What Is a Jerkbait?
Some of you are asking yourselves “What is a jerkbait?” A jerkbait is a suspending lure designed to resemble and mimic the swimming patterns of small baitfish like the American Shad, Baby Bass or Bluegill. It should hover or pause in the water when you’re paused and not working any action on it.
Fishing a jerkbait is a great way to catch big bass during any season and just about any water condition here in Arizona. It is an excellent choice for all but the darkest water conditions and can be fished in reservoirs, rivers, ponds, and lakes. When the bass aren’t biting, it’s time to throw a jerkbait.
Shakespeare Alpha Medium 6′ Rod and Bait Cast Reel Combo with a Rapala Husky Jerk 12 Baby Bass (HJ12)
Types Of Jerkbaits
There are two types of jerkbaits. They are hard-bodied and soft-bodied baits. But for this article, we are going to stick to just the hard-bodied lures. When you’re looking at a jerkbait on some store shelf, there are a few things to consider.
When you fish with a jerkbait, try to match the type of jerkbait to the water temperature when you can. For example:
- In colder waters: you will need less action. The best Rapala jerkbait for this is the Husky Jerk series. For catching bass I prefer the HJ12’s (4-3/4″ lenght) and HJ14’s (5-1/2″ length).
- With moderate-temperature waters, try using the Rapala Shadow Rap series. This lure gives you a moderate amount of side-to-side movement.
- And for warm water. You’re going to want the most action that the Rapala X-Rap series provide. Of these three I mentioned, the X-Rap series provides the most side-to-side wobble action.
Why Use A Jerkbait?
Using a jerkbait offers numerous benefits, making it a favored option among anglers. Here are some the key advantages:
Versatility: Jerkbaits are highly versatile, suitable for various water conditions, including clear, stained, and murky waters. They perform exceptionally well across different seasons, particularly in colder water when fish are less active. Their adaptability makes them a reliable choice for year-round fishing.
Realistic Action: Jerkbaits imitate the erratic movements of injured baitfish, which can trigger the predatory instincts of fish. The lure’s side-to-side darting motion is especially enticing to fish, notably bass. This realistic action can provoke aggressive strikes, even from otherwise reluctant fish.
Depth Control: Available in various models and sizes, a jerkbait can be fished at multiple depths, ranging from shallow-running to deep-diving versions. This flexibility allows anglers to target fish at different water columns effectively. By selecting the appropriate bait, you can adapt to the specific fishing conditions and optimize your chances of success.
Suspending Ability: Many jerkbaits are designed to suspend in the water column, making them ideal for slow presentations. When paused, a suspended jerkbait creates an irresistible target for fish that are following but hesitant to strike. This feature is particularly useful in colder water when fish are less active and require a more enticing lure to provoke a response.
Ease of Use: Jerkbaits are user-friendly, even for beginner anglers. The basic retrieve involves a simple combination of jerking or twitching the rod tip and reeling in slack. This straightforward technique is easy to learn, allowing anglers of all skill levels to effectively use jerkbaits and improve their catch rates.
By incorporating jerkbaits into your fishing arsenal, you can take advantage of these benefits and enhance your fishing experience.
Does bait size matter
Well…, size does matter. Big Baits = Big Bass. That is true. But I think in the case of catching bass. You can do well sticking with the 4″-4-3/4″ length jerkbaits. Now, if you want a variety of sizes, stick within your budget and also think about how much gear you have to carry around.
Know What You’re Imitating.
Study the habits and patterns of baitfish. Guys who fly fish for trout will tell you that they “match the hatch” when they pick a fly to cast. It’s no different from any other lure that imitates a baitfish. Use the colors and patterns of the baitfish in those waters.
Which Type of Line Should I Use Fish a Jerkbait?
This is pretty easy. I recommend you use fluorocarbon line because it sinks. My preference is for Spiderwire Fluorocarbon Fishing Line. It’s thinner and allows you to add more line to your spool.
How To Fish A Jerkbait.
Fishing a jerkbait means you need to create how to lure reacts with your rod and fishing line. Where the jerkbait excels at is getting fish who are uninterested, or not hungry into STRIKING the lure. The stop-and-go movement is going to draw bigger fish looking for an easy kill. Each time you twitch or jerk that rod tip, it causes the bait to veer off in a different direction. This erratic action is what can trigger inactive fish into hitting it.
You need to figure out how to match your presentation to the mood of the bass.
How you present that lure is called a rhythm or cadence. Your rhythm or cadence is a series of twitches or jerks, with a pause, then a few cranks of the reel handle, and again a series of twitches or jerks, with a pause, and a few cranks of the reel handle repeatedly until you’re ready to cast the lure out again.
The Cadence
Your cadence can be a mix of 1-1: twitch and pause, a 2-1: twitch, twitch, and pause, 3-1: twitch, twitch, twitch, and pause. Try a 6-1 cadence: twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, and pause. It goes like this.
Cast your jerkait out past where the fish are, give that reel handle 10 to 15 turns to allow the bait to get to its proper depth, and start your cadence pattern. Repeat this until you need to cast it out again.
Do a couple of casts with for example a 2-1 cadence, then switch it up to a 3-1 cadence. Don’t forget to vary your cadence until you get a strike. and you can also vary the length of pauses from 1-5 seconds.
Water Clarity Affects Your Cadence
Water clarity also will affect your cadence. In clear water, you’re going to want a faster rhythm with shorter pauses. In water with medium clarity, you’ll want to stay in the middle of your cadence. Lastly, with dirty waters, you’re going to want to slow down your cadence with longer pauses.
Give It Plenty of Slack Between Jerks
Your jerkbait fishing success depends on the action of your rod tip. Use your reel to take up slack line. It’s important to twitch a jerkbait with slack in your line. Before you make that next jerk, put your rod tip six inches toward the bait to create some additional slack.
If you jerk on a tight line, you’re limiting the lure to about 60 degrees of total range from center-pull. When you jerk on a slack line, however, you’re increasing its range to almost 90 degrees. This erratic action is what makes fish strike.
What about Water Depth?
Let’s keep this simple. For depths ranging from 1-10′, you’re going to want a short bill jerkbait. For depths greater than 10′ you will need a long-billed jerkbait.
Does Water Temperature Matter?
Yeah it does! It’s pretty simple:
- In cold water – you want fewer twitches, with longer pauses.
- With warm water – use rapid or fast twitches, and shorter pauses.
But let’s add a twist to it. Colder waters are where the fish are going to go deeper. In this case, you are going to want a nose-down slowly sinking bait. In warm or warming water, and fish and moving back up, you want a nose-up slow-rising bait. So how do we do that? There are a couple of tricks you can use to modify your jerkbait.
Modifying Your Jerkbait to mimic Temperature Behavior
- Modify the weight of the lure by changing for front or back treble with a 1 to 1-1/2 times larger or smaller size treble hook.
- You can also use weight suspend trips like the StormSuspenDots (80 Dots) to the front or back treble hook.
- Change the front or back treble with a 1 to 1-1/2 larger or smaller size bladed treble hooks.
Jerkbait Color v/s Water Clarity.
And now we come to the meat of this post. How to pick a color depending on water conditions? I’m a US Navy vet. In the Navy, we used the KISS method. KISS stands for: keep it simple stupid!
So to avoid doing a deep dive into color selection, and complicating things, I will be sticking to just the color and water basics you need to know to catch bass using a jerkbait.
Rule #1: Always “match the hatch” when you can.
Rule #2: For clear water conditions you will want to use translucent colors. Use the wind to your advantage. A nice wind stirs up the water’s surface and helps break up the sunlight. This makes it very difficult for fish to distinguish between your jerkbait and the real thing.
Rule #3: Go with bright “shock colors” like orange, pink, and chartreuse when water is clear or fish are grouped up.
Rule #4: With dirty water conditions, you’re going to want to use solid matte or contrasting colors. These give your bait better contrast in the water.
Rule #5: Always have some gold and silver colored jerkbaits in your tackle box. These colors create an outstanding flash in both dark or cloudy water conditions.
Rapala Husky Jerk 12 Redfire Crawdad (HJ12) | Rapala Husky Jerk 12 Gold (HJ12)
Rapala Husky Jerk 14 Pure Chrome (HJ14)
Wrapping It Up!
Jerkbaits are an easy lure to use. Just remember to pick your colors based on your water conditions and use a variety of cadences or rhythms. Use a rhythm for a couple of casts, then change it until you start to get hits. Easy Peasy!
I also love using a smaller HJ06 jerkbait on trout. Read about it on my Trout fishing 101 page.
Jerkbait Shopping Cart
Get what you need to fish a jerkbait here!
Rod and Reel Combo’s
- Tailored Tackle Bass Fishing Baitcasting Combo 7 Ft 2 -Piece Med. Heavy Fast Action
- Shakespeare Alpha Medium 6′ Low Profile Fishing Rod and Bait Cast Reel Combo
- Ugly Stik GX2 Spinning Reel and Fishing Rod Combo
- Okuma Rox Spinning Combo 7′ medium
Rapala Jerkbaits
- Rapala Shadow Rap Series Jerkbaits
- Rapala X-Rap Series Jerkbait
- Rapala Husky Jerk Series Jerkbaits
- Rapala Husky Jerk 14 Pure Chrome
- Rapala Husky Jerk 12 Gold (HJ12)
- Rapala Husky Jerk 12 Baby Bass (HJ12)
Terminal Tackle
- Spiderwire Fluorocarbon Fishing Line
- StormSuspenDots (80 Dots)
- Bladed Treble Hooks with Willow Blade