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In the past several years, tournament fishing has proved that a jerkbait is a really good bait to use 365 days a year, but I still feel like it really shines in cold water. The way you twitch it and it pauses right in front of that fish's face; it just drives them crazy and it works really, really well in the winter months and early spring months. Now there are a couple of keys that I want to dial you in on your jerkbait fishing. Number one is line size.
Line Size
I use 8 to 12-pound test. If that water is really cold and I want to get my bait down really deep, I'm going to use eight-pound Vicious Pro Elite Fluorocarbon. 10 pound is my go-to. I use it the most and if I want my bait to run a little bit shallower, or if I'm around some really big fish, I'm going to go up to 12 pounds.
Jerkbait Color
Another thing that I want to talk about is color on your jerk bait. It's very, very important to choose the right color on your jerkbait. In my opinion, I think color matters on a jerkbait more than it does on any other hard bait on the market, because when you stop that bait that fish is just sitting there staring at it and if it doesn't look perfectly natural to him, he's not going to bite it. There have been several instances where I'd be looking at a fish on my Lowrance Active Target and he'd see something he didn't like and shy away from it. But, if you get it dialed in on which colors work, you'll catch almost every single one of them. I use matte colors in a little bit of off-colored water. On a sunny day with clear water, I use translucent type colors, while on cloudy days or dirtier water, pearl whites with some chartreuse in them tend to work best. Every body of water is a little bit different, so just play around with it till you get a few bites.
Rod Selection
One more thing I want to talk about is your rod selection. I use my Mustad Instinct BLF Signature Series Rod. I designed the 6'10" medium baitcasting rod specifically for small crankbaits and jerkbait fishing. What do I want in a jerkbait rod? Number one, I like the six-foot, ten-inch size. I don't want it to be much bigger than that because I'm jerking that rod. I want to keep it light, so anywhere in that 6'8" to 6'10" range is perfect for me.
Another big key, let's face it; it's usually cold outside when we're throwing a lot of jerkbaits. I want about an eight-inch handle, nine-inch handle on that rod. It's a little bitty short handle; I don't want a big, long handle getting all tangled up in my clothes when I'm trying to jerk that rod, so that's one thing that I really made sure we got dialed in on this particular model of rod. If you're into jerkbait fishing, check out the Mustad Instinct 6'10" medium. I think you'll like it. You'll throw you a jerkbait this winter, and you'll catch some big ones!
--Pro Angler Brandon Lester
