Soft jerkbait can lure bass
Few lure designs have the potential to take as many summertime bass as the soft jerkbait. Its versatility excels in a wide variety of uses for both largemouth and smallmouth bass.
Though subtle differences exist between the various makes, soft jerkbaits have a minnow-like profile. Ones most appropriate for bass run from around four to five inches in length. Typically they are loaded with a heavy dose of salt which makes them slowly sink.
In the mid 1980s, Lunker City’s Slug-Go was the first soft plastic jerkbait to hit the market. Like pretty much all artificial baits that produce fish, its basic design was quickly duplicated by other lure manufactures. Today, most all soft bait companies market some form of soft jerkbait.
Zoom Bait Company calls its version the Fluke. It’s a moniker that most anglers use when describing a soft jerkbait, whether it’s Zoom’s model or some other maker’s.
Through various riggings and applications, bass anglers can use soft jerkbaits to take largemouths from weedy lakes, smallmouths from the rocky depths, and many situations in between. Here’s a look at three of them:
• Largemouths in the weeds. On lakes like Keystone, Conneaut and Kahle largemouth bass spend much of their time using the cover of submergent weeds to ambush prey.
Texas-rigged on a 3/0 to 4/0 wide gap worm hook a five-inch soft jerkbait like Zoom’s Super Fluke, Yum’s Houdini Shad, or Case Plastic’s Sinkin’ Salty Shad is ideal for softly switching over the tops of submerged weeds.
• These three baits feature a hook slot that houses the point section of the hook. With the business end of the hook concealed slightly in this recess, it’s less likely to pick up weeds, while still being in a good position to penetrate the mouth of a bigmouth when it clamps down on the bait.
In this situation you’re attempting to coax bass up and out of the cover. So the idea is to impart enough action – through rod twitches – to get the fish’s attention. Follow these twitches up with pauses, which allow the bait to sink, as gives the bass plenty of opportunity to eat the bait. Ideal you want the lure to make occasional contact with the weed tops.
In areas where the weeds come all the way to the surface, you can often conjure up bites by swimming/twitching the bait over the cover. It’s a method that can be effective as long as the weed tops aren’t too clogged up with algae and other litter.
• Flowing water smallmouths. From larger rivers like the Allegheny to smaller free flowing waters like the Slippery Rock and Connoquenessing creeks, soft jerkbaits are typically one of the best smallmouth bass producers.
In this instance – where thick weeds aren’t an issue -- it’s often better to simply hook the bait through the nose with an open hook like Daiichi’s Drop Shot’n Nose Hook. This method not only provides a better hookup ratio for the smaller mouth of the bronzeback, but it also gives the bait more action as it swings freely from the nose-hooked pivot point. Soft jerkbaits like Winco’s Custom Lures solid body River Darter Sr., which has an extra tough nose specifically designed for nose-hooking, shine in this application.
Expect flowing water smallmouth bass to be in or near some of the fastest water available during the heat of summer. Whether fishing from a boat, or wade fishing, it’s often necessary to make longer casts to trick spooky fish in what’s often very clear water.
• For solid hookset, use braided line, line Power Pro 20 pound test. Use a three to four foot section of 10 to 12 pound test fluorocarbon line as a leader. Though not the most streamlined of knots, a triple surgeon’s knot makes a dependable connection for joining the braid and fluorocarbon. Not only is fluorocarbon provide much less visible, it sinks (braid floats), which allows the soft jerkbait to sink better.
In fast and/or shallow water, work the bait with quicker, more aggressive twitches.
• Drop shot soft jerkbaits. Though not normally thought of as a drop shot bait, smaller soft jerkbaits like Zoom’s standard Fluke and Winco’s River Darter Jr. are ideal for presenting a minnow-like profile to bass.
Merely nose hook a soft jerkbait instead of the finesse style worm typically fished on a drop shot rig. It’s a productive change-up to show to bass holding on deeper gravel points, as well as ones using deeper creek channels.
Jeff Knapp is an outdoor columnist for the Butler Eagle.
