Jerkbait question

[kbillb]

Good stuff! Maybe just me but all my Megabass jerk baits seem to suspend nose down.......more so then other JBs?

[snagged in outlet 3]

28 minutes ago, kbillb said:

Good stuff! Maybe just me but all my Megabass jerk baits seem to suspend nose down.......more so then other JBs?

I had a megabass Oneten break off once and had a heck of a time finding it even though I was right on top of it.  It was floating straight nose up.

[abkeenan]

Lotta great info here. I'll add my two cents as jerkbaits are probably my favorite way to catch'em.

My setup: 6'8MH Falcon BuCoo SR paired with a Daiwa Tatula SV 7.3:1 spooled with 10lb InvizX. 

I'm not a jerkbait "soaker". I fish a jerk quicker and harder than most. Probably max out at 3-5 seconds before pretty violent rips. To me, they are either gonna commit or they aren't. I'd rather cover water picking up fish that are active than methodically letting it sit for longgggggg periods of time trying to coax them into it. That's just me and I'm sure letting it sit pays off better at times. I'm impatient I guess. However, I do let it sit longer next to visible cover where I think there is a good chance one is there. I don't get too caught up in nose up versus nose down. In my opinion a hungry fish doesn't care.  I like flouro over mono because I do like a slight slow sink and I also think it helps get the bait a few feet deeper. The InvizX is small diameter, is soft in terms of fluoro and has a bit more stretch that other versions of fluoro line which is favorable for both cranks and jerks.

Good talk gentlemen.

[Gavin]

The only reason a Mega 110 will sit tail down is if it’s a defective one. They sit 30% posterior up in my pool. Weight stuck in tail maybe? You could drill and glue the weight there if you want too. Cannot recomend the RC Sticks. Piss poor QC. Took a half hour to tune most, hooks and rings sucked. No thanks. Will stick with my stash of discontinued colors of Lucky Crafts, Xcaliburs, and JDM baits. Only buy Megabass, Evergreen, and Dou Reallis mostly. Discontinued Lucky Craft I Like all the time.

[fishinwrench]

I tune mine to suspending level, but the guy that I call the best wintertime jerkbait fisherman I've ever known doesn't even give that detail a single thought.   Probably because his bait never sits completely motionless on a slack line.   

[1farmer]

There have been many different opinions mentioned here, each has there on way of doing things. Non of them should be considered wrong. That is the magic of the jerk bait, and what leads it to become an obsession for some of us. So now to further add to the confusion of which way to turn, I'm going to list for me the five jerk bait seasons and the size line I use for each.                  1)  mid december thru febuary      8# or 10# carbon   8# mono                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        2)march thru april                              10# carbon     10# mono   15# mono (used for floating jerk bait around beds )                                                                                                                                               3) may thru june                                  10# carbon      12# to 15# mono                                                                                                                                                                                                                              4) july thru mid september              10# 0r 12# carbon   10# mono                                                                                                                                                                                                                             5) mid september thru mid december       10# carbon  8# or 10# mono

When it comes to weighting the bait, there are many ways to do this. I'm going to explain how I do it, maybe this will help someone. First thing most people throw a jerk bait in water 55 degree or less, so therefore I want my bait to suspend somewhere in this range of water temp. The first step is to put the bait in a deep sink with cold water, remember were looking for a close proximity to the temperature range, Her we want the bait to suspend as close to neutral buoyancy as we can get it without sinking. Start by changing to heavier or lighter hooks, most usually staying in the same size range, occasionally you may have to use the next size smaller which I don"t like to do. These hooks can be weighted as Bill Babler said earlier and in my opinion is the best route to go. Now it's time to go to the cement pond, here we want to see what action the bait has as we jerk, twitch, and pull on it, and by this we can tell the different characteristics of each bait. Almost forgot this needs to be done with different types and sizes of line, as they can make from minimal to massive differences on certain lures.Now we get to go fishing, be sure to take some weighted hooks, hooks of different sizes, suspend strips or dots(which I don't really care for and rarely use), and different sizes of split rings. Here's where you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor. You should already have the bait tied to your favorite jerkin rod(let's change this I'm going to do it my way.) I'm at my starting spot , I take my favorite jerkin rod and drop the bait in the water and push it down, then I observe how it sits(here if I've weighted it at about the same temperature and used the proper line, it should sit there in one spot or slowly rise) if it rises I then take one of the splits rings mentioned before and hang it on the middle hook push back into water. When I get the proper weight where it sits like I want then I put the split ring on the existing hook hanger. With this method most baits can achieve neutral buoyancy in a very minimal amount of time. If your unfortunate and have a bait that sinks to fast and smaller hooks aren't available my suggestion is to find another bait and start over at step one. This is something you can do to keep yourself occupied on those cabin fever days that you don't have housework to do. I may voice my opinions on different baits at a later date, so get your guns ready.

 

[snagged in outlet 3]

15 hours ago, Gavin said:

The only reason a Mega 110 will sit tail down is if it’s a defective one. They sit 30% posterior up in my pool. Weight stuck in tail maybe? You could drill and glue the weight there if you want too. Cannot recomend the RC Sticks. Piss poor QC. Took a half hour to tune most, hooks and rings sucked. No thanks. Will stick with my stash of discontinued colors of Lucky Crafts, Xcaliburs, and JDM baits. Only buy Megabass, Evergreen, and Dou Reallis mostly. Discontinued Lucky Craft I Like all the time.

I assumed when it broke off the weight was in the tail due to momentum of the cast.  I'l have to float it this weekend in the sink and see what's up.

[Old plug]

On 2/20/2019 at 7:00 PM, Bill Babler said:

Top Jerk bait guys including Mike and KVD both throw it on mono.   Don't want the line to sink or drag down the nose of the bait. 

Buster throws in on carbon and he is as good as those guys.

Believe it.

Ideal attitude is slightly tail down.  Shad sink tail down and then swim up.

As Champ said, I fish it on 8 lb. Maxi until they start getting to feisty and then I move up to 10 pound.

Bill I just loaded a sping reel with 12lb Nano. This particular setup is for hybrid fishing ,but I think the stuff would be great in 6lb or 8lb For Jerk baits. It does not float but it does not sink fast and chard like Mono either.

[ryan]

I throw mine on copolymer line.  Neutrally buoyant, still has some stretch but is really tough.  I use yo-Zuri hybrid.  Also, I take my electronic meat thermometer and fill up the kitchen sink and ice it down until I get the water temp to wherever the lake is round about and then tune my jerkbaits with suspend dots or use a larger hook.  I like mine to sit head up and sink slowly.  Almost all of them rise slowly right out of the package.  

[1farmer]

On 2/21/2019 at 5:44 AM, Bill Babler said:

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.

Why does he jerk with violence and malice? Here's my answer to that. The jerks probably don't increase depth but the one thing they do is create interest. No one can jerk fast enough to keep a little amount of slack from occuring at the end of each jerk therefore the bait turns some after each jerk. If you reel the bait down it basically goes to it's maximum depth at a fairly constant rate and very little action and most bass aren't going to swim 20 feet or more to try to catch it. The turns created by the jerks get there attention, they are watching the bait and it suddenly stops, curiosity then gets the better of them they swim over to investigate it, it suddenly moves a little and now they remember how fast it was moving earlier so they eat it before it gets away.