# Jerk Bait Blues



## Creek Warrior (Sep 8, 2021)

So I am generally still a novice at effectively using jerkbaits during this time of year and am really trying to improve my game. However I run into some confidence issues with the bait the colder it gets, when everyone else seems to become more confident with it. The general consensus is the slower you fish it, the better. My issue really comes into play when I’m taking almost 5 minutes per long cast inching its way back towards me, it seems to be a really “inefficient” way to 1) finding water holding fish and 2) having your bait in the right spot at the right time when saugeye are known for really short feeding burst. I have a few spots that I know almost always holds fish and can coax a few onto my line but if I try branching out to new spots or lakes, I am really apprehensive to use a jerk bait this time of year due to the reasons stated above. Especially if I am fishing open water riprap areas and do not have a specific target structure or current flow I’m working with. Central lake forum is a goldmine for jerk bait advice but I can’t seem to find info related to this specific conundrum I find myself in and wanted to see what you all have to say?


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## Morrowtucky Mike (May 2, 2018)

I generally don’t spend too much time in a spot if I’m not catching. I’ll usually come back later if I have time. Saugeye are either there and feeding or they aren’t imo. Depending on the size of the area I might only give it 8-10 cast. Are your jerk baits perfectly tuned? Color can have a huge impact as well. Have had nights when none of the popular colors would catch anything yet another color that rarely gets used would catch on every couple cast.


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## All Eyes (Jul 28, 2004)

One thing that I would suggest is making a few cranks as soon as it hits the water to get it down to depth before pausing. And as Mike mentioned above, test your baits in the water you are fishing to make sure they are actually suspending instead of rising or sinking on the pause. Water temp effects how well they suspend so testing them in a bucket at home or in a different temp can be misleading. Lead wire on the hook shanks or sticky lead dots are a good way to adjust a rising bait. For ones that slowly sink, try swapping the hooks with the next size smaller. Change up your cadence on the retrieve with some longer runs thrown in between pauses. Sometimes you have to get their attention and make them follow before dead sticking them.


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## Southernsaug (May 23, 2019)

I will weigh in here. I know exactly what you mean and I find myself in the same situation in cold water. Although I have posted a good bit on the jerk bait discussions, I am not a lure tuner or a big follower of the dead sticking methods. Sure I try it a fair amount, but it is not the focus of my efforts. I typically tell people I roll my baiits or wobble would be another term. I believe what works best is what you do most. My opinion is find active fish and then it won't matter so much how fine tuned your stick bait is. I imagine the guys who focus so intently on fine tuned lures and techniques do catch fish at times, that I do not, but I get my share and my feelings are not hurt to go home with an empty basket. I have stood toe to toe with dead stickers many times and finished my night with a limit. I look for active fish, and that will get you more action then doggedly pounding the water with one precise method. I know I wouldn't win many tournaments or contest, but my freezer is full. I work at the techniques I am comfortable with and recommend that is what you do. If you don't like someone else's methods you most likely won't do it right. On most nights I will get threes cast and retrieves for every one a dead sticker gets. What happens is I get less strikes per cast, but I get in three times the retrieves and it usually balances out. The only tuning i do is on a new lure, if it doesn't run out of the box I tune it right at the water I am fishing. You will not find me in a bath tub fine tuning lures. There is nothing wrong with it, I am just too lazy to spend the time. So far it hasn't kept me from catching fish. I say picking the right spot at the right time will yield more fish then a perfectly tuned lure. Don't work the fun out of fishing. Do what you enjoy, whether that's taking pride in fine tuning lures and dead stick techiques or just grabbing a pole and bait and flinging it.


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## DHower08 (Nov 20, 2015)

Don't be afraid to fish it a little faster. Just because the water is cold doesn't mean the fish don't want to feed. Especially if your talking about saugeyes.


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

Ya there's plenty of guys that don't get into the dead sticking thing. 
I do it because it's one of my favorite ways to fish. Slow and methodical. Those same fish hitting a dead sticked bait at night are chasi g down vibes during the day. 
There's a guy on FB I follow who does win tons of tournaments and also bank fished in the winter. He claims to have never fine tuned a stick bait to suspend perfect yet catches tons of night time eyes. 
So far this year for me dead sticking is not what they have wanted. Steady real with a quick pause. Some of the better fisherman I watch around me will literally give it one good crank then pause and repeat. Tons of ways to do it without having to spend 5 minutes on a single cast. 
I like dead sticking in certain situations. Like when the wind is blowing good enough to push my bait along. Then I just keep the slack out of my line with little twitches now an then.
There will be some nights all they want is a big stick sitting right above there face. But a lot of nights they'll still hit a slowly rolled stick. And swimbaits an twister tails work year around with out having to be dead sticked. 
If you are going to take the time to tune your baits I'd recommend doing it at the lake you are fishing. I have tuned a bait on the south end of the lake to suspend,only to have it sink on the north end. And keep checking it throughout the night as temps change. There are lots of variables that keep it suspending. 
Good luck.


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## HeaVyMeTaLFiSHinGFiEnD (Oct 2, 2010)

I never start out a night of fishing with jerkbaits. I'll always start with a swimbait and make a bunch of slow retrieves. If i land some nice saugs on the swimbait than thats what ill stick with till the bite slows down. If im fishing the swim and keep getting short striked, or notice them swimming right up into the rocks but not taking the swim, ill switch over to a tuned jerkbait. The most important thing for me is to find the fish. Once you can confirm there is activly feeding fish in an area than you can fine tune your approach from there.


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## Creek Warrior (Sep 8, 2021)

Thank you all for the replies and great advice! I have both tuned and stock jerkbaits (use the ones that have a slow float, sinkers go into the summer tackle box) and have had similar results with tuned and non tuned. I am going to keep working on my stickbait game but plan on using them when I know there are fish in the area. I do feel pretty confident in using swim baits and jigs to track down fish all times of the year as it has been my primary way of catching ‘eyes.


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

Creek Warrior said:


> Thank you all for the replies and great advice! I have both tuned and stock jerkbaits (use the ones that have a slow float, sinkers go into the summer tackle box) and have had similar results with tuned and non tuned. I am going to keep working on my stickbait game but plan on using them when I know there are fish in the area. I do feel pretty confident in using swim baits and jigs to track down fish all times of the year as it has been my primary way of catching ‘eyes.


If your dead set on getting the Coldwater jerkbait bite down here is how I did it. 12+ yrs ago i sucked at jerk bait fishing. And didn't use them to often. One year I watched a few guys put on a clinic dead sticking when nothing else would work(it was early January water freezing/thawing every morning,cold clear water). 
From that point forward until late March I only took stick baits with me. So I wasn't tempted to go back into my ways. Don't get me wrong a few nights I'd barrow my buddy's swims when that's all they seamed to want. But those nights guys tossing sticks seemed to be the only way it's what I stuck with. By the time the next fall rolled around I hardly wanted to fish any other way. And started really constantly catching jerk bait fish.
You have to delicate yourself to it and gain some confidence. With out the confidence it's hard to keep using it. And confidence is a huge part of catching extremely cold water saugeye.


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## HeaVyMeTaLFiSHinGFiEnD (Oct 2, 2010)

Troy makes a great point as well. Take a bunch of jerkbaits you want to fish with and throw them in the water and let em sit for 20-30 minutes so they become acclimated to the water. What might of been tuned perfectly last trip doesnt mean it will be next time you go out.


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

HeaVyMeTaLFiSHinGFiEnD said:


> Troy makes a great point as well. Take a bunch of jerkbaits you want to fish with and throw them in the water and let em sit for 20-30 minutes so they become acclimated to the water. What might of been tuned perfectly last trip doesnt mean it will be next time you go out.


It's crazy. They rise/float/suspend different in different parts of the lake on the same night. Gotta really be watching them an paying attention.... 
Another thing I'll do is watch the bait. Normally this time of year if you around fish there is visible bait present. Do what there doing,mimic them.


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## Cobe24 (Sep 14, 2007)

There are days at Indian where deadsticking is the technique and some of my best days have been 10-15 second pauses. Also, let the current do the work. Couple nights ago was a definite float in the current and reel up the slack type of deadstick night. However, most nights at Indian, you are just fine with a 5 second pause or less due to the shallow water.


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## 1basshunter (Mar 27, 2011)

There is a guy that I fish with all the time and never dead sticks just a slow steady retrieving and that guy can kill them doing it.


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## Mr. A (Apr 23, 2012)

Saugeyefisher said:


> It's crazy. They rise/float/suspend different in different parts of the lake on the same night. Gotta really be watching them an paying attention....
> Another thing I'll do is watch the bait. Normally this time of year if you around fish there is visible bait present. Do what there doing,mimic them.


When I get new lures for the Walking Dead fish I throw them in the freezer and keep them in the cold on the easy to the lake. It takes less time for them to acclimate to the water that way. 

Then it's a simple task of using lead wire around the treble hooks to get them to suspend right. Hope that helps! 

Tight lines

Sent from my SM-N986U using Ohio Game Fishing mobile app


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## fishslim (Apr 28, 2005)

Southernsaug said:


> I will weigh in here. I know exactly what you mean and I find myself in the same situation in cold water. Although I have posted a good bit on the jerk bait discussions, I am not a lure tuner or a big follower of the dead sticking methods. Sure I try it a fair amount, but it is not the focus of my efforts. I typically tell people I roll my baiits or wobble would be another term. I believe what works best is what you do most. My opinion is find active fish and then it won't matter so much how fine tuned your stick bait is. I imagine the guys who focus so intently on fine tuned lures and techniques do catch fish at times, that I do not, but I get my share and my feelings are not hurt to go home with an empty basket. I have stood toe to toe with dead stickers many times and finished my night with a limit. I look for active fish, and that will get you more action then doggedly pounding the water with one precise method. I know I wouldn't win many tournaments or contest, but my freezer is full. I work at the techniques I am comfortable with and recommend that is what you do. If you don't like someone else's methods you most likely won't do it right. On most nights I will get threes cast and retrieves for every one a dead sticker gets. What happens is I get less strikes per cast, but I get in three times the retrieves and it usually balances out. The only tuning i do is on a new lure, if it doesn't run out of the box I tune it right at the water I am fishing. You will not find me in a bath tub fine tuning lures. There is nothing wrong with it, I am just too lazy to spend the time. So far it hasn't kept me from catching fish. I say picking the right spot at the right time will yield more fish then a perfectly tuned lure. Don't work the fun out of fishing. Do what you enjoy, whether that's taking pride in fine tuning lures and dead stick techiques or just grabbing a pole and bait and flinging it.


Iove your post and I agree dead sticking is a coldddd water technique with long pauses. You mentioned a key thing finding active fish.
First let's clarify you are more southern Ohio correct?
You are usually way behind in water temls then central an northern parts. This is key dead sticking a bait is not the smartest way to fish water mid 40's and up. And i preach and is mentioned in posts warmer water short to very short pause with bait worked at varying speeds to find what they want.

Even varies more if river or spillway fishing.

But key is speed by water temps we were banging eyes few weeks back with not so tuned jerks worked with couple second pause with twitches.

Alum creek hoover have stayed way warmer in temps this year. My suggestion to post. Speed up your casts shorter pauses 2 to 3 seconds first.put some twitches or rolls of bait inbetween. Not producing faster then longer pauses 4 to 6 seconds move bait. Then go to 10 second an so forth.

I will say this moundwood last Monday 6 guys. I tuned my bait to not sink and stay put. Only one that took time to do it. Others came down thru ther jrrks out hard pull down and worked baits back with quicker twith twitch pause.

I hit over 40 eyes to there 12 or 13

I pull bait 6 inches to a foot under surfaceand allowed the slow current to just move bait along dead sticked. The big eyes were sucking bait in like the dying shad I saw on the water.
Other guys pulling under the suspending eyes. One guy finally asked why. I asked him to put his bait in water it was quickly sinking I made some adjustments to his bait and showed him how it now sat in place. Told him pull bait down one light pull and let it drift. 2nd cast he got his first eye after a hour of nothing.
Water temps were mid 30's fish were not wanting to chase. Yes smaller one would at times.
Was dead sticking and tuning a bait important thst night. YES but main reason was water temps coldddd water thats when dead sticking shines for bigger fish. Here is pic of my 6 that night. Now moundwood is a spot with high traffic. But big girls still show up. Figure out the technique needed to catch them is key. Tight lines


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## Silver Fox 23 (Sep 4, 2015)

fishslim said:


> Iove your and I agree dead sticking is a coldddd water technique with long pauses. You mentioned a key thing finding active fish.
> First let's clarify you are more southern Ohio correct?
> You are usually way behind in water temls then central an northern parts. This is key dead sticking a bait is not the smartest way to fish water mid 40's and up. And i preach and is mentioned in posts warmer water short to very short pause with bait worked at varying speeds to find what they want.
> 
> ...


Great post! Those are some pretty fish! My goodness you know Saugeye fishing! Thanks for continuing to help with your tips and strategies!


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## Southernsaug (May 23, 2019)

fishslim said:


> First let's clarify you are more southern Ohio correct?


Yes, I am south central.



fishslim said:


> You are usually way behind in water temps then central an northern parts. This is key dead sticking a bait is not the smartest way to fish water mid 40's and up.


Correct again, most years our water never gets below 40 until January. MOst years it's closer to 50 until mid December.



fishslim said:


> Even varies more if river or spillway fishing.


Hit the mark again, My November - March fishing is 100% stream and spillway fishing. We fish a lot of deep water with massive current ( 20-35 ft of water and current with undertows). I have seen days it takes 3/8 oz jigs just to get bait to the bottom. In November and early December the eyes move up into adjacent mud flats of 2-5 ft on over cast days and they will hammer a jerk bait like a freight train. On those bright light days we fish the drop offs in 20+ ft of water. Hard to work cranks there. I rarely see suspended fish, but I only fish daylight hrs. This time of year we are almost exclusively dropping twister tails or live minnows. With that said, we actually fish a pause with them. Let's call it dead weighting (LOL). Lift that jig or minnow and let it free fall, no tension. Once it hits bottom bring the tension back, if there's weight lift your rod and if the weight is steady set the hook. If you feel a pull back, hold it tight she hasn't eaten it yet. If there is no weight just let your jig or minnow sit on the bottom for 5 seconds and lift it fast and let fall again. I get many strikes soon as I lift. Saturday, you would have gotten a good chuckle at my expense. A friend pulled into one of my winter spots and I only had 1 fish. Two days before I took 6 from the same spot. He fishes with a pause and dead sticks some. His buddy and he pulled in about 25 feet from me and anchored (it was fine we are friends) and started in. I told them it was a slow bite. I actually gave them some minnows, as I had big creek chubs (as a side note: when I say minnows I mean creek minnows 1.5 -3 inches, no crappie minnows allowed in my winter bucket). They decided to dead fish their minnows. They would lift and let it sit then slowly lift just about 8 inches and drop. before I new it they had taken 5 fish from right beside me. I am not stupid so, I copied them and bam was on fish. I looked and the water temp had dropped to 41 from 46 a few days earlier. That was the difference.

I need to try your dead sticking come late December or early January down here. I need to get my butt to Paint Creek Lake or Rocky Fork and try it there. It's just hard when we're pulling fish off the creeks and river. why leave what is producing. I guess I never really caught on that the water temp for dead sticking was best at under 40. That makes sense. Now if I could figure out how to make those lures work in 20+ feet of water with current. I actually tried bottom bouncers once and donated three good lures to the creek bed.

I will add one last thing. In my earlier post I was talking mainly about how I fish cranks and jerks September through October. That is all shallow water and 50+ degrees. In that time we are at riffle heads and below fast water shoots and even tail-waters some. A whole different game.

I came back to edit this comment in. I have seen people get disappointed with the results after trying dead sticking on their home lakes/streams. It takes time and practice on any technique, there are small subtle things that you'll pick up over time, keep trying. My final point is, not all lakes and streams are created equal. We see a lot of big successful outings posted from primarily two systems, in OGF. Those being Indian Lake and Alum Creek Lake. Those two get a lot more Saugeye stocked and they both have distinctly denser Saugeye populations, they are the gold standard for Saugeye Fishing in Ohio. When comparing those lakes to many other Saugeye Lakes around the state the playing field is not level. So don't think your doing something wrong just because your catches aren't comparing to these two lakes.

great reply slim....more to think about


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## fishslim (Apr 28, 2005)

Now thats the response I was thinking would come back from you. I follow many of your posts and know you have your areas figured out for the times you fish them. Thats what it is all about. 

This is a awesome post that I hope many read more then once. Rivers an spillways once you know what how and where are unreal fisheries. And I agree no reason to leave them. 

Thanks for the great input and helping ones understand all places in state are not equal and do not fish the same thruout the whole state at same time. Tight lines
Oh and yes if you get cold water that way try the dead sticking. Lol


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

When these two talk^^^^^^^^^^^^i listen!

Thanks guys!


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## Silver Fox 23 (Sep 4, 2015)

Saugeyefisher said:


> When these two talk^^^^^^^^^^^^i listen!
> 
> Thanks guys!


100% AGREE!!!! They've forgotten more about saugeye fishing than most of us know!!!! Being fairly new to it I truly appreciate all of the tips and pointers. I definitely need practice especially on jerk baits and dead sticking, but at least manage to land several each year now. I'm especially looking forward to the fishing expo this year and attending some more informational sessions. Great stuff!


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## Southernsaug (May 23, 2019)

The streams definitely hold some dandy fish....here's one of our better afternoons








of jig dropping in spring of 2020. Three of us limited out.


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## odell daniel (Nov 5, 2015)

I've been fishing Indian this fall, its been a little hit and miss with the jerks, we've had alot of success fishing the swims from sunset till way after dark. It was primetime the other night we were casting jerk baits getting one here and there, around 8pm I switched to a swim bait and it was almost ever cast.


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## Silver Fox 23 (Sep 4, 2015)

odell daniel said:


> I've been fishing Indian this fall, its been a little hit and miss with the jerks, we've had alot of success fishing the swims from sunset till way after dark. It was primetime the other night we were casting jerk baits getting one here and there, around 8pm I switched to a swim bait and it was almost ever cast.


How are you fishing your swimbaits? Slow retrieve with rod tip up or doing some pausing along the way?


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