Jerkbaits for Early Spring Largemouths

Spring is here! or at least for the time being it is and when spring comes around, its time to dust off the jerkbaits and start fishing for early pre-spawn bass.

Pickerel never pass up a jerkbait

The lakes here in tidewater Virginia have been frozen over for the last few weeks and this weekend was the first time I was able to get back onto the water.  The forecast was looking awesome, with high temps reaching 60 degrees.  I was stoked to get back on the water.  When I arrived at the lake I initially thought the bass were going to still be in a winter mode and only hit jigs fished deep, but after a couple hours of nothing, it was time for a change.

My Dad was fishing  a 45 degree bank with a Rapala Husky Jerk when he got a good hit .  It was a nice 18" bass and I knew it was time to change tactics.  I quickly switched over to a new Rapala Shadow Rap Deep in an olive green color.  I targeted  the same type of banks and picked up a few good bass as well.  My Dad tried the new Shadow Rap Shallow with even better results.  As the sun warmed the banks we kept picking at bass and we had a few pickerel mixed in.

Jerkbait fishing is a great way to catch big bass.  The tackle is simple, I like using my Ardent Apex Grand on a Med/Light rod with 12lbs florocarbon for bigger jerkbaits, and a light spinning outfit for the smaller jerkbaits.  When fishing a jerkbait, the water temperature will help you decide how fast to fish it.  When I started fishing this morning the water temp was around 40 degrees, so I was working the bait really slow.  By the end of the day, however, the water temps rose up to near 46 degrees and my retrieve was much faster.  

The Smithwick Suspending Rogue is a great bait