(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
While many anglers, including seasoned pros, consider jerkbaits just a winter and prespawn technique, they never leave Ott DeFoe’s boat, and he often has at least one on the deck.
“Jerkbaits really are nearly a 12-month-out-of-the-year bait if you know how to use them if you pick up the situations they’re going to be useful in and use them that way,” he said.
He utilizes both suspending and floating models, as well as both round-bodied versions and flat-sided jerkbaits. He said he chooses which type to employ “the same way you pick crankbaits.” That means flat and suspending baits in cold water, and round and floating baits in warmer water. Unlike crankbaits, though, you can fish the same jerkbait in multiple ways. “Ninety percent of the action in a jerkbait is angler-inflicted.”
As for cadence, he said that a basic jerk-jerk-pause is an excellent starting point. “Fish whatever is comfortable,” he advised. Two things to remain aware of are the pause time and the length of your pulls. In dirtier water he tends to utilize shorter pauses, and goes longer in clean water.
One of his favorite jerkbaits is the Rapala Shadow Rap. “We’ve never had a great suspending jerkbait that only ran 3 or 4 feet deep,” he said. “They’ve all been 6- or 7-feet divers.” That makes it great not only on traditional lakes, but also in atypical jerkbait scenarios like grassy Florida waters.
No matter where he’s fishing his jerkbaits, he needs some clarity to make it a likely choice. Wind definitely helps for the suspending models, while he likes calm conditions for the floaters. His preference for sun versus clouds depends on the time of year.
He advised that when pulling a supposedly suspending model out of the package, don’t be surprised if it actually floats or sinks a little. That may change markedly depending on water temperature. If you have a floater that you want to suspend, you can use SuspenDots, change the hooks or add a custom paint job. For example, he noted that most Rapala Husky Jerks float out of the package. He can make them suspend by increasing each of the treble hooks by one size. A custom paint job may have the same impact.
“I like my bait to sit slightly nose-down in the water, and I like for it to sink real slow,” he said. That’s because he’s most often using it to imitate a dying baitfish. They sink to the bottom as they die off.
Like most of his peers, he relies heavily on suspending jerkbaits in the coldest months, usually fishing around warm water run-ins that have access to deep water – deep being a relative term. What’s truly enlightening, however, is to learn all of the other ways that DeFoe employs a full cadre of Rapala’s extensive jerkbait lineup. He has tools and preferences for the spawn, for fry guarders, and for summertime northern smallmouths.
If you want to learn the complete seasonal system developed by one of the most popular pros on the Bass Pro Tour, including the reasons he rips them fast for bronzebacks, check out his complete video, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
