Read part one here.
All right, we have our jerkbaits modified and ready to go. Let’s talk about how to get the most out of them. In general, the warmer the water, the faster you should fish your jerkbait. But, like a lot of general fishing “rules,” that really doesn’t tell us much. How warm? How fast? When? Where?
I’d answer those questions if I could, but since I don’t know where you’re fishing or what the weather’s been like on your lake or river, our time would be better spent talking about how to approach fish using different presentations that’ll tell us how they want it on any given day.
The first thing I do is change my cadence every 10 casts until I catch one. And, when I do catch one, I immediately make a mental note of exactly what I was doing when I caught it. I’ll keep doing that same thing as long as I’m catching fish or until I’m satisfied that was a one-fish wonder.
This is something a lot of recreational anglers don’t do. Almost every pro I know pays careful attention to exactly what he was doing when he got a bite. If you don’t do that, there’s no way to duplicate a successful technique.
Please note that I said cadence up above. Far too many anglers worry about either their pulls or their pauses when they should be worried about the whole package. Subtle differences can make a big difference. Two short pulls with a 5 second pause isn’t the same as three short pulls with a 5 second pause, and a 5 second pause isn’t the same as an 8 second pause.
Watch how the bait reacts to the pull. Sometimes a wide swing left and right works, but at other times a short swing is better. One thing that I’ve had a lot of success with lately is to point my rod tip straight out from my body and pretend that there’s a paint brush on the end of it. I imagine I’m scrubbing a wall at our house. I vary the speed and length of my strokes until I find what it is that the fish want.
While I’m doing all of that I’m also changing line types and weights. That can make more of a difference than you might think (I’m talking about beyond making your lure sink, suspend or rise). I realize that’s not always possible. If you can’t do that, go with what I’ve described above.
The bottom line is to tweak everything. A jerkbait bite isn’t a true reaction bite. The fish have time to look things over and make a decision. You have to give it something that looks real at the time. Since you’re not in the water, the only way you can do that is by changing things around until you get it right.
When that happens, you’ll not only catch bass but you’ll also have an inner sense of pride in figuring things out. There’s no better feeling in the world.
Mike Iaconelli’s column appears weekly on Bassmaster.com. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter or visit his website, mikeiaconelli.com.
