(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.)
Lure styles and models go in and out of favor according to anglers’ whims, but their popularity also varies according to the availability of other products. One such example is the suspending jerkbait, said two-time Elite Series Angler of the Year Brandon Palaniuk.
“There’s been a huge resurgence of the jerkbait, not that it ever went away,” he said. “It just continues to gain more and more popularity with the advancement of forward-facing sonar.”
The jerkbait is uniquely suited to take advantage of these gains because it’s easily tracked and can be effective while sitting still. Also, because bass respond to different cadences on different days, his Mega Live helps him dial in the right retrieve.
“The biggest thing is identifying the right tools for the right situations,” he explained. That starts with the lures. He wants to “match the hatch” in terms of size and color. One of his go-to models nationwide is the Rapala Shadow Shad Rap in mossback shiner. It dives to 6 or 7 feet. He wants the lure to sit right above the bass or at his quarry’s level, so he’ll add Storm SuspenDots or SuspenStrips to dial things in. He places them toward the front of the bait, and noted that the same lure may require different amounts of weighting in different water temperatures.
He uses two different Alpha Angler rods for his jerkbaiting, but the Slasher model gets most of the reps. It’s a 6’10” medium, and the shorter-than-average length allows him to exert a lot of control without slapping the water. The handle is shorter than the ones on many other rods, too. “All of that action is in your wrist,” he explained. The goal is to create slack in the line on the twitch, and then throw the rod back into the initial position.
He pairs the rod with a Daiwa Tatula SV TW70, a compact baitcasting reel that results in less cramping or fatigue. He’ll spool it up with 10- or 12-pound Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon, which sinks, unless he’s pausing the bait for more than 8 seconds. “In those situations I go to monofilament,” he explained. “That’s going to keep a direct line to your bait.“ With mono, he likes 8- or 10-pound.
He uses his Humminbird Mega Live to scan around looking for fish to target. Even when more or less blind casting, he’ll aim the scope at his lure to follow it back and figure out how fish are reacting to his lure. “It makes you much more efficient,” he said. Increasingly, he’s relying on a smaller number of lures and lure categories in the boat, recognizing the tools that work in varied scenarios keeps his approach lean and mean.
If you want to learn some of the other aspects of Palaniuk's jerkbait strategies, including how he chooses sizes and colors, as well as his follow-up baits, check out his full on-the-water video, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
