Jerkbait Fishing Tips and Tricks

Jig and Jerkbait Setups

Jig Fishing Tips Showcasing True South Lures

Outhouse Tackle

     Alright so I travel for work, a lot, and when I have free time I tend to stray off the beaten path and enjoy the views and whatever else I may come across along the way a.k.a tackle shops to feed the addiction. I was watching Zona's Awesome Fishing Show last week, on which he and James Overstreet (BASS Photographer) caught some big ones on Falcon Lake, and Overstreet said in many more words but the gist of it was that everyone needed to slow down, look around, and enjoy their surroundings. Well today, while traveling to my next hotel to sleep for the night, I came across Outhouse Tackle in Wake Forest, NC and let me tell you it was awesome. I got excited when I turned into a neighborhood instead of a strip mall to get to Outhouse Tackle and even more excited when I "arrived at my destination" as my GPS said and it had not led me astray. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate Bass Pro Shops just as every other fisherman out there does, but these small tackle shops have a soft spot in my heart. They often do not have a ton of aisles filled with the standard main stream plastics and hardbaits that you can find anywhere, but instead a few aisles that are loaded with tournament quality products that are hard to get your hands on and Outhouse Tackle is loaded with these tournament quality products. Not to mention Jerry, Denise, and their Blue Heeler (didn't catch its name) make you feel right at home. You don't get the same attention at the large tackle outfitters, that are focused on quantity over quality, and we as fisherman need to support the privately owned tackle shops more. Often times their prices are better and are not oppossed to special ordering something for you if they don't have it in stock.

     Outhouse Tackle is also a great place to go to talk to others that are as excited about fishing as you and who knows, you may even learn something or better yet help someone catch more fish. It's like a big bass club! In fact I had such a good time talking with Jerry and a few other customers that I believe that I may have caused the store to stay open past normal operating hours...sorry Jerry. So next time you are in Wake Forest make sure to stop by to see Jerry at Outhouse Tackle (4213 Lillies Liles Rd.). If you can't get to Wake Forest, you can visit them online at http://www.outhousetackle.com/ or contact them via email at sales@outhousetackle.com or phone at (919) 217-0085. Oh yea almost forgot, Jerry has the new Villain rods by Abu Garcia at an amazing introductory price. I am on the Select Anglers Program with Pure Fishing and I can't even get them yet! In fact I think Outhouse Tackle is probably the only place you can get them right now so check it out they are sweet.

The Alabama Rig

     Ok, unless you have been living under a rock for the past few months you have heard of the all mighty Alabama rig. In my years of fishing I have never seen a lure sweep the fishing world so quickly. It has won at least $500,000 on the pro circuits since Paul Elias let the cat out of the bag and countless local tournaments as well. I myself have many, should I say too many, and have even made a few myself. I recently purchased a few Pay-Me rigs from Venom Lures out of Ohio and I will have to say that these are the best that I have used.

     The Pay-Me rig is 100% American made and has no lead in it at all. In fact the whole rig itself weighs about 3/16 of an ounce making it easier to throw than other rigs I have used. With it being lighter it is easier to control in whatever water column you are trying to fish. It also tracts great in the water and the head on the rig always stays upright. On most of my other rigs the head always lays to the side when retrieved. As for durability, I have caught tons of fish on the first one I bought with multiple doubles. It holds its shape very well and needs little tuning, aside from its first tuning out of the package. Another thing to note about the Pay-Me rig that I have noticed is that upon casting your baits and line remain tangle free a lot more often than with other rigs. The Pay-Me rig can be purchased online at www.venomlures.com and currently they are running a special with 10% off of their entire stock with free shipping.

     I throw this rig on a Falcon Cara 7'3" heavy action casting rod know as the Amistad Special with either a Revo SX (6.4:1 gear ratio) or a Revo Winch (5.4:1 gear ratio) spooled with 20 lb flurocarbon. I live in the upper state of South Carolina and the lakes here are very clear so braid is not an option. I actually started with braid and when my dad had caught twice as many fish behind me I quickly switched to flurocarbon and have not gone back. The two different gear ratios are for the times of the year. I started throwing a home made Alabama rig in the Fall with the SX and with the cooling water this Winter I switched to the Winch to help slow down. I have also realized that the oversized handle and the slower gear ratio of the Winch does not wear you out when throwing the rig all day, much like when throwing a deep diving crankbait all day in the Summer.

     Fishing the Alabama rig is quite simple, there isn't much to it. I have caught fish around structure, in open water, and even just beating the bank. The hard part of this rig is casting it. It is hard to keep your line from wrapping in the baits and keeping your baits from tangling with one another while airborne. As mentioned above however, Venom's Pay-Me rig helps with both. Once in the water, I have found a slow and steady retrieve works best, slower the better, and with the Pay-Me rig being so light, a slow retrieve allows you to keep the rig in the strike zone a lot longer. When you get a strike there is no mistaking it. The fish will literally knock you hand off of the crank. It is important not to set the hook when you get a bite, but instead just keep your rod firm and sweep it to set the hook. This is very hard to do, but with braid or flurocarbon, which ever you choose, there is no stretch and setting the hook will pull the baits away from the fish. I have also found that if you do not horse the fish to the boat multiples happen quite often. After catching a few fish, it is important to check the condition of the wires that make up the rig. I have not had any problems with the Pay-Me rig as mentioned before, but with other rigs I have lost links while fish were attached to them and while casting the rig. The most important thing about the rig is you have to throw it. It's kind of hard to catch fish on it if you don't. It may take some time to get over the fact that is sounds like a bowling ball when it hits the water, but after a few fish on it, you will forget.

Till next time, God bless and tight lines!

Hard vs. Soft Structure

     In my last post I briefly touched on wind creating soft structure. In this post we are going to dive into the differences between hard versus soft structure and why bass relate to both. Hopefully after reading this you will better have a feel as to why you just got bit where you did instead of just chalking it up to luck.

     Lets first talk about hard structure, the one that most anglers are comfortable fishing. Hard structure, in its simplest definition, is a piece of cover that is concrete, meaning that one could actually hold it in their hand. Some examples of hard structure are laydowns, docks, rocks, brush piles, etc. This list could go on forever. Just keep in mind that if you can hold it your hand, then it is hard structure. Bass use these types of cover not only as an ambush point, but also as a barrier to feed against. Bass, particularly largemouth, are ambush predator's, meaning that they do not prefer to chase their prey around, but instead hide and ambush it as it comes by. Smallmouth and Spotted Bass have been known to be more of open water predators, but they relate to hard cover too. Bass will also push prey up against structure to use it to feed against. Think of the ever popular game, that we have all played, bobbing for apples. Remember how hard it was to bite into an apple that was in the middle of the tub, but once you got it up against the side you could easily bite down? Well hard structure does the same for bass. Not only does it give them something to feed against, but it also cuts down on escape routes for their prey. The challenge is knowing what type of hard cover bass hold on when. This changes daily and that you will have to figure out on your own.

     Ok, now for the brain teaser, soft structure. Soft structure is cover that is abstract, or not able to be held in your hand. Some examples of these are shade lines, choppy water, mud lines created from rough water, etc. These may not sound much like cover, but lets refer back to the hard structure portion where I spoke of providing a barrier to feed against. These examples of soft structure provide the same barrier. Think of this, we have all swam in a pool before and am sure that most of us have put goggles on, gone under, and tried to swim from one end of the pool to the other. Ever notice how hard it is to judge how far someone is away if you can't see the pool wall behind them? This is because there is nothing for your brain to use to gain depth perception. It's the same thing for bass. It's hard for them to judge how far they need to swim to eat something in open water if there is nothing to provide depth perception and those examples of soft cover above do that. A mud line in the water creates and imaginary wall that allows for depth perception and choppy water breaks up the surface providing, you guessed it, an imaginary wall to feed against. Shade lines actually provide more than just the wall, they also allow for bass to see. Bass do not have ultraviolet filters in their eyes, meaning that when it is sunny, they do not see well. So in the grand scheme of things alot of hard structure also provides soft structure at the same time, because it casts shade. I have actually fished lakes surrounded by mountains and have caught bass on topwater plugs out of water over 100 feet deep because the mountains created a shade line. The fish I caught were within inches of this line and would not bite unless I casted into the shade and brought it out. Most bit right on the edge of the shade line with the rest biting just a few inches into the sun. So next time you are on the water, don't be afraid to look past the obvious hard structure and try to focus on things that may have been over looked, like a shade line, you may just be suprised.

Till next time, God bless and tight lines!

How to Fish a Jerkbait and catch Fish

     With Winter here, even if the weather doesn't feel like it the calendar says it is, the baitfish have migrated out of the backs of pockets and creeks to the main channel. With this migration most, but not all, bass have followed. The cold temperatures cause drastic changes in the water temperature as well causing all fish to slow down, and for the bait it starts to die. Not all of it dies, but you may witness large numbers of it dying off making easy targets. Suspending jerkbaits make for a prime choice in catching fish this time of year. These mimic the dying shad because they do not float or sink, instead they, on a pause, remain at the depth at which you retrieved them, much like a slow lethargic bait fish on the verge of dying.

     Jerkbaits produce year round, but this is my favorite time of the year to throw them and I usually do not dig them out of my box until the water temperature hits 54 degrees. Fishing this time of the year can be tough. Fish are lethargic and do not want to expend alot on energy to chase their prey. If you just go out and just throw a jerkbait without doing your homework you probably will not catch many. It is important to find specific areas before even making your first cast and the most important thing to look for is bait. To find bait you will need to use your electronics and other visual aids such as birds. If you see Sea Gulls diving or a group of Loons together you can bet that bait is close by. I also like to look for steep breaks such as bluff banks or points that touch the river channel and sharps bends in the river channel are also a good place to look. Wind also helps this time of the year. It not only pushes the lethargic bait around, but also helps to break up your jerkbait which is important because all of the fish you are going to catch approach your bait from below. Not to beat a dead horse, but wind also provides "soft" structure for the fish to feed against. Not going to go into great detail cause it could be a post all in itself, but with the water surface being choppy it helps to create a barrier to feed against.Water clarity is a must as well. Bass must be able to see your bait suspending in order for it to have its full affect. In dirty water, fish rely on senses other than sight to feed and when your bait is not moving they cannot sense it. That being said I will not throw a jerkbait with visibility less than 3 feet. To check this, just take your bait and push it down in the water with your rod and see how deep it has to go before it disappears. As far as other weather conditions go, they do not matter much to me. I throw it in rain, sun, snow, whatever. The only difference is that I favor brighter colors in low light situations.

      Now that we have talked about where and when to throw it, lets talk a little about the how. Remember we are trying to mimic a dying baitfish so that means slow and lethargic. I like to throw it out and reel it down to its diving depth and then let it sit. This is where I start my retrieve. After a pause of four seconds I twitch my rod tip twice and then let it sit again for four seconds followed by another single twitch before another pause of four. I then repeat the process all the way back to the boat. The cadence between pause and jerk may need to be tweaked in order to entice a bite, but four seconds is where I start. A general rule of thumb is the colder the water the longer the pause. Sometimes the pause can be painfully long. I placed 2nd in a local tournament last year with pauses of fourteen seconds. It was taking me almost five minutes to fish one cast. That is why it is important to fish areas which have the potential in holding fish instead of just beating the bank. The number of jerks may also need to be tweaked too. Not only in the number between pauses, but also in how hard you jerk to move the bait. Keep in mind, however, that you can overwork your lure. You just want your lure to walk side to side under the water and jerking too hard can hinder this. When you twitch your lure, make sure to do it on slack line. This allows the bait to walk, and if you twitch it on tight line it will pull straight to the boat. At rest, the lure needs to be on slack line as well to allow it to sit motionless. This will take some practice in boat positioning, because if your boat is moving at all so is your lure. During your pauses watch your line. This is where 90% of your bites will come. It will jump or start to move on its own. If either of these happens, you know what to do. The other 10% will come right when you get ready to jerk it after a pause.

     Now equipment. You can throw this on a spinning outfit, but I prefer baitcasting equipment. My setup is a 7 foot Medium action Cashion baitcasting rod, a Abu Garcia Revo SX with a 6:4:1 ratio, and spooled with Berkley 100% flurocarbonCashion has made a perfect jerkbait rod in their 7 foot medium action casting model. As all Cashion rods, it is made with linear graphite instead of spiral graphite making it super sensitive to detect strikes on slack line. Linear graphite means all of the fibers are lain straight instead of spiraling up the blank cutting down on the length of the fibers. This design transfers strikes to your hands faster and allows you to detect subtle bites that would otherwise be missed with traditional spiral graphite rods. To better grasp this, take two straight pieces of wire that are the same length and lay them side by side. Now twist one in a spiral from end to end. The straight piece of wire represents Cashion rods and the twisted wire represents all other traditional spiral graphite rods. You will notice that it would take a much longer wire once spiraled to get it back to the length of the one that represents the Cashion rod. By adding more length in the graphite fibers, it not only hampers sensitivity, but also makes rods heavier. Thus, Cashion has manufactured the lightest and most sensitive rod I have ever fished with. When fishing a jerkbait this time of the year you have the potential to catch some very large fish and you will not realize how big they are until you see them. So take your time, I can't say it enough. Remember, fish are lethargic this time of the year and if you horse them to the boat too fast they will surge once they see the boat and this is typically where you lose them. The action of the Cashion rod aids in these often fierce but short fights boatside, but if a fish does surge it is important to have a good smooth drag to allow them to run and the Revo SX has the smoothest drag I have ever fished with. On obsolete reels your drag, even if set right, will catch at the beginning of the run and not allow the surging fish to take line as needed, tearing your hooks free.

     Jerkbait fishing takes time to learn how to catch them, and at times can be very frustrating, but stick with it and you can catch not only some really big fish, but also a bunch because when you find them they are all schooled up this time of year.

Till next time, God bless and tight lines!

Brandon