If you're in Ontario, the bass fishing action is still heating up! Whether you're looking to hit Mitchell’s Bay, Kettle Point, Nanticoke, or Colchester, we’ve got the gear to help you land that trophy catch.
Swimbaits
Dropshot
Jerkbaits
Watch Our Jerkbait Masterclass Video!
Video Transcription:
Cole from Angling Sports again, coming at you with an on the water tip. We're gonna talk about jerkbaits today and setups. During the springtime and early summer, a jerkbait is probably one of the best baits to throw to catch big smallmouth. You'll catch a lot of fish on it, but we usually catch some giant, giant fish on it, especially if they're up shallow on the flats. So, a lot of people ask, do you run baitcasting or spinning gear?
I think that all boils down to personal preference. Myself, I prefer baitcasting gear. The the snapping motion just feels a little more natural to me with my hand underneath the reel rather than on top like a spinning reel. I will throw spinning gear at certain times if I'm throwing a real small, let's say, a 78 size jerkbait, or throw one into a really heavy headwind. I'll go to spinning gear then, but 9 times out of 10, I fish casting gear.
And the setup I prefer, I'm running a 611 Shimano Expride B Casting Rod. It's got backbone, but it's still fairly parabolic. That way when you get these big small mouth on around the boat, you're not tearing hooks out of their face all the time. So you want something good in between. You know?
You want it soft, but you don't want it too soft. So we prefer anything from 6-8 to about 6-11, 6-10 medium action baitcasters. I'm running smaller size baitcasting reels. This is an Aldebaran 50 MGL Baitcaster Reel. It's got a really shallow spool on it, so it's got less startup inertia.
So, therefore, it will cast lighter line and lighter lures better. I run straight 10 pound fluorocarbon. The reason for this is the line's stiff enough, the bait doesn't get ahead of itself and wrap around the hooks, but it also gets the true dive depth out of the bait. That 10 pound floral, especially if you're fishing a little deeper, you can count it down and the floral will sink enough. It'll pull your bait down so you can fish it a lot deeper.
As far as gear ratio goes on the reel, 7 to 1, I find 8 to 1 is too quick. You're picking up too much line in between each jerk. And then I find 6 to 1 or 5 to 1 is a little slow if you're hooking big smallmouth on flats. They tend to wanna come up and jump and swim really quick at the boat, so you need something with some line pickup. But, basically, all you do with this bait is bomb it out there.
I'm gonna reel it down a little bit and then it's 1, 2, 1, 2, 3 and I'll pause it in between each jerk and and I'll vary my cadence. It's not it's not just a straight one, one, one, one. You know, you kinda do a couple upward rips, couple to the side, and then 1, 2, 3. I'll change it up. You want it to be really erratic and make the fish react to the baits.
Anyways, guys, appreciate you stopping by. Stay tuned for more.