Jerkbait question

[David Goddard]

Man this is a incredibly technical and loaded question in my humble opinion. I dont have near the experience that most of the guys commenting here have but i have caught more than a few bass on jerk baits and i throw my jerkbaits on both mono and floro leaders attached to braided line and heres why. I think that the floro (even 6 or 8 lb test) pulls the bait nose down not because of the weight of the line because of the movement of the water. Very very rarely (if ever) are you fishing completely still water and the movement of the water on the sinking floro drags the bait nose down. Sometimes I want it nose down to get it a bit deeper. I use an 8 lb mono leader to get the bait parallel or nose up. I dont like a floating jerk bait however and want them suspending or just barely sinking (less than a foot every 10 seconds.) I use braid because it has no stretch giving me a bit harder snap on my jerkbait which I think is essential to reaching maximum diving depth and achieving the best action when using mono a leader.

[Bill Babler]

8 hours ago, aarchdale@coresleep.com said:

Best bet is to use the line you like and can afford, by some suspend dots and just play with it. A kitchen sink of water isnt gonna tell you crap, once you have line on it and the temp of the water will dictate how it float, sinks, suspends, or whatever you want it to do

Point well taken, it is amazing how much difference water temps make as far as how a bait will suspend. Probably not so much how level it sits.  Good point however.

Point 2 is I don't believe Champ was thinking the knot was sinking the head of the bait but the weight and the sink ability of the carbon line was pulling the nose down as the line tends to sink.  That's what the big boys think for what its worth.  Bill Beck was also a Maxi clone and fished it on 8 lb. Maxi till April 1st. and then went to 10 lb. Maxi.

 As I said Buster uses carbon and I would hazard to say he has caught more or as many as anyone alive on a jerk bait.

I have watched dying shad probably in my career for hours and the one thing is constant, they always sink tail down, always.  Then they somewhat sputter back to life and swim head up ward and then just lay there and again start to sink tail down.

I hate suspend dots and use weighted hooks on mine.  I tie them on my fly tying vice and blend the lead with black thread.  Very clean look. I have an entire box or weighted hooks using different size wire  and can adjust the sink rate on the water in seconds. Beck loved this system and I made him lots of them.  Prior he would just wrap weight on the hook shank but mine are so clean you have to look close to even know they are weighted.  Bill told me it was the only  good idea I ever had  😊

 This time of the year to get the initial depth most all now are using the 110 plus 1 in either a knock off that is painted or the real deal.  Hughes Custom Baits paints mine and Busters and I know he uses both bodies. Tim says they are the same including the weighting chamber.

Tim, please correct me If I'm wrong on that.

To get the starting depth Buster makes as long a  cast as possible.  I mean LONG.  He then reels the 7.1 to 1 really fast and jerks the bait down with violence and malice.  After that he pretty much goes to sleep until he says,  "Got another one."    Just a slight head turn here and a little triple tap there.

Very nice thread guys.

[Champ188]

There's a LOT of knowledge in this thread, guys. And very little of it coming from me. When you can find out how Buster Loving fishes a jerk bait, you better hang on every word. 

[top_dollar]

I'm also a mono guy.  I like 8-17# line depending on the situation.  I like it for 2 reasons:  1. It lays on the surface of the water and you can see your line tick like a crappie thump. 2. It stretches and helps to keep treble hooked fished from coming off. 

I also like a slow floater with some suspend dots handy.  Usually it make a perfect suspender you end up tearing the suspend dot into 3 or 4 tiny pieces.  For various reasons you may want a floater, suspender, or sinker and lead dots allow you to have all 3. 

 

Probably against the grain here....but I'd suggest using a 5 and a half to 6 foot rod with a pistol grip.  (Lews tp-1 target casting special is a good one).  I actually use mostly a 20 year old bps tourney special 5ft 6 inch.  

[Mhyde]

14 minutes ago, top_dollar said:

 

Probably against the grain here....but I'd suggest using a 5 and a half to 6 foot rod with a pistol grip.  (Lews tp-1 target casting special is a good one).  I actually use mostly a 20 year old bps tourney special 5ft 6 inch.  

For what it's worth I also do this and I also use this style of rod for a walking style top water baits. I do this because I'm short and when I have to jerk or walk the bait I found myself hitting the rod on the side of the boat and since I mostly bass fish from the back of someone else's boat I don't want to b slapping the gel coat  that I'm not paying for. Once I went to a 6' or 5'6" rod I found I could get on the fish much quicker especially when top water fishing and I wasn't hitting the boat with that shorter rod. it's all trail and error and if you find something that works for you and you catch fish then stick with it! just my 2 cents. 

[top_dollar]

2 hours ago, Mhyde said:

For what it's worth I also do this and I also use this style of rod for a walking style top water baits. I do this because I'm short and when I have to jerk or walk the bait I found myself hitting the rod on the side of the boat and since I mostly bass fish from the back of someone else's boat I don't want to b slapping the gel coat  that I'm not paying for. Once I went to a 6' or 5'6" rod I found I could get on the fish much quicker especially when top water fishing and I wasn't hitting the boat with that shorter rod. it's all trail and error and if you find something that works for you and you catch fish then stick with it! just my 2 cents. 

That is why i do it too.  I feel as though i get a better snap on my jerkbait/walkin baits.  Also, I did realize that I am in the minority in that I bank fish/wade rivers quite a bit.  This gives you even less room to point the rod towards the ground.  

[Smithvillesteve]

Once again thanks for the valuable information here. I did read here awhile back, i bassblaster i believe, where Mike McClelland likes to use mono to throw jerkbailts. I think i will give that a shot next time and check on the difference. Sounds like Buster is the man down there!! Love that info Bill. My problem is i am all thumbs when it comes to changing out o rings! A sincere thanks to all you guys willing to share your information. Champ is so right: this is such a valuable resource!!!

[willyfish]

Does anyone throw lucky craft pointers? If so how did they perform for you? I just picked up a couple pointer 100, 4" long and supposed to get in that 4-6 ft range on 10lb line. 

[1farmer]

28 minutes ago, willyfish said:

Does anyone throw lucky craft pointers? If so how did they perform for you? I just picked up a couple pointer 100, 4" long and supposed to get in that 4-6 ft range on 10lb line. 

I throw a pointer probably as often as any jerk bait I have. Most of my better catches have come on this bait. Through reading all of these jerk bait threads you surely have seen Bill Babler mention just turn the head, which I'm guessing means, a subtle twitch that doesn't move the bait forward but turns just the head of the bait. When this is done with a pointer the head doesn't turn as much but the whole bait tilts or rolls on its side without moving forward. The reason I am so captivated by jerk baits is that each brand has its own characteristics. I can spend the rest of my days that the lord has allocated me trying to figure out these subtle differences in the baits.Lucky Craft built a Stacey King model a few years ago that has the wildest action of any jerk bait I have thrown.

[Travis Swift]

I'm not near as good as any of these guys but I do throw mine in Pline CXX 8 pound.  It's super strong stuff, don't let 8 pound scare ya.  Also I don't really jerk mine when the water is cold.  more like a small twitch twitch and let it set instead of a pronounced jerking action if that makes sense.  I hated jerkbaits till about 2 years ago when I discovered the Megabass 110+1.  I'm stubborn in the fact it's one of the only jerkbaits I feel confident in and I have a box full of them now.  I don't even own a regular they are all +1's.