Jerkbait drawing power

jwkelley51 · July 03, 2021, 12:35:13 PM

Soft jerkbaits are a big deal for me. Generally in the summer I lob them out on points, reefs with channel markers and parallel to bluff walls....water is 20, 30, 35 feet deep and I'm assuming most fish come up from the bottom to get it as I'm only down 2 ft or less in the water column. Are hard jerkbaits supposed to pull fish in from farther away? I've got a bunch that never get used. Why would I consider rigging up a hard jerk as well? Soft baits I can toss on pretty much any m/mh 7t spinning rod, braid to leader, no special rig required.

Mike Cork · July 03, 2021, 12:49:10 PM

If soft jerkbaits are working for you then press on. Things a hard jerkbait are treble hooks for when bass are just slapping at the baits, a treble hook can grab them. They also offer a variety of water column uses, i.e. slow sinking, slow floating, suspending. Hard jerkbaits can have rattles. In super clear water, the paint jobs on hark jerkbaits can be extremely lifelike.

For me, if I can get away with it I prefer hard jerkbaits. Obviously grass, timber, and other cover plays a role in which might be better as well.

Capt. BassinLou · July 03, 2021, 01:23:21 PM

Fish what's working for you, and keep in mind that sometimes switching to a hard bait is what may be needed as well.

apenland01 · July 03, 2021, 03:56:11 PM

I never fished a hard jerkbait until this year. I fish a weightless fluke as a primary technique and I will occasionally fish it over deeper water, but it doesn't seem to get bit as well in open water compared to working through the sticks.

What I notice between the two is that when I kill the fluke, it will slowly spiral down versus a hard jerkbait that can either suspend, float or sink without getting line twist on my spinning rig. Also getting to different depths is good as well.

Smallie_Stalker · July 03, 2021, 05:45:46 PM

Will fish come up from deep water to hit a hard jerkbait? Smallies definitely will! Largemouth maybe depending......

But like others have said if soft jerkbaits are working for you then no need to change unless you just want to try something different or experiment a little with a new approach.

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Oldfart9999 · July 03, 2021, 07:40:45 PM

If you have them you should try to get used to them. Each has it's strengths and weaknesses.
Rodney

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njpaulc · July 04, 2021, 11:15:01 AM

A hard bait may attract fish that aren't interested in the soft bait, or they might turn the fish off completely. You never can tell. It's worth a couple of casts.

jwkelley51 · July 06, 2021, 01:44:25 PM

So, I tossed a duel hard-core minnow, longer bill, around some this morning. It's way deeper than the fluke, reason I went with the deeper version. Points where I saw fish on the finder I was able to hook a few. It's a totally different animal than my soft jerkbaits. I'm a duffer fisherman, no tournaments and pitch them all back......that thing is rough on the fish. Holy cow. It gets hung up on the net when I'm not using a net? It sticks to everything. I feel sorry for the little fishes. Got a lot of flash though.

D.W. Verts · July 06, 2021, 04:42:26 PM

The only thing that soft and regular jerkbaits have in common, other than having "jerk" as part of their name, is that they are bass catching machines. That's about it.

Dale

Princeton_Man · July 07, 2021, 06:34:21 AM

I fish them both (hard and soft) with quite a bit of success in the Fall. A Fluke is an awesome bait in heavy cover in the Fall.

Oldfart9999 · July 08, 2021, 06:14:08 AM

Quote from: apenland01 on July 03, 2021, 03:56:11 PM
What I notice between the two is that when I kill the fluke, it will slowly spiral down versus a hard jerkbait that can either suspend, float or sink without getting line twist on my spinning rig. Also getting to different depths is good as well.

If you want to get rid of that line twist use a small ball bearing in front of it, say a 2 foot or so leader. Don't discount the spiral action for trigging bites, watch a dying minnow, many will spiral down.

Hard jerk baits will most definitely draw bass from a long way, they have been doing it for decades. The ability for a tuned suspending jerk bait to just sit there in say 5 foot of water can drive fish nuts, large and smallmouth. This is nothing new, I some IN-Fisherman videos from the early 90s describing the technique.
Rodney

apenland01 · July 08, 2021, 09:35:43 AM

Great tip on the fluke, I'll give it a shot to see how I like it. I'm not a fan of having 3 knots, instead of 1 though....

jwkelley51 · July 13, 2021, 01:24:05 PM

Well, this morning I used a less deep flat sided flashy jerk bait and it was impressive. I just hit the ends of points in 20-25 ft. of water and they smacked it great. I don't know where they come from but.....a brush pile is an asset but not necessarily a game changer. I've been carrying a box of these things and never used them before, now it's all I want to throw.