Targeting smallmouth bass in rivers is just one situation in which suspending jerkbaits excel during the spring.

Not to downplay their effectiveness in warmer weather, but during the early season suspending jerkbaits — those hard-bodied, minnow-shaped offerings that hang tantalizingly in the water column — excel in duping both bass and walleyes.

As its name describes, a properly balanced suspending jerkbait dangles at rest, neither sinking nor rising. This motionless hovering can be a remarkable trigger for both smallmouth and largemouth bass.

And, in certain lake and river situations, the ability to work close to the bottom and provide a slow, subtle wobbling action finds the lure effective on early spring walleyes.

The lip of the bait determines the depths to which it will run. The earliest versions had short bills that sent the bait down to about 4 feet. Additions to this still highly popular form are models with longer bills for working deeper areas of the water column. Such versions generally have the designation "deep" included in the name.

Prices for suspending jerkbaits run from about $6 to $25 or more. Higher-end baits are more consistently balanced, properly hanging in a horizontal position, and not going anywhere vertically. Most out-of-the-box baits that aren't tuned just right tend to slowly float back up. This can be corrected by the use of Storm's Suspend dots and strips, which are stick-on lead weights you can use to tweak the balance of the lure.

Once the ice has left the lakes, bass will make feeding-related movements. These forays are weather related. Warm, sunny weather gets things moving, with cold fronts temporarily shutting the action down.

Spots to target for largemouth bass include shallow, soft-bottomed bays that catch the sun and/or warm wind-driven surface water.

Baitfish also are attracted to these warmer areas. A suspending jerkbait effectively duplicates a single, vulnerable minnow hovering in the water column.

To make the bait appear defenseless, a particularly slow retrieve tends to be most effective.

After the lure's splashdown, make a few turns of the handle to get it to just below the surface, then let it sit for several seconds. Wind it in a bit more and allow it to sit still again. Most strikes will occur during the pause.

Maintain a semitight line as the bait hovers motionless, being alert for the feel of a tick or the visible twitch of the line. I use a braided superline, such as Power Pro or Stren Superbraid, in this situation. The no-stretch attribute of this line broadcasts a strike well.

A 3-foot length of Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line serves as a leader, providing some distance between the noticeable braided line and the lure.

While at first fishing a jerkbait in this manner might seem agonizingly slow, bear in mind that most early spring presentation are slow. Properly working a jerkbait is no slower than dragging a jig along the bottom, another productive option this time of year.

On lakes with a good smallmouth bass population, the same basic deal holds true. Location-wise, though, key in on rocky or gravel flats that often are located at the mouths of major bays and coves. Also, check out bluff banks just outside such bays.

The suspending feature of such baits isn't a factor with walleyes, which tend to prefer consistently moving baits. But these lures are effective for early season walleyes, when the season reopens in May, because they can be worked slowly without floating to the top, as a bait like an floating Rapala minnow would do.

On larger rivers, actively feeding walleyes often use the back end of larger river holes, spreading out on the shallow flat below the actual hole. Casting a suspending jerkbait over these flats, then slowly winding it back in as it swings with the current, is an effective way of catching these fish.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.