i guess i am getting out of the loop...lol...and here i thought i was going to have to check into buying whatever jerk baits were..

They have been jerkbaits for a long time now, I'm not exactly sure who started calling them that but even in the early 80s when I started fishing for bass more than other forms of fishing, they were called "stick baits" or Jerkbaits" and "minnow plugs". I guess it was when the Senko came out and became wide spread and a household name that the term "jerkbait" became more prevalent as the term "stickbait" was now being applied to the senkos. It all depends on who you talk to but some pros still call them minnows, and others still use the stickbait term, but jerkbait is now more widely used than it was before but I can't remember when they weren't a jerkbait.

I think they were called twitch baits before they were referred to as jerkbaits.

Twitchbaits.

Aaah okay....i guess jerking sounded better than twicthing....LMAO...im going to leave that alone

Well i fished them a lot of different ways.And that was one way,why i never put it together...Who knows...

I've always referred to floating Rapalas/Rebels/Rogues as minnow baits. Suspending baits are what I refer to as jerkbaits.

See i have a whole tackle box JUST for Minnow baits..thats what i have always called them..some are suspending most are floaters...Rouge,Rapala,Bagleys,Rebel,Hellcat,Red Fin,Xps

It's colloqiual.  They've been forever called jerkbaits in some parts of the US.  In others they're twitch baits, in others, minnow baits.  For me, it doesn't matter whether they're suspending, floating, or sinking, they all fall in the class of jerkbaits.

I generally have at least three boxes worth in the boat from ice out to ice up.

The same issue exists for Meps spinner baits.

 

If you ask if a guy has any spinner baits, usually spinners and buzz baits come out, not Meps spinners.

When Rapala came out with the Husky Jerk.

Tom

I agree with Stlbob, minnow baits is what I always called them, and still do. When I use the term jerkbaits, I'm talking about suspending jerkbaits like Pointers etc.

 

Dave

Right before Chunking and Winding became Power Fishing and right after the simple saltwater bait rig became the now infamous "Drop shot".

 

A-Jay

floating jerkbaits float, suspending jerkbaits suspend, and sinking jerkbaits sink.

I think they were called twitch baits before they were referred to as jerkbaits.

 

And stickbaits before that.  I still seem to call pointers and such which are purpose made, "jerkbaits" but to me a straight rapala is still a stickbait.

 

guess I'm just an old fart.

The same issue exists for Meps spinner baits.

If you ask if a guy has any spinner baits, usually spinners and buzz baits come out, not Meps spinners.

Alwats referred to Mepps, rooster tails and so on as inline spinners.

Brian

I still call them stick baits, Use massive stick baits in saltwater.

Floating stickbaits, irrespective of brand, are called Rapalas, lol.  And it's pronounced "ruh-POHL-uh" up here.  When I first heard the term "jerkbait," it was in reference to a Slug-O.  To mne, those baits have evolved into flukes, though many still call them jerkbaits, too.  Suspending, or nearly suspending, minnow style baits are what I call a jerkbait these days.  Some are so erratic, we call them slash baits. 

Got a similar one for you.  I can remember when it became popular (primarily for non-LMB species) in the northern states to "speed up" or "swim" the standard lead head jig with plastic grub rather than jigging it.  Shortly after that technique was popularized a variety of adaptations took on the descriptor of "swim bait."  My personal recollection goes back to the early In-Fisherman programs with Al Lindner and others.