Part 2
Jerkbaits produce best for largemouths during prespawn and postspawn. Windows of opportunity open for largemouths throughout the rest of the year, but during spring, jerkbaits rule. Big females cruise the flats over weed beds just beginning to emerge. Jerks shine in cold water because they intercept fewer weeds than in summer, but also because they have the capability to sit still, which is non-threatening. Sometimes the simple need to chase is threatening, if bass are struggling to build up energy reserves lost during winter. Apply a soft hand and subtle approach.
A Rapala Husky Jerk is a great cold-water bait because it comes out of the box with a subtle action. It takes slightly more force to make a Husky Jerk walk-the-dog underwater—which is great in cold water. To get the most possible action out of a Husky Jerk in warmer water, In- With a Smithwick Suspending Rogue, adding a little weight to the shank of the middle treble adds resistance. As a center-weighted Rogue in pause mode is snapped to life, that added resistance makes it easier to turn the head of the bait to the side—easier to walk-the-dog. Some pros like to add weight to both the front and middle treble, to give the bait a nose-down attitude around schools of shad, making the bait stand out and mimic a dying baitfish. It also drives the bait deeper.
Depth is critical. Know the depth each bait in your arsenal reaches. Having a bait you know dives 6 inches deeper than the one you have tied on can pay big dividends at times. When covering shallow rocky flats less than 4 feet deep, I turn to the Yo-Zuri Twitchin’ Minnow, which only dives to about 2 feet. Many different models are right for flats 4 to 6 feet deep, including the new Lucky Craft Pointer 95 (shown above), the Bomber Suspending Long A, and the H 10 or H 12 Husky Jerk. Around sharp drops into deeper water, I like the Strike King Wild Shiner and Lucky Craft Pointer 100, which dive down to 8 feet or more at the end of a long cast. When bass are10 feet down or deeper, go with big-lip baits like the Down-Deep Husky Jerk. But remember that bass often rise 5 feet or more to intercept it even in the murkiest lakes. In clear water, they may rise 12 feet or higher for a properly worked jerk. And, sometimes, it’s better to make them rise to the bait than to take it down to them, to let their hunting instincts take over and to keep hooked fish from spooking the school.
Manipulation
The best rod for workin’ the jerk with braided line is fast but not stout. Spinning gear casts farther with 10-pound braids, and our favorite rods for this are medium to medium-light 7-footers from St. Croix and G. Loomis. The top third of a medium-light spinning rod should give rather easily. The rod should have a fast action, however, allowing you to control the bait with slight twitches and subtle walking maneuvers.
I use a fairly large spinning reel, in most cases either a Daiwa SS II 1600 or a Shimano Symetre 4000. The larger spool produces longer casts by enlarging the coils of line being released, thereby reducing friction. And since we feel that a monofilament or fluorocarbon leader is essential for stealth and absorbing shock, we use 10-pound Berkley FireLine because a coated line tends to cut into mono less. We use bare bones, back-to-back uni knots to connect braid to mono, using 5 wraps on the braid side and 4 wraps 
on the mono side. Always start with at least a 6-foot leader (mine starts at 9 feet). Trim the tag ends as close as you shave your face, to allow the knot freer passage through the guides. We use 10-pound Silver Thread Fluorocarbon, Ande Fluorocarbon, Sufix Tritanium Plus and Berkley Big Game for leader materials.
Ready? Get the wind behind you. Use the trolling motor to control drift. If the wind is blowing harder than 15 mph, toss out a drift sock or a pair of plastic buckets to slow the boat. The less you use the trolling motor the better. Make a long cast, gather up the slack and reel the bait down to its running depth with the rod tip pointed down.
To walk the dog with this equipment, raise the rod tip and create 6 inches to a foot of slack, depending on how vigorously you want to work the bait—and depending upon which bait you’re using. Some baits walk easier than others and you should test them beside the boat where you can see how rod action is transformed into bait action. Snap the rod tip straight down, drawing the line taught just before the rod stops. The bait should turn to one side. Repeat the same motions and the lure should turn to the other side. At some point during each complete back-and-forth, a walking jerk bait is going to throw flash in a direction that finds the eye of any bass holding or cruising within a radius defined by the water clarity.
A pause or two will catch more bass because it forces following fish to make a decision. More importantly, the sudden cessation of action is a trigger. And though a motionless, hovering bait sounds like the antithesis of a trigger, it’s the very best one you have. Many strikes occur during the pause. Braided line and quality graphite transmit strikes on the pause as a well-defined “tick.” Mono often transmits very little back to your hand.
The colder the water, the longer the pause should be. In the 41°F to 46°F range, pauses should last at least a minute most days, which demands baits that are neutrally buoyant. Jerks shine in cold water when bass have slower metabolisms. When they see a bait hovering like a plum at the end of a low branch, they will come and eventually pluck it if it doesn’t do anything drastic. Instead of walking the dog, tease the cat. Raise the rod only 2 or 3 inches and gently tap through that slack line a couple of times, just hard enough to draw the line taught, and pause it again.
The most productive triggering mechanism I’ve found for largemouths during prespawn (50°F to 60°F) and early postspawn (64°F to 68°F) is something I call “trilling.” Pig largies can’t resist it during that time frame. Get the bait down and pause it. Then pull it forward 1 to 3 feet. Pull it just fast enough to make the bait work—just until you begin to feel it barely wobble, then pause it. Neutral buoyancy is a big plus here, too. During April and May in the Northern states, you’ll catch some pig walleyes and pike doing this, too. Braided line allows you to feel the bait barely begin to vibrate.
But every day is different. Every day the trigger for most bass can be found somewhere between dead sticking and walking the dog hard and fast. You have to find it. Remember what you were doing with the bait on the last cast so you can do something different this cast, and so on.
Furthermore
Smaller baits like the Lucky Craft Pointer 78 can catch really big bass—but rarely so often as a bigger bait. Smaller, thinner baits with small lips, like the Lucky Craft Pointer 78, the Culprit Rip’N Minnow and Mega Bass X-70, are my go-to baits when bass are reluctant to hit larger, more aggressive versions. But those lures can be very squirrely, and should be presented on 6- to 8-pound monofilament. Hit them a little too hard and they spin out. As a rule, it’s easy to walk-the-dog with these baits without expending much rod energy.
The right technique with smaller jerks is subtle. Watch them beside the boat, or in a swimming pool. Use less slack line and shorter strokes. Small baits can be very wild and erratic, doing things the larger baits can’t do on normal bass tackle. But the whole point of using smaller baits is to be less aggressive. If smallmouths or largemouths want an aggressive bait, they’re more likely to trigger on a larger jerk bait. But, during summer, when it seems the only way to catch smallmouths is with a tube or grub, these smaller baits can arrest some of the biggest bronzebacks of the season.
Mark your baits with paint pens. If it floats a little, tune it to suspend or mark it with a blue dot, or a yellow dot. If it suspends perfectly, mark it with a green dot. If it sinks tail down or nose down, send it back to the company with a peevish note. If it catches numbers of fish, mark it with an orange dot. If it catches pigs like nobody’s business, mark it with two or three orange dots. If it’s easy to walk-the-dog with it, mark it with a white or red dot, and so on.
This accomplishes a number of things. First, you know immediately which baits do what just by glancing into your box. Second, you know which ones catch fish—meaning you should avoid using those baits until you’re in a tournament or a situation where you need to catch fish. Meanwhile, try to identify and tune new baits.
Sometimes a pattern evolves for taking several active fish from a type of spot, and by moving quickly, seeking identical situations on similar spots, you can fill a bag in the course of a day and sometimes cull your way to victory. It’s the best way to win if bass are really scattered. Most of the time you’re better off knowing how to trigger lots of neutral or less-active fish, especially when they’re grouped. Jerk baits can do both, if you employ a diverse selection of baits and techniques.
Amazingly versatile lures like these really should be played with. Experiment with weight, eye position, hooks, color and action. Suspending baits trigger fish so many ways, it’s a shame to limit the fun.