A hard jerkbait is a great lure all year but it can really stand out in the winter so I figured I’d write an article about this technique. The Megabass Vision Oneten is considered by many to be the gold standard when it comes to hard jerkbaits but I personally like Lucky Craft jerkbaits for a few reasons:
- I like to swap out the treble hooks on jerkbaits most of the time and these lures are a good match for doing so.
- I prefer to throw hard jerkbaits on casting gear and the size and weight of the lures I like make them easier to throw with a baitcaster.
- Lucky Craft has some of the best colors out there and several of my favorite treble hook baits are made by Lucky Craft.
Ok so now that we’ve gotten that out of the way let’s get into some specifics. In my case I usually throw a hard jerkbait when I want to imitate shad, and there are three different models I like. The first is what you could think of as a standard shallow diving jerkbait. For this technique I like a Pointer 100 and a Pointer 78. The reason I like both is because I want a bigger profile when the visibility is lower so if I’m throwing a Pointer 100 I usually go with chartreuse shad or mh ghost minnow for the color. On the other hand if the visibility is higher then I will go down to a Pointer 78. The idea here is this will look a little more realistic and might get a few extra bites over the larger profile and if I’m going with a clear bait that’s because the visibility is very high. They make a lot of awesome different colors to choose from and if you are just starting out you can’t go wrong with ghost minnow. I also personally really like phantom chartreuse shad but the general idea here is to go with a smaller, translucent bait if the visibility is higher.
In terms of technique, the fish are usually pretty active if they are up higher in the water column so I’ll typically go with a jerk, jerk pause type of a technique. You can throw in more or less jerks and vary the pause time, but in general I’m usually using this technique if I’m throwing a shallow jerkbait. The other technique I like to use is a sweeping technique but I’ll get into that more a little later. Let’s also talk about gear for a minute. Some people prefer to throw jerkbaits on spinning gear. I am not one of them. The main reason for this is I personally believe jerkbaits do best with fluorocarbon line, and I don’t like using a spinning reel with fluorocarbon on it. I also don’t want to worry about purchasing and applying line conditioner. If you want to try that out be my guest, but in my case I strongly prefer a casting setup and I’m currently using a Dobyn’s Kaden 610-4CB with a Lew’s Custom casting reel on it. A lot of people suggest a Shimano Expride with similar specs and for the record Shimano is one of my favorite tackle companies and I’m sure that is an amazing jerkbait rod, but in my case I was able to find this rod and reel on sale and have found that it performs very well and ended up paying less for both the rod and reel than it would cost to buy a new Expride at full price.
Next up we’ve got deep jerkbaits. I also like the Pointer 78 and 100 series for this category, but in this case I go with the deep diving models which get down to about 7 or 8 feet. These are probably what I throw most often and in my case I like the Pointer 78DD in ghost minnow, phantom chartreuse shad or ghost pro blue (which is a new color that looks amazing). If the visibility is lower I’ll switch over to a pointer 100DD. Again the idea hear is use a smaller lure with the translucent baits when the visibility is higher, or a bigger lure when the visibility is lower. For colors with a Pointer 100DD I’ll either go with chartreuse shad or pearl threadfin shad. The chartreuse shad is a little translucent (although not nearly as much as something like a ghost minnow), and the pearl threadfin shad is not translucent at all so I’ve found it actually stands out a little better if the visibility is really low but for this depth range I’ve found both of these colors do well. In terms of the technique I go with I will still use a typical jerk, jerk, pause technique with these lures for the most part, but there are times when I’ll also use a sweeping technique. To use a sweeping technique you can just pull the lure a bit and then pause it rather than jerk it quickly, and this can do better if the fish are not as active or just not biting much when you use the jerk, jerk, pause technique. I’ll also typically pause the lure for a bit longer if I’m using the sweeping technique.
There are also times when the bass don’t seem to be interested in a Lucky Craft Pointer. I’m currently in the southern part of the United States, so this doesn’t happen very often but when it does (which is usually in the winter or summer) I like to switch over to a Staysee 90. This lure is not as thick as the lures in the Pointer series are, and so it’s more of a finesse lure that you can use when things get tough. As a result I’ll typically use a sweeping technique when I’m throwing a Staysee rather than using a standard jerk, jerk, pause technique. For colors I keep it simple and go with ghost minnow if the visibility is high or pearl threadfin if the visibility is lower. These lures also get down a little deeper than the deep diving Pointer lures and visibility usually drops a bit as you get deeper which is why I usually go with the pearl threadfin color over the chartreuse shad color. Having said that a lot, of people still like chartreuse shad and I’m pretty sure that color would catch plenty of fish if you would prefer to go with that. If you are curious, here’s a picture of a regular Pointer 100 in chartreuse shad along with a Pointer 78DD in the ghost pro blue color I mentioned and a Staysee 90 in pearl threadfin:
In summary I only throw a few different types of hard jerkbaits (for the most part) and will pick my specific lure and color based on the visibility and how deep I think the bass are. There are hundreds of different jerkbaits out there and it can get a little overwhelming to decide on which ones to use, so if you are just starting out or just want to take a step back and simplify things a bit this can be a good approach to go with. One last thing I will say is Lucky Craft also has a color called ghost baby bluegill and sometimes I will use a Pointer 78 in that color when I’m pond fishing and the bass are eating bluegill, but aside from that the lures I’ve mentioned in this article are the ones I like to use on a regular basis.
