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With all the different types of jerkbaits on the market, trying to find the best jerkbaits for bass may not always be an easy task. But once you know what the types are and what they’re best suited for, it can be a little easier to choose.
To help you discover a bit more about jerkbaits and when to use them, we have put together some of our thoughts.
Top Picks:
- Zoom Fluke Bait
- Strike King KVD Jerkbait
- Rapala Original Floater Jerkbait
- Rapala Shadow Rap Sinking Jerkbait
4 Best Jerkbaits For Bass Fishing
1: Zoom Fluke Bait
- Length: 4 inches
- Weight: ¼ ounce
The Zoom Fluke Bait is a soft plastic jerkbait that comes in a range of colors to suit your fishing conditions. It’s 4 inches long and can be ideal for a variety of presentations, including drop shotting and Texas rigging for weedless presentations.
The lure features a salt mixture in its body that’s designed to make bass hold the bait for longer, giving you more time to set the hook.
2: Strike King KVD Jerkbait
- Length: 4 ½ inches
- Weight: ⅜ ounce
The Strike King KVD Jerkbait is a suspending jerkbait that is designed to suspend at around 2 to 6 feet. It is built to move and dart like a real baitfish and features a lip at the front to help it dive down before suspending.
It also features 3D eyes for a realistic appearance and has a weight transfer system that can help with casting.
3: Rapala Original Floater Jerkbait
- Length: 4 ⅜ inches
- Weight: 3/16 ounce
The Rapala Original Floater is a floating jerkbait that’s made from balsa wood, which gives it added buoyancy, and features a slim design to mimic a natural minnow profile. It comes with 3 built-in treble hooks and comes in a variety of colors to suit your conditions.
4: Rapala Shadow Rap Sinking Jerkbait
- Length: 4 ⅜ inches
- Weight: 7/16 ounce
The Rapala Shadow Rap is a sinking jerkbait that is designed to sink slowly as you pause. This can create a more realistic movement, similar to a struggling or dying baitfish. It can also allow you to get the lure closer to the bottom and can be ideal for fishing in deeper water.
It is also designed to move almost 180 degrees side to side and spin around on the pause. It has a built-in weight system that helps it sink slowly like a dying baitfish.
Types Of Jerkbaits
Soft Plastic Jerkbaits
Soft jerkbaits are designed to wiggle and move under the water to mimic a swimming baitfish when the rod is jerked. These types of lures can be ideal for a range of conditions and can be fished fast or slow, like other jerkbaits, and can work well in spring and fall when bass are actively feeding.
Suspending Jerkbaits
Suspending jerkbaits are designed to suspend in the water and can be ideal for fishing in cold conditions and when bass are suspended in the water column. These types of lures can hold at certain depths and can move along at that depth as you jerk your rod.
Video: How To Pick The Right Type Of Jerkbait
Floating Jerkbaits
Floating jerkbaits are built to float so that you can fish them as a topwater lure. This can be useful when bass are feeding closer to the surface or when they’re in shallower waters during the pre and post spawn. They can be ideal to use when there’s a lot of underwater vegetation that you don’t want to get caught up in.
There is also the potential to use floating jerkbaits all year round if you want to get creative, for example, by adding a weight to the jerkbait to help it sink or suspend.
Sinking Jerkbaits
Designed to slowly sink, sinking jerkbaits can be ideal if you’re targeting bass in deeper water and need your lure to get closer to the bottom. This can be helpful in winter or hot summer days when bass tend to be hiding out in deeper areas of the water.
Video: Jerkbait Traits — Floating, Sinking & Suspending
Jerkbait Fishing: The Basics
Use The Right Size Of Jerkbait
A good way of choosing the right size of jerkbait is to look at the baitfish that the bass are preying on in that particular body of water. This will likely differ from season to season and from lake to lake. But opting for a jerkbait around the same size as the fish the bass are naturally eating can be a step in the right direction when it comes to catching them.
Keep Some Slack
In order to work a jerkbait in the way that it’s designed, you might find it helpful to keep a little slack in your line so that when you jerk your rod, the jerkbait is able to move more freely.
You may need to experiment a little with the rate at which you pause and jerk your rod, as bass will often react differently depending on the conditions. One thing to remember is that when the water is cold, slower movement and longer pauses can be better and when the water is warm, you might find that quicker jerks work better.
Cast Into Cover
Throwing a jerkbait into areas of cover can be an effective way to target bass that might be holding out in that cover. It can be a good idea to make a long cast towards the shore or into docks, as this can give you the chance to jerk your bait around the cover and hopefully a bass will spot it and bite.
Be careful not to throw it directly into areas with a lot of weeds on the surface, as the exposed hooks on jerkbaits can often become tangled in the vegetation, which could mean a lost lure or even a lost fish.
Gone Fishin’ (Conclusion)
With the different types of jerkbaits out there, they can be pretty versatile lures to have in your tackle box. While they can often be ideal for targeting bass in cold water, they can also be useful all year round; you just have to choose the right type to suit your conditions.
If you found this helpful, share it so that others can discover jerkbait fishing tips. And if you have a favorite jerkbait or any tips of your own, leave us a comment.
