Every spring when I head up to Lake Champlain for the first few fishing trip, I’m faced with a dilemma. I look at my tackle box and have to decide on a Jerkbait vs. Crankbait combo. No matter which I choose, I’m usually vexed wondering if the other would have been the better lure for the trip. Both are amazing lures for catching fish, especially early in the year, and are some of the best fishing lures for beginners, period. I always have a rod tied with each right on the deck to start each trip. Let’s discuss why you should too.
What Is a Jerkbait?
A jerkbait is a long and slender lure that resembles a minnow and has 2-3 treble hooks. Depending on the model, it might sink, float, or suspend, but all are intended to be retrieved horizontally through the water column. While you could simply reel a jerkbait in, or troll one behind your boat, they really shine when you start jerking and snapping them through the water as their name suggests. This erratic action makes jerkbaits look like dying, fleeing, or otherwise distressed baitfish. Bass, northern pike, chain pickerel, walleye, and even large crappie can’t resist, and almost hop into your boat!
How to Fish a Jerkbait
There are several ways to fish a jerkbait. You can reel it in, and it’ll basically act as a shallow crankbait with a tight wobble. Likewise, you can troll them behind a boat, and they’ll stay straight and true enticing fish. The preferred method, and how they got their namesake, is to snap or jerk them through the water. This creates slack in the line which should be slowly reeled in before snapping again.
The main trick to working a jerkbait is figuring out the cadence of your snaps. In warmer water, a faster cadence often produces fish. Indeed, it can provide outstanding action as fish compete with each other to attack the lure. In colder water, however, you’ll often do better by slowing down your retrieve. At ice out, I’ve had days where I will literally pause a jerkbait for 10-20 seconds before I give it oh so small of a little twitch to try and entice a bite. Sometimes that’s what it takes to get sluggish fish to commit.
Note that regardless of the time of year, you’ll need to give it at least one good snap as soon as it hits the water to get it down to depth, especially if it is a suspending or floating model. Jerkbaits have a bill on them much like a crankbait that allows them to dive, and the quickest way to get them underwater is with a pretty heavy snap at first.
Types of Jerkbaits: Floating vs. Suspending vs. Sinking
While there are dozens if not hundreds of jerkbaits out there on the market, most boil down to one of three types:
- Floating jerkbaits
- Suspending jerkbaits
- Sinking jerkbaits
As you could probably guess, they get their name from the way they act in the water. A floating jerkbait floats. A sinking model sinks. Suspending jerkbaits are neutrally buoyant, so after you jerk them down to the appropriate level, they’ll suspend or float in the water column at rest.
This allows you to tailor the action to what you need to achieve. A sinking jerkbait could patiently be used to slowly fall down to bass holding at great depths. A floating model could be worked around cover with the reasonable expectation of being retrieved when necessary. A suspending one could be placed directly in the fish’s face until it couldn’t stand it any more and bit.
Best Floating Jerkbaits
Floating jerkbaits are quite useful anytime bass are schooling on the surface. If you would have success with a topwater, you will have success with a floating jerkbait fished just below the surface. You could even use the lure as a topwater bait if you really wanted to, but you’ll probably be better off mimicking a fish the bass have trapped at the surface.
When it comes to what is the best floating jerkbait, I favor the Rapala Original Floater. It’s very hard to argue with a lure that has been in production so long. Manufacturers aren’t going to back a loser for that long, so you know this lure sells. Fishermen too won’t back a loser for more than an hour, so you know this lure catches fish!
I’ve found that floating jerkbaits aren’t the best lure for just after ice out or when the bass are really sluggish. It’s hard to keep these lures in the strike zone for a long enough pause as they start rising immediately. I’d keep them in the tackle box until the water warms a bit.
Best Suspending Jerkbaits
My favorite jerkbaits both suspend. I like suspending jerkbaits because they’ll just sit there in the water, allowing current to move them enticingly in-between my snaps and twitches. While I do need to impart a pretty good initial snap to get them to depth, once there, they stay right where I want them for the entire retrieve.
The main suspending jerkbait in my tackle box is a Rapala X-Rap. I prefer a size 10 X-Rap for bass and pike, but I do have a couple smaller ones that I tie on if I’m trying to catch larger sunfish or crappie. X-Raps cast a mile, catch every fish possible and–importantly–hold up very well. They use sturdy hooks and the worst that’s going to happen is some of the tail feathers get ripped out. You can purchase replacement feathered treble hooks, but you really won’t need to replace them that often as this is a sturdy bait. This is truly a 100-fish lure.
Best Sinking Jerkbaits
When it comes to sinking jerkbaits, I also favor Rapala. This time it’s the Rapala Shadow Rap. Let me tell you, when this lure came on the market in 2015, it set my fishing trips on fire. I couldn’t keep bass from biting it. Point in fact, the very first trip I took with one I hooked two small bass at the same time, sent my wife the picture, and said, “Yeah, we’re buying more of these.”
Rapala Shadow Raps have this subtle sinking action where they turn slightly on the pause. I’ve found this makes them absolute dynamite lures especially early in the year. My only issue with them is that there hooks are so thin that they tend to get smashed up extremely easily. They are often bent and compressed to the point where trying to restore their shape with pliers only breaks them. It’s a good problem to have, as it means a large fish bit, but you aren’t going to get near as many strikes out of one of these as an X-Rap.
While I haven’t used it, when researching this article, I stumbled across the Rapala Countdown Lure and am intrigued. Apparently, this lure sinks at a predetermined rate (I’m not sure if this is size dependent, but the one I was reading about sunk at 1′ per second). This would allow you to precisely target fish at the depth they’re holding and could be an amazing way to target some deeper midwater humps come summer.
Deep Diving Jerkbaits
Several types of jerkbaits come with larger lips that will allow them to dive deeper per jerk. This can be useful if you know a particular sunken hump is a certain depth and you want to consistently run jerkbaits by it. The natural lakes I fish don’t have too many of these so I don’t have much experience using them, but some guys swear by deep jerkbaits.
Best Jerkbait Colors
I only bother with two colors for jerkbaits and as I said, I have one tied on the entire year, catching fish. I use clown and yellow perch. Clown is a great color any time the water is murky as it provides enough flash to call fish in from far, but isn’t so gaudy that the more wary turn their noses up. Yellow perch is a good natural color that mimics typical prey in northern lakes. If you don’t have yellow perch in your clearer lakes, I’d suggest matching the hatch as best you can. Every other lure in the world works great in white and I have no doubt jerkbaits would too, but I’m really trying a more minimalist approach to fishing, so these two colors work for me.
Best Time to Use Jerkbaits
There’s this misconception out there that the only time you should use jerkbaits is during the spring. In fact, jerkbaits will work all year long. They perfectly mimic a dying and distressed baitfish that needs to be culled from the school. Fish don’t suddenly start ignoring these signals once the water heats up.
The reason why spring typically gets the nod as the best time of year to use jerkbaits is because there’s less weed cover, and most fish are shallow. Jerkbaits are difficult to use in the summer because many of the places that hold fish either have weeds or are much deeper than jerkbaits typically reach. Jerkbaits are very difficult to fish in weedy areas because of the way they are worked. Each snap of the rod more or less ensures fouling your hooks on some gunk. Likewise, while there are some “deep diving” jerkbaits, these typically top out around 10-12 feet. This isn’t much use when the fish are significantly deeper. In such cases, you’d be better off going with a crankbait vs. a jerkbait, as the crankbait can reach them.
A further reason why people tend to say early spring is the best time to use jerkbaits is because they are one of the few effective lures that time of year. Spinnerbaits don’t produce as many bites until the water warms to around 60 degrees. Jerkbaits can be used right from ice out and will produce hits. This is because jerkbaits (and especially suspending jerkbaits) can be worked extremely slow. Fish have slow metabolisms early in the year and are unlikely to chase anything down a long distance. You need to get your lure right in their face and have it sit there sometimes. Jerkbaits are outstanding for this.
Best Line for Jerkbaits
I personally fish jerkbaits on 20lb test Power Pro braided fishing line. I like the way that the lure snaps through the water when I’m jerking it through as this line doesn’t stretch. Since it has a thin diameter, it also helps get jerkbaits down a little deeper. I do set the drag on my reel a little looser to account for all of this and to prevent too many fish from pulling off.
Many anglers prefer using fluorocarbon. For example, Kevin VanDam, one of the best jerkbait fishermen to ever throw the plug, prefers flourocarbon line while fishing with jerkbaits. He uses everything from 8 – 20lb test, with lighter line being used when he wants to get the bait down deeper, and heavier to help keep it running higher.
Jerkbaits for Bass?
Largemouth and smallmouth bass love jerkbaits. They’re one of the best lures for catching these fish assuming you can work them without fouling on weeds. During the pre-spawn period, jerkbaits are some of the best lures, bar none to catch bass. I’ve found that smallmouth seem to prefer a jerkbait vs. a crankbait during pre-spawn. I judge this based on the fact that I catch far more smallies on jerkbaits than I do when I break out some crankbaits.
Best Size Jerkbait for Bass?
I’ve found that largemouth and smallmouth bass prefer a jerkbait that is about 4″ long. This represents a good-sized meal to both species and also matches the hatch well. It could represent a very large minnow, or a small enough perch to eat.
Jerkbaits for Summer Bass
Jerkbaits are productive lures year round for largemouth bass. While some anglers think you can’t throw them in the summer, this is incorrect. They’re very productive lures any time of the year given how well they mimic distressed prey. The only trick is that in the summer, many bass stage in either very deep water, or very deep cover. A jerkbait isn’t always the best lure for either situation. Crankbaits are often better for reaching deeper bass while something weedless, such as a frog, would do better if largemouth bass are in deep vegetation.
Jerkbait Leaders
When fishing for northern pike with jerkbaits, using a leader can save a lot of money. Jerkbaits aren’t exactly the cheapest lure out there, and with northern pike and muskie jerkbaits being some of the most expensive, you’re going to want to use a jerkbait leader. I would highly recommend having a leader that is at least as long as the lure if not longer. If you go with a leader that is shorter than the lure, there’s a good chance it will catch the hooks and foul the action, which will be frustrating.
Best Jerkbait Rod?
While this is a personal decision, most anglers recommend a shorter rod (6′ to 6’6″) when fishing jerkbaits. A shorter rod makes it easier to get a strong jerk/snap out of your lures with hitting the bank or gunwale on your boat.
I personally favor a spinning rod when fishing jerkbaits because the reel hangs underneath the rod. I find this helps the rod balance better. Also, most of the time I’m throwing jerkbaits, it’s early in the spring when the winds are absolutely chaotic. Using a spinning rod allows me to make long casts with a jerkbait right into the wind without worrying about backlashes. Finally, it’s much easier to use lighter line with a narrower diameter with a spinning rod than a baitcaster. For all these reasons, spinning rods are my tackle of choice when fishing jerkbaits.
I throw so many jerkbaits that I have a very nice rod dedicated to them: a 6’6″ medium power, fast action St. Croix Legend Extreme. The St. Croix Legend Elite is pricey, but it weighs so little that I can fish this intensive technique all day without issue. I literally have one of these lures tied to it the entire year and use nothing else. If you’re not willing to spend that kind of money, I used a St. Croix Avid series for years (again, 6’6″ medium power / fast action). I know some guys prefer rods with a moderate action like a crankbait rod, but this makes the jerks/snaps too sluggish for my taste.
Bear in mind that St. Croix rods very rarely go on sale at the big box stores (I’d venture to say never, but you never say that), so this is a rod you can absolutely buy on Amazon with all their convenience and no regrets that some other shop might have a better price. Check out the links above to be throwing jerkbaits two days from now!
What Is a Crankbait?
A crankbait is a short and stocky plug that usually has two treble hooks. It can have a large bill for diving deep into the water, or be “lipless” and designed to run in a straight line. The bill of a crankbait pulls it to its target running depth and the faster you reel it in at first, the faster it’ll get to that depth. Very popular with bass anglers, crankbaits are also known to catch northern pike, chain pickerel, crappie, and walleye.
How to Fish a Crankbait
Crankbaits are good fishing lures for beginners because all you need to do to use a crankbait is toss it out and work it back in. Literally, just cast the crankbait out, then reel it back to your boat or shore. Doing this alone will catch fish (assuming it doesn’t foul on some weeds or other refuse).
That’s not the only way how to work a crankbait, of course. A much better way how to to use a crankbait would be to do your best to bang it into just about everything you can on the way home. This seems very counter-intuitive (and is a great way to lose a lot of lures when fishing from shore), but each time you smack that crankbait into a rock or branch, it deflects off wildly, driving fish nuts.
Even if you’re fishing open water, you’d be well-served by creating some “deflections” of your own. While you won’t have anything to run the crankbait into, make sure you work in some pops or twitches with your rod trip as you work it back.
How To Reel a Crankbait
Crankbaits need to be reeled in rapidly at first to reach their diving depth. A faster retrieve will get them down to the correct depth quickly, from where you can slow things down and keep them in the strike zone longer. This is why you’ll find that many fishermen prefer to use a baitcasting reel with the handle on whichever side they can reel the fastest.
Do You Use a Swivel with Crankbaits?
I don’t like using snap swivels with crankbaits, but I am a big fan of using snaps. You can use a snap on your crankbaits without worrying about scaring fish, or other issues. Indeed, the snap makes fishing with crankbaits easy as you can swap them out to try different colors and running depths. Snaps also are useful with crankbaits in that they give the more wobbly ones an even wider wobble, which can be more enticing for fish.
Lipless vs. Squarebill vs. Deep Diving Crankbaits
Crankbaits tend to fall into three main categories:
- Lipless crankbaits, that have no bill to pull them under and can be retrieved horizontally.
- Squarebill crankbaits designed to deflect off of cover in shallow water.
- Deep diving crankbaits with giant bills designed to reach maximum depth where summer bass live.
All have their pros and cons and belong in your tackle box.
Best Lipless Crankbaits
Two of the more common lipless crankbaits are also the best: the Rat-L-Trap and the Red Eye Shad. Both have been around for years though the former makes the latter look like a baby. Rat-L-Traps in particular have really impressed me recently. There once was a time when you could pick up an entire bag of used Rat-L-Traps on eBay for pennies, they were so common. Now, the new ones come with some quality components such as Mustad hooks that stand up to fish after fish after fish.
The Red Eye Shad is another one of Kevin VanDam’s sponsored lures. As with all of his stuff, it works as he’s putting his name on it. You’ll also routinely find him fishing this stuff in tournaments. Now, KVD is a legendary angler and he could probably get an unpainted block of wood bit, but it’s a vote of confidence all the same.
How to Use a Crankbait in Weeds
Weeds make fishing with crankbaits difficult, because their treble hooks like to catch on each and every plant. I would suggest using a lipless crankbait when fishing in the weeds, as it doesn’t have a lip that will pull it down towards the vegetation. Instead, you can more or less control how deep it will or won’t dive by the angle of your rod tip. One of the best things you can do with a lipless crankbait is run it so it the treble hooks just tick the top of some submerged weeds as you burn it back to the boat. This causes the crankbait to pause for a moment and then snap forward with a lunge. It has the same effect as fishing in rocks with a squarebill, deflecting off every obstruction you find.
Best Squarebill Crankbaits
I’m personally a fan of the Strike King KVD 1.5 squarebill (click the photo for more of a description). There are more expensive ones out there, for sure, but these have been consistent producers for me over the years. Once upon a time you couldn’t get the rattling ones anywhere but Bass Pro Shops, but now they’re available on Amazon. While I suppose there’s a time for a silent crankbait, that time is not on the dingy waters I fish, so I almost always prefer a rattle.
Best Deep Diving Crankbaits
The best deep diving crankbait for your situation is going to depend entirely on how deep you need it to go. I’m going to assume you want a deep diving crankbait 15′ or more. That would put you in the realm of the Strike King Pro Model 5XD. I like this because it only weights 5/8 oz. yet will reach those depths. Many deep diving crankbaits are considerably larger which makes them difficult to fish on all but the stoutest tackle. This is a good compromise lure.
How to Use Deep Diving Crankbaits
As with all crankbaits, the name of the game when fishing with deep diving ones is to try and get them to deflect off cover. To do this, you need to use a crankbait that dives just a bit deeper than the cover is. While this will cause some hang ups, it will also produce a number of strikes.
Some anglers use a crankbait technique called long lining to get more depth out of their lures. Let’s say you knew there was an underwater hump at a particular point. You’d want to cast well beyond it but not engage (lock) your spool. You’d then take your trolling motor and move the boat away from your lure, without engaging the spool. Once you got a bit of a distance away, you’d reel in as fast as you can. This would allow the lure to go much deeper than you could achieve on a normal cast.
When To Use Crankbaits
Crankbaits are one of those lures that start working very well in the pre-spawn. Even though they are a bit of a “fast” lure, they aren’t burned as quickly as a spinnerbait and so you can trigger some hits from otherwise sluggish fish. Also the deflections off cover are simply too much for fish to handle. These deflections do a few things. One, they stop the crankbait for a moment, often right in front of a fish’s face. Two, this often elicits a jarring reaction strike.
Best Time to Use Crankbaits
Most people use crankbaits during the day. If they get hung up, it’s much easier to retrieve them if you can see what you’re doing. If you’re going to use crankbaits at night, I’d go with much darker colors, like black, and I’d make sure that the crankbait had some sort of rattle to help fish home in on it.
Best Line for Crankbaits
Fluorocarbon is widely considered to be the best fishing line for crankbaits. Fluorocarbon has several advantages when fishing crankbaits. First, it sinks, which is what you want with these lures. Secondly, it has less stretch than monofilament, which will allow a good hook set even if a fish bites 15′ below the surface. Finally, the abrasion resistance of the type is useful with crankbaits given that they spend so much time banging into and next to rocks.
How to Use a Crankbait for Bass
Using a crankbait for bass is no different than working a crankbait for any other fish. You cast it out, reel it in, and try to bang into any cover you can along the way. Go ahead and dig that lure into the dirt a bit – the bass will love the commotion and come nail it.
If you get into an area that holds bass, they’re going to bite a crankbait, period. The only question is whether or not you can cast and retrieve it without being hung up.
Best Size Crankbait for Bass
Using the KVD squarebills as a guide, they come in sizes ranging from 1.0 (3/8 oz.) to 8.0 (1.5 oz.). I get that people think “bigger lure, bigger fish” and I suppose sometimes that may be so, but I’ll tell you what – I’ve never had an issue catching huge largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, or northern pike on a 1.5-sized crankbait (7/16 oz. to 3/8 oz.). This is a good compromised size that most fish view as a good meal. You’ll catch quantity and quality with it.
Crankbait Leaders
It’s uncommon to see people using a leader with a crankbait unless they’re specifically fishing for northern pike or muskie. With that said, crankbaits are one lure that does well enough attached to a snap, so many purpose-built leaders will work. I’d personally recommend going with fluorocarbon leaders so that you don’t scare any line-shy bass more than you have to.
Best Crankbait Rod?
Crankbaits are one technique where a fiberglass rod is really going to shine. This is for a few reasons. First, a fiberglass rod will allow you to really load up on your cast and fling that crankbait a good distance. This is important because the further your cast, the deeper the crankbait can reach on its retrieve. Fiberglass rods also work well with crankbaits because they are “mushier” and more forgiving of a strike than graphite rods. You’re less likely to rip the thin treble hooks out of a fish’s mouth if you use a fiberglass rod.
My personal favorite crankbait rod is the St. Croix Legend Glass. I picked one of these up last year and have had an absolute blast ripping Rat-L-Traps across the rocky Vermont shores of Lake Champlain. It loads up beautifully with a 1/2 oz Rat-L-Trap and had no issues fighting numerous 4lb smallies and largemouth.
Must-Have Tools When Fishing Jerkbaits or Crankbaits
There are a few tools that are going to make your life considerably easier when fishing with jerkbaits or crankbaits. These fishing tools will save you time, money, and aggravation. If you don’t already own them, I’d really consider picking them up before your next time on the water.
Lure Retriever
You’ll have noticed that I’ve spent considerable time in this article telling you to slam your crankbaits into any obstruction you can find. Well, on occasion they get stuck doing that. The technique works so well for catching fish that you can’t ignore it, but it can also get incredibly expensive in a hurry. With many crankbaits costing anywhere from $5 to $15 if not more, it can add up in a hurry. That’s why you should purchase a lure retriever today. I keep one on my boat at all times, and it only takes 4-5 retrieved lures to pay for itself.
The one I linked to extends to a length of 18′. While this may seem excessive consider that it’s not always depth that you need to worry about. You may well find that you’re running your crankbait across rocky shorelines that you aren’t crazy about bringing your boat up to. Being able to have a little extra length to reach lures horizontally also helps.
Split Ring Pliers
A good set of split ring pliers really makes your life a lot easier. Some jerkbaits and crankbaits have very thin hooks that don’t hold up well to fish. Split ring pliers are indispensable for swapping out hooks in a hurry. This set even comes with spare split rings, which is good as sometimes they break or deform when you’re trying to take them off or put them on.
Conclusion: When To Use a Jerkbait vs. a Crankbait
Jerkbaits and crankbaits are two of my favorite fishing lures. While I wouldn’t recommend either when fishing with kids, they can’t be beat when the adults are in the boat. I know many anglers think jerkbaits are only for the pre-spawn, but I’ve had success with them year round. They mimic a dying or distressed baitfish so well that there’s no logical reason why a bass wouldn’t eat them all year. The only issue is that they can be hard to fish in weeds, and in many places, bass use weeds as their primary cover come summer. Even so, if you can find little pockets and have accurate casts, jerkbaits could be very good to you.
Crankbaits are also great year round. They even come more into their own over the summer, when some larger bass go much deeper than most jerkbaits can reach. It’s challenging to think of a better lure that can reach the depths of many submerged humps and cover water as effectively and quickly as a crankbait.
I’d recommend that you keep both in your tackle box at all times. I know I have rods rigged with each throughout the year, and they tend to get a lot of action each fishing trip.
I hope this article was helpful. Thanks for reading!
John Paxton
