I know the first thing is to always find a place that's holding fish, but which one do you throw and in which situation? Seems like most of them are floating. 

   I use floating early season in shallow water, where the spring sun is warming the shallows more than somewhere else.

   I use suspending early season in somewhat deeper water, but still on northern banks.

   I use only one sinking; the Rapala Countdown. I use it anytime, in somewhat deeper water.

   I'm a shorecaster. Boatmen might have a totally different set of priorities.     jj

I use them year around and prefer the floating type in warm water months when pauses are no longer necessary. 

I think the most important thing to remember is let the fish tell you what to do.  Whether its using a different cadence long/shorter pause or sinking/floating bait.  The temperature IMO is what dictates what kind of JB to start with.  When the water is cold 46* and under  or in a cooling trend Im throwing slow sink or suspending JB.  When the water is warm or on a warming trend a floating JB can be the way to go.  Generally I fish a slow sink or suspending JB from late fall early winter until the water is in the low 50s then a floating JB comes into play.  Im in South Jersey and the fish start to really feed up when the water temp approaches 50*.  During that prespawn period sinking/suspending and slow/slow float can work.  In that case like I said if the water has been warming ill start with a slow float and if its been cooling off ill start with a slow sink/suspending.  Hope this helps 

I'm not smart enough to know which to use when.  I love using the suspending Rapala in summer too.  I just imagine what the bass is seeing as my minnow darts and pauses. 

I'm pretty sure every single one of my jerkbaits is suspending. 

All of my jerkbaits are currently suspending, but I've been spending a lot of time on the river recently.  I remember a good floating jerkbait bite during the summer fishing with my grandfather, and plan to go relive those memories soon.

 

I think a floating jerkbait is at it's best in the early summer and fall in shallow water. 

I use suspending and floating jerkbaits. I have a couple of sinking baits, but I can’t remember the last time I used them. 

I select my jerkbait choice based on how deep are the fish located & what is the water visibility. If your fishing shallow water or just over the top of a weed bed with any water visibility floater or shallow diving jerkbaits are best. I prefer a suspending style shallow bait or real slow riser if its a floater. When the fish are holding deeper you want a jerkbait that get down to the fish's holding depth in low visibility water. In clear water your bait can be either at their level or above. Bass will rise to hit a jerkbait above them if they can see it or sense it. When bass are holding deep like 15 to 25 feet you need a deep diving jerkbait to get close to their level. Sinking jerkbaits allow you to count down the depth the bait is falling to but may take too much time based on your patience level. Countdown rapalas or lucky craft sinking staysee are good examples. Almost all deep diving jerkbaits are suspending style, like rapala DD husky jerks, smithwick suspending DD rogues & lucky craft DD pointers & regular staysees. Study the listed diving depths to chose your baits. You can get the baits deeper by using lighter diameter lines and or strolling with long line out.  

I'm not a good jerk bait fisherman but love floating ones post spawn . My biggest limit ever was with a Bomber Long A Minnow on post spawn bass . They were set up shallow on points  so I just hopped from point to point boating lunkers . Pattern fishing at its best .

To me, a jerkbait is a suspending bait. When it's a floater, it's a floating minnow or wakebait depending on how it's intended to be fished. When it sinks, it's a countdown. I fish the suspending style 95% of the time and almost never fish a countdown bait. I fish the floating minnows more for walleye than I do bass but I do fish wakebait style minnow baits for bass occasionally.

I fish jerkbaits almost exclusively. Just the way I like to fish. A floater I put in topwater category at least in my head. Almost every jerkbait I have in the 3"-5" length is a suspending model. You can modify them with hook changes, added weight, changing line ect but I want a bait that goes down 4-10 ft and sits on the pause. From trout, bass, to saltwater you need to start fishing them. Once you start fishing them you'll learn about retrieves, different baits, what works and what doesn't. Some guys don't fish these and they don't know what they are missing.

The past few years, I have taken a deep dive down the jerk bait rabbit hole... I'm a surprised I have not bought more jerk bait rods, but the rods I use for the work great... year round I have at least one tied on, and I feel confident in them.  This time of year, i like the DDs.  Like another poster said, if you commit to them you can kinda figure out what works when, with that said, I used very few floating jerks, most of mine are suspending.  I have a few sinking, but I dont use them, just because I'm good with the others.  I love a jig and fishing shallow, and I've learned that a jerkbait, a jig and a spinner bait are all you need to fish year round successfully.   Please don't tell my worms, rattle traps, and sqaurebils...they will get jealous.   

 

Regarding largemouth bass, all I use and own are ‘suspending’ jerkbaits.

Rather than investing in jerkbaits that Float or Sink, my attention shifts

to the enormous selection of available floating and sinking cranks/plugs. 

 

Regarding smallmouth bass, it might be a good idea to shift your gaze to the north;

and copy & paste the above, thoughtful post submitted by @Dwight Hottle.   

 

Roger

On 8/24/2020 at 8:52 AM, Dwight Hottle said:

I select my jerkbait choice based on how deep are the fish located & what is the water visibility. If your fishing shallow water or just over the top of a weed bed with any water visibility floater or shallow diving jerkbaits are best. I prefer a suspending style shallow bait or real slow riser if its a floater. When the fish are holding deeper you want a jerkbait that get down to the fish's holding depth in low visibility water. In clear water your bait can be either at their level or above. Bass will rise to hit a jerkbait above them if they can see it or sense it. When bass are holding deep like 15 to 25 feet you need a deep diving jerkbait to get close to their level. Sinking jerkbaits allow you to count down the depth the bait is falling to but may take too much time based on your patience level. Countdown rapalas or lucky craft sinking staysee are good examples. Almost all deep diving jerkbaits are suspending style, like rapala DD husky jerks, smithwick suspending DD rogues & lucky craft DD pointers & regular staysees. Study the listed diving depths to chose your baits. You can get the baits deeper by using lighter diameter lines and or strolling with long line out.  

Pay attention.  Might be on to something.

 

Floating jerk bait is a twitch bait like the original Rapala F series minnow lures.

Suspending minnow lures became rip baits like the original Smihwick Rogues, now jerk baits.

Sinking jerk baits were the Count Down CD Series Rapala lures.

To me a jerk bait suspends unless I add Storm Suspend Dots so the lure sinks very slowly.

I want lures to be in the strike zone in front of the basses face.

Tom

Some of my own limited jerkbait fishing success

where I'm routinely targeting Michigan Brown bass

can be attributed to this . . .

 

A-Jay

I'm not a jerkbait master (to put it mildly...massive understatement), but the following rules have tended to serve me reasonably well, just based on seasonal activity levels:

From ice-out to spawn: Suspending

Postspawn through summer: Floating

Late summer cool-downs, through fall: Suspending

 

I think I only have one sinking -- an old Rapala Countdown I have had since I was a kid and haven't used in years.  I seem to recall using it to troll for walleye (don't remember if I caught any on it)