Back when I started fishing, I fished basics: worms, jerkbaits, poppers and jigs. Jerkbaits were the mainstay for winter/early spring bassin and as the water got colder I spent the time to weight a jerkbait to suspend or ascend/descend slowly.

 

Well, here we are at 62* in the Baystate and we are projecting to be in the 50's this week so i think some fishing is in store for this week and I think a weighted jerkbait should be just the ticket. Our water is 49ish*, so I took a Jerkbait and drilled in a piece of lead and got, what I think is a decent suspending bait. I adjusted the amount of lead by suspending the bait in a 5 gallon bucket of water that was approximately 49*. 

 

Does anyone do this anymore or is this a lost art?

Does using Suspend dots & strips count ?

 

A-Jay

Does using Suspend dots & strips count ?

 

A-Jay

 

Yes, I guess I should have asked if anyone adjusts for the colder temps...anyway, probably another dumb question...Disregard, I'm done here.

Yes, I guess I should have asked if anyone adjusts for the colder temps...anyway, probably another dumb question...Disregard, I'm done here.

 

Sorry my friend, I didn't mean to put the Kibosh on your thread.

 

 

A-Jay

I have changed hooks

water temp, line diameter, and wind will affect a JBs performance, so yes I fine tune quite a bit. Sometimes a slight sink or slight float is preferable to perfect suspending (assuming there is such a thing). 

I don't tinker all that much with today's baits. They suspend pretty darn well all on their own. I used the Rapala Shadow Rap and it very slowly sank regardless of the water temp (down to about 38ish degrees).

I have done the drill and lead deal before suspending baits came on the market. I have a friend that still does it, he was at a show and got to speak to Kevin Short and he told him he likes the Bill Norman Razor Minnow but it is a floating bait that needs to be weighted. The suspend dots and strips make weighting a bait very easy anymore plus the suspending baits that are available right out of the box make weighting them a thing of the past.

water temp, line diameter, and wind will affect a JBs performance, so yes I fine tune quite a bit. Sometimes a slight sink or slight float is preferable to perfect suspending (assuming there is such a thing). 

Line diameter is huge, when I fish jerkbaits during ice-out it makes a difference to go from 8-10lb test. 

I've heard it's pretty good to wrap wire solder around the hooks.