has about one third of it 's surface covered with cattails.

I was standing on one of it 's side, made a cast and the bait landed about 2 meters from the cattail bed, what I did next was to leave the bait floating there ( deadsticking ) where I could see it, after a while I twitched the bait a little barely enough to make the bait 's head dive just to float again in the same spot, waited a couple of minutes, twitched again and so on, must have been 10 minutes of repeating the technique, about when I was going to retrieve the bait the bait dissapeared without any water movement around it, I watched the line as the fished moved away with the bait and then set the hook, after a few minutes of battle I landed the fish.  

So in order to make the bait produce you have to try different presentations until you find the one that tickles their fancy, there are many ways to retrieve a jerkbait.

[bassin is addicting]

excellent suggestions....and links..

i would like to learn to be successful with jerk baits..

what other brands and sizes are good besides Lucky Craft (too expensive to learn with) IMO.  i don't want to lose it...i fish 95% from the bank.

besides Rapala also..... or is that the best "entry level" jerk bait?

thanks...

[roadwarrior]

Rapala Husky Jerk.

The Smithwick Rogue is another option, but they are

poorly made, often defective out of the box, become

defective over time and do not consistently suspend.

I have a collection, but rarely fish these jerkbaits anymore.

[Raul]

excellent suggestions....and links..

i would like to learn to be successful with jerk baits..

what other brands and sizes are good besides Lucky Craft (too expensive to learn with) IMO. i don't want to lose it...i fish 95% from the bank.

besides Rapala also..... or is that the best "entry level" jerk bait?

thanks...

There are many brands from where to choose, Rapala has the Original Minnow, Husky Jerk ( suspending ), X-Rap; torm has the Thunderstick, BPS has several minnows from where to choose and all of them are cheap ( 5-7 dollars ).

[bassin is addicting]

thanks guys.... i'll pick up a couple and give'em a try

i just want to take this opportunity to thank you all for the excellent ideas/tips/suggestions on here.  i have learned so much and have put as much to use as i can.

you are awesome....  8-)

[bilgerat]

Another vote for the Husky Jerk. Another overlooked one is the Yo - Zuri Pin's Minnow. That one has always been a killer for me.

[iceintheveins]

X raps are my favorite jerkbaits. I throw them out and get them down to working depth, which is usually about 4 feet. When I jerk the bait I jerk the rod tip straight down, and sometimes will throw slack into the line and twitch on the slack line, which seems to make it move side to side more. The main thing is to vary the length of your pauses and the amount of jerks, and intensity of jerks between pauses.

X raps are the most aggressive, with LC pointers more subtle, and Husky Jerks even more subtle than pointers. I find with the more subtle jerkbaits, your "jerks" shouldn't be as hard.

[MALTESE FALCON]

A technique that works well for me is a sweep, pause, sweep, pause.

Falcon

[retiredbosn]

thanks fellas, will let you know when I succeed with one.

[J Francho]

By far, my best producing hard jerkbait this past spring was a Lucky Craft Flash Minnow 110 in MS Am. Shad.

[Dan:]

I too have had a lot of trouble fishing jerkbaits. I honestly think that I just don't have the patience to fish them. I can't make myself stand there and let them sit.

I just put a bunch of jerkbaits on sale in the flea market for anyone that is interested in them. I hope someone will fish them more than I have.

[J Francho]

I don't use long pauses, they usually only result in northern pike up here, anyway.  My longest pauses are no more than 5 seconds.  Cover water, look for aggressively feeding fish.

[retiredbosn]

Had about 40 minutes to sneak off tonight.  I caught a little one and a snapping turtle.  I have no idea how I caught the turtle as I was moving the bait pretty quickly.  

A couple things I've learned, one I was using too stiff of a pole before, and two I was using my whole arm instead of quick snaps with my wrist.

[skillet]

 CONGRATS ...

skillet

BTW turtles don't count