JerkBaits

By: Jeff Miller

This is a bait that I call the fish finder. Rather than just catching fish it does one of the most important things in fishing and that is it finds them!

A jerkbait is my number 1 bait in the early spring(pre-spawn) to early summer(post-spawn) to find either a solo fish or better yet WAD’S of fish. For this time of the year I believe a hard jerkbait is the best search tool in the tacklebox as long as the water clarity is clear or semi clear meaning at least 3 foot of visibility. There are hundreds of different sizes, colors, and styles of hard jerkbaits to choose from but I believe the best thing you can do is try the old saying “match the hatch”. What I mean is to know the forage that the bass is eating rather it be a largemouth, smallmouth or spotted bass you might be targeting on the body of water that you are fishing.  For example in the Great Lakes I would be trying to match in size and color of a perch, spot-tail minnow or alewive pending on what time of the year it is. On inland reservoirs I would try to throw a jerkbait that might resemble a bluegill/sunfish, gizzard shad or a blue herring.

Colors and Styles

With so many different manufactures and different colors on the market where do you start? First and foremost I want a jerkbait that I can cast a long distance even with wind in my face. What I mean by this is a want a jerkbait that has a internal weight system on the interior of the bait. Small lead, steel, or brass beads that slide in the bait from the tail of the bait during the cast and then slide back to the center of the bait for level buoyancy when working it in the water. Almost all of the JDM jerkbaits on the market today have this weight system. The jerkbait that I chose for early in the season when water temps are in the mid 40’s would be a Lucky Craft Staysee 90. This jerkbait has a long bill and dives anywhere from 6 to 10 foot depending the line size you might be using. When working this jerkbait I will be pulling then pausing for at least 6 seconds with the rod rather than jerking it violently like I would when the water warms up. The colors that I try to stick with at this time of the year and this bait are nishiki, chartreuse shad, and wakasagi pending on water clarity. When the water warms up in the mid 50 degree mark I reach for a Megabass x-80 trick darter and a Lucky Craft pt. 78. These little 3 and 4 inch baits have a ton of action and really match’s the hatch when bass are defending their territory for the spawn. The retrieve for these baits I like to use is a snap, snap, pause for 3 seconds than snap again. Not only do these baits catch them but it really shows you where they are! With all the colors for these baits I try to stick with a few that I have confidence in.  For Megabass x-80 I like Cosmic shad, Ayu and Hachiro Reaction which is a crazy color but it just seems to work at this time of the year. For the Lucky Craft Pointer 78 I prefer Bluegill, Aurora Black, and Perch. After the spawn is complete there are two jerkbaits that I rely on very heavy. These two baits are a Lucky Craft pt. 100 and a Megabass Vision 110. The way I work these baits is usually very fast. I am trying to draw a reaction strike from the fish or more or less piss them off! With the Megabass vision 110 there is a whole lot of snapping and jerkn’ going on during the retrieve and with the LC pt. 100 there will be a snap, snap, snap, then pause for 3 seconds before starting the snapping process again. The colors I like on the LC pt. 100 are Ghost Minnow and Chartreuse Shad. For the Megabass vision 110 it hard to beat French Pearl and Pro Blue.

Equipment

The action of rod that I prefer to use on these jerkbaits is a medium for the larger jerkbaits and a medium light for the smaller jerkbaits. Both of these rods I want a soft and forgiving tip. The reason for this is so I do not lose fish. I might work a little more snapping the jerkbaits but it is worth it when you don’t lose fish. It does not matter on spinning or baitcasting rods which ever you are more comfortable with. The line I chose for jerkbaiting is usually Seaguar fluorocarbon in 10lb. I will throw 8lb. test with the Luckycraft Staysee 90 just to get it a little deeper if necessary. The reason for using a fluorocarbon line instead of monofilament is the sensitivity, very little stretch and a little more depth.