Capt. Mike Gerry advises on using jerkbaits in winter for big bass

The jerk bait is an amazing cold-water fish producer. This lure can actually bring bass up from deep water where they’ve retreated during the cold months. I’ve caught fish over 20-foot water working the jerk-bait about 5 feet down. But to use it effectively you need to understand the dynamics your rod tip position adds to the movement of the bait, the effect line diameter has on the depth the bait runs under the water, and what type of structure to fish. I have found that most fisherman do not understand these dynamics and become very frustrated while fishing jerk bait.

Most of the time during cold-weather months you’re fishing for suspended bass. These fish are basically inactive and sitting 8 to 15 feet deep, so it takes a really slow retrieve and proper rod position to get a strike. The angle of your rod is the first factor to consider.

Holding the rod tip up at the 10 to 12 o’clock position allows you to effectively work the bait in shallow water or over thick grass. When holding my rod at this angle, it appears to onlookers that I may be fishing a worm because the motion is very similar to a traditional Texas-rigged worm drop-and-lift retrieve. Holding the rod tip up allows you to make a long, slow movement in one easy motion while working the bait deliberately and patiently. Slow sweeps should be separated by long, effective pauses. I generally pause 5 seconds or more before I move my lure again.

To work the jerk bait deeper and move it quicker with wrist action, point your rod tip down toward the water. Be careful, though, because in doing this you may have a tendency to work your jerk bait too fast for winter fishing.

Line size is very important to the achieving the ideal depth. The thicker the fishing line the shallower the bait will run, and the thinner the line the deeper it will run. On Guntersville I often rig three line sizes while jerk bait fishing. Probably only one of them will be ideal. You see the grass depth changes sometimes weekly in the winter. I want to put the bait to the strike zone, and I use line size to control lure depth.

Winter fishing is not always about fishing deep, open water. A lot of times a jerk bait is the best lure for fishing deeper structure. Many forms of vertical structure are found on Lake Guntersville. Anglers there are familiar with shallow stump fields, but there’s plenty of old, standing timber in the 10 to 15 depths along the edges of the channel, too. Tall strands or clumps of hydrilla in deeper water are common in the early and late part of the winter, at least until the new growth starts. Then it rots and pulls away from the bottom, leaving ideal places for the winter bass to suspend – and great places to fish a jerk bait.

Come, fish with me on Guntersville this winter, and I’ll help you become an accomplished jerk bait fisherman.

Captain Mike Gerry
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
Web: www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
Email: bassguide@comcast.net
(256) 759-2270