So, its beginning of spring in northern illinois, and a lure I had no clue on how to use, my megabass threadfin shad trickster 80, caught me my first fish of the season and two northern pike. Now its a 20 dollar lure, and now that I caught things on it I have confidence. Do jerkbaits work all throughout the season? Or are they predominantly a cold water thing?

Jerkbaits are meant to imitate baitfish. Are there bass feeding on baitfish in the summer where you fish? If there are, a jerkbait should work.

As long as the water is wet, jerkbaits of all flavors and types will work.  

I'm going to say yes for the baitfish. There's not a particularly large amount of shad in most of my ponds ( I think ) either the fish are starving and they choked a dark blue silver black back bait,

Or it imitated something thoroughly well that I'm not aware of.

The bass I caught was hooked on the lower lip, but outside of it. Is that techiquely like a missed strike or just a short strike? One of the pike literally choked on it and I'm not sure if he made it. I had high hopes for him although.

It is not whether or not they work in the summer, it is the question of are they the best tool for the job.  I know where I live I fish stained water with 2-3 ft visibility and the fish are usually 15-20 ft deep and sitting on the bottom.  Most jerkbait depth ratings are overrated some and even the deepest jerkbaits like a staysee or pointer dd rarely get down further than 7-8 foot on 10lb fluoro in my experience.  It is much more efficient to fish a  deep diving crankbait or bounce a jig off the bottom where the lure is at eye level of the fish.  Also a lot of times esp later in summer bass dont like to move very far to eat so even if they can see your jerkbait 8 or 10 feet above their head they may not feel like expending that much energy to chase it down.  There are always exceptions to every rule though and the body of water you fish may be completely different than mine.  For where I live it is mostly a winter, prespawn and fall bait.

Do jerk baits work in the summer, yes! Bass eat baitfish year around.

Tom

Heck yes! Keep popping that rod and making that jerk dance around, it turns into a reaction bait in the warmer water! 

I'm going to say yes for the baitfish. There's not a particularly large amount of shad in most of my ponds ( I think ) either the fish are starving and they choked a dark blue silver black back bait,

Or it imitated something thoroughly well that I'm not aware of.

The bass I caught was hooked on the lower lip, but outside of it. Is that techiquely like a missed strike or just a short strike? One of the pike literally choked on it and I'm not sure if he made it. I had high hopes for him although.

 

 

My favorite jerk is the olive colored xrap, which IMO imitates a distressed baby bass when fished fast. Something every pond has! 

 

Usually half or more of the bass I hook are hooked outside the mouth with jerks. They like to hit the bait broadside when it walks sideways in front of them, and they get stuck on the side or bottom of the mouth. This is why extremely sharp hooks are crucial when jerking. 

Yes, but around here the milfoil and grass will get too thick to fish hard treble hooked baits in any thing less than 15' FOW.....but that's when I switch to t-rigged soft jerkbait so it works out fine. Strangely enough that same grass that you'll just rip out in wad after wad with a jerkbait, is the perfect grass to rip a squarebill around in.

Yes, but around here the milfoil and grass will get too thick to fish hard treble hooked baits in any thing less than 15' FOW.....but that's when I switch to t-rigged soft jerkbait so it works out fine. Strangely enough that same grass that you'll just rip out in wad after wad with a jerkbait, is the perfect grass to rip a squarebill around in.

In northern ponds I don't have too much of a problem with that. Rarely do I ever fish in muck or ponds like this, and if I do it's always soft plastics. I bought some flukes to try this year. The pond that worked today was a huge filled up quarry. Crystal clear water with rocky broken branches. Just my favorite setting.

Yes. Depending on where I am fishing, they are often my favorite bait to throw in the summer.

Yes, They work great in summer.

They do work in the summer but never seem to be nearly as effective for me. Once the algae blooms start and the water murks up there are lot better options. 

Yes. I go to the X-Rap when the crankbait bite isnt what I think it should be. Sometimes bass are just not very aggressive . 

I go to a soft jerkbait in the summer.

When the water is warm and you rip the jerk bait super hard\fast and get a strike at the same time, it's incredible.

I throw jerkbaits all year and here are some things to consider. The first thing is I don't uses a suspending bait in summer, I use a floating jerkbait like the Smithwick floating Rogue, the Rapala Flat Rap, and the Bagley Bang-O-Lure, at times these are downright nasty. The next thing to consider is that the jerkbait isn't my first choice, it depends on conditions and one of those is clear water, if I don't have at least 2.5' to 3' of visibility then I'm not going to use it. I prefer using a soft plastic jerkbait like a super fluke but, if the water is clear and the fish are swiping or slashing at it just following it then I'll switch to a hard jerkbait. The reason is you can really work that jerkbait fast and it stay down, the super fluke will rise up if going to fast and in clear water speed is what often triggers the strike, and I can work a floating jerkbait really fast. The only suspending jerkbaits I use in summer is an X-Rap, and a Lucky Craft Flash Minnow, the X-Rap I use because of the erratic action and the flash minnow because it sits in the 2' zone and goes no deeper.

As most have already mentioned, they will absolutely work in the summer time with a faster more erratic retrieve.  Most of the lakes i fish have too much grass to fish them effectively but there are certain instances where they do work well.  I like them on flats as a searching type bait or when fishing the edges of grass or lilly pads.  Most times i will throw a soft jerk bait come summer time but there are times where the different look that a hard jerk bait will provide seems to do the trick.  

I am sure the suspenders work in the summer, however I lack confidence in suspenders plus rarely get to fish them in Florida waters unless it is winter/early spring due to weeds/stained water. A super shallow suspending jerkbait like the Max Rap that only dives a foot gets use all year long but only gets used in rare situations, same with the Husky Jerk and Max Raps, shallow suspending shad xrap since they are unique compared to the normal Smithwick suspending Rogues etc.

God yes!!!!

Yes they do.

 

Especially for smallmouth.  An early summer (sunrise) morning,  on a deep flat adjacent to deep water, the faster I work it, the better they like it.

 

I've had them almost rip the rod right out of my had.  Smallies love to chase . . . . . .

 

A-Jay

They'll work. What you have to determine is, with the myriad of bait options out there, are they your best choice in the summer where you fish? I generally choose another type of hard bait, or a soft jerkbait over a hard jerkbait for most summertime situations. Having said that, I'm not nearly as big of a "jerkbait guy" as a lot of people in this region of the country, so I might be quicker to ditch it than others would be. There is personal preference involved as well, of course.

I've got a hard jerkbait tied on 100% of the time and will throw it almost 100% of the time as well. I've even gone so far as to use a jerkbait like the Xrap as a search bait. Though I could also just be crazy.

The short answer is yes.  Where I live and fish there are often better choices.  I wasted some time last summer (mid July) trying to make a slash bait approach work over a kinda deep (7 to 9 feet) weed bed.  Buddy fishing off the back deck catches several slot fish and a 15"keeper, using a rattle trap style bait, and then another keeper on a fluke style bait and I'm still Ofer with the slash bait.   Other days they have worked though.   Try and find out if it works for you.

 

The lesson I learned from that is for me,  the vast majority of my keeper fish came off deep weed lines, transitions from weeds to rocks or weeds to clay or weeds to sand, whatever - the point was deep weed line transition areas.  I shouldn't have wasted time trying to fish an expansive weed bed that was a little too deep and the water was a little too stained for me to see the holes/ect in the weeds.

Jerkbaits can work all year. Like any other bait, modifying size, action and retrieve according to current conditions maximizes effectiveness. Nothing works all the time (except for Senkos). Sorry, that's a joke referring to another thread.