Jerkbaits are my weakness

[Guest]

I would consider crankbaits to be my strength, whereas Jerkbaits are my weakness. I'm not a very experienced winter angler. I've caught some bass at Beaver in water below 50 degrees, but its not my expertise. These Ozark lakes are really low & that deep timber is emerging. So I might try the short game vs throwing long range in open water. I rigged up a medium action baitcaster & 5:1 curado with 8lb Maxima for throwing the Lucky Craft pointer 100. I intend to short cast bluff timber, docks & cedars. I need a visual object to fish so that I have confidence to let a JerkBait pause for long periods of time.
I like to really tinker with hardbaits. (painting, clear coating & weighting hooks) I found that spintech hooks are easier than wrapping lead wire around the trebles to achieve suspension or a sloth like rise in the bait. Certain brands are tail heavy or nose heavy out of the box. I can get a Spro RK Crawler 55 to slow rise with a #4 spintech on the belly hook.

Any advice you have on jerkbaiting or videos are helpful.

[Sore Thumbs]

I would tell you to take nothing but the Jerkbaits with you to the lake. Leave the cranks at home. Throw it all day and nothing else. Try different cadences and different features on the lake. Points and secondary points are always a good place to start. If you know where brush piles are you can throw above them as well. Make sure the bait isn't floating up. You want them to suspend or sink super slowly. Easiest way for me to weigh them down is split rings. I throw Megabass a lot and they tend to be nose down out of the box. I add rings to the back hook first and adjust from there. There are plenty of good baits out there. You just want to make sure they don't sink too fast or come up to fast. 8lb line is a great size to use. You have to commit to it and you will grow to love the Jerkbaits. They seem to catch quality fish too. Good luck I hope this helped. Can't wait to get out there and catch some on a JB myself. 

[Fish24/7]

TrophyFishR check your inbox

[abkeenan]

Sore thumbs gave good info there. I prefer a faster reel than a 5:1 ratio just because I want to take up slack faster. I think I use a 6 something to 1 Lews. Also, just like anything else, I think we as fisherman sometimes over complicate things. Nose up, nose down...I don't think it matters as long as it looks like a dying shad. I just want it stay in the strike zone and in their face as long as possible. I prefer my jerks to perfectly suspend (easier said than done) or sink just ever so slowly. If they rise a little that's not the end of the world. If it's too fast of a float, like Sore Thumbs said, just add some weight to it (suspend dots/strips, extra rings or lead wire around the hook shank). I throw jerkbaits about 90% of the time where I know there are tree tops present. Either visible or just below the surface from 1-15 feet or so under. Jerkbaits for whatever reason seem to be the most expensive of all cranks and nobody wants to lose $10-25 bucks in a tree. That is why I think it is essential to have a lure retriever. It will make you basically fearless to throw in and around tree tops which is where these fish like to hang of course. I really treat them no different than throwing topwater around timber.

[Champ188]

9 minutes ago, abkeenan said:

It will make you basically fearless to throw in and around tree tops ...

I was God's own drunk and a fearless man
And that's when I first saw the bear
He was a Kodiak lookin' fella `bout nineteen feet tall
He rambled up over the hill
expectin' me to do one of two things,
Flip or fly, I didn't do either one,
It hung him up

He started sniffin' around my body tryin' to smell fear
But he ain't gonna smell no fear `cause
I'm God's own drunk and a fearless man
It hung him up.

Jimmy Buffett, God's Own Drunk

[Guest]

What line & rod setup do yall prefer?

I have a friend that's been using 10lb braid with 8lb leader for jerks. He claims you get a better "feel" of the bait's action & you can cast further. Also stated that fish stay hooked up better on the braid. Anybody else tinker with braid? 

I found some FluoroBraid & might try it on the suspenders.  

Anybody tried the feather treble on the JB ?  http://www.scout.com/outdoors/wired2fish/story/1738349-catch-more-jerkbait-bass-with-this-trick

 

[mrgungho]

I really like the Rapala Suspended Husky Jerk. (size 10, 4") Gets down around 6-7'.   When suspended, they're perfectly balanced nose to tail and hold their exact depth. Lots of "stock" colors to choose from, very durable and VERY reasonably priced.  

[abkeenan]

1 hour ago, TrophyFishR said:

What line & rod setup do yall prefer?

I have a friend that's been using 10lb braid with 8lb leader for jerks. He claims you get a better "feel" of the bait's action & you can cast further. Also stated that fish stay hooked up better on the braid. Anybody else tinker with braid? 

I found some FluoroBraid & might try it on the suspenders.  

Anybody tried the feather treble on the JB ?  http://www.scout.com/outdoors/wired2fish/story/1738349-catch-more-jerkbait-bass-with-this-trick

 

I use 10lb Seaguar InvizX fluoro myself. Never have tried the braid to leader deal. I think most guys use 8 or 10lb mono. As for keeping fish buttoned up I think that has more to do with the rod than the line you are using. You want a moderate action rod with a softer tip just like you would any other rod where you are throwing trebled baits. The softer tip also allows the rod to load and really launch the bait out there which is what you want. Long casts = Longer time in the strike zone = Covering more water efficiently.

[Sore Thumbs]

I use flouro. Braid has a tendency to float which  wouldn't allow bait to sink as well. I would think all the line that is floating would cause more slack making it harder to hook up. When I marshaled at the Bassmaster tournament on TR the pro I rode with used 8lb flouro. He was cracken em that day. Those guys fish for a living. When they do something I pay attention. You guys need to try some of the Jackall Jerkbaits. Great colors and dive a little deeper. 

[Mitch f]

If I can find it, Al Agnew wrote a comprehensive thread on jerkbaits on OAF. 

The action of the rod for jerk baits is very individual for each person using it IMHO. I would designate one rod for jerk baits and only use this rod until you figure out a good cadence that works. If you switched to a different rod the next day, you would get a completely different action, even with the same lure. That's just how it works for me.