# jerkbaits?



## big fish (Oct 9, 2005)

so i have been trying new lures and i am having trouble with working a jerk bait. how do you work them to start with and do you get it to the bottom and then pause or a continous retreve.


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## Bassnpro1 (Apr 6, 2004)

I fish the bait just as it sounds. I give the bait a good jerk, and let it sit for abit before repeating. Always mix up the retreives, jerk it a couple times in a row before a pause, just once then pause, jerk and reel a few feet then pause. Notice that everything should include a pause and the length of the pause depends on how active the fish are. Colder water normally means really long pauses of up to 30 seconds or more.


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## hazmat247 (Mar 1, 2006)

Yes i agree with Bassnpro1, I used Rapala X-Rap up in Canada and had success by fishing it in no particular pattern. i caught Bass and Pike along weedeges and around islands. Both the #8 and #10 worked for me. 
Good Luck


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## Smalljaw.com (Jul 26, 2007)

Big fish, I hope this will help. This is how I fish the jerkbait and I only throw it at certain water temps. I normally fish for smallmouth but it will work for them slickheads too. When the water start to warm up some to about 47 to 48 drgrees, and that fly starts dropping real good, time to put up that fly and switch to the jerkbait. I know this will be hard to do for all you fly lovers but you are missing out. What I mean by this is all the fly is doing is catching you fish but is only telling you one thing, the fish are looking up, You can tell this because the bobber will first turn over before going down. Pick that jerkbait up and learn something very important. The jerkbait is a fish locator. Get that boat up on the bank and make long paralell cast down the bank. Do not jerk pause, fish that jerkbait as hard as you can, this non stop irratic action will get those fish looking at it and following it. If you stop it and they get a good look at it in the gin clear water they will turn away from it. Don't give them a good look at it and they will hit it just because they can't get a good look at it. This is why the long cast are important. This is also know to all the jerkbait boys as the start of the jerkbait season. This locator bait will blow your mind when you see how many fish follow that bait to the boat from the front of the creek to the back. Some will hit it and some won't. This will tell you which creeks will be hot and which creeks will not be hot in the spring. I caught fish in those creeks that fish followed the jerkbait all spring. It will help you eliminate alot of water for the spring time bite. One thing I have found with the fish following the bait and not hitting it is due to the fish coming up out of thier comfort zone to look at the bait. Some will hit and some won't. The ones that wont I believe they are out of thier comfort zone. I have found a little deeper jerkbait jerked in the comfort zone will help get those strikes. I have also found that a grub followed up by a jerkbait will get your are broke. Hint, Hint. When thing start to settle in the creeks and the fish are not as active and are thinking about spawning, that is when you can go back to that jerk pause. As far as baits, x-raps, rouges, lucky craft, all are good ones. I like the med to big jerksbaits. Rule of thumb for colors, cloudy days I like the yellow and pink ones, sunny days with the clear water I like a more natural color, chrome and black, chrome and green, and so on. I think you get my point. As far as line, I only throw them on fireline. It ables you to make long cast and gets the best action out of the bait as well as feel the strike faster. It will also help you from loosing a pig. Rod is a smaller one about a 6'6 I think is what I use. I dont like my rod tip hitting water ot the boat while working it. Be careful when fishing a jerkbait and lipping fish, this is the time I get more hooks in my hand than any. I like to throw the jerkbait out and reel down about 5 to 6 cranks on a spinning rod (no bait cast at all) then my jerks are down 1,2 1,2,3, and then up 2. This will make the bait shoot off 2 to 3 feet to the side and the fish hate that. Try this stuff this season and you will be hooked on the jerkbait season from here on out. Good luck and keep us posted in your learning adventures this season with the jerkbait. Andrew


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