I picked up some different brands of soft jerkbaits and wanted to try them on a mojo rig as well as maybe weightless. 

 

What I bought were Yamomoto D shads, SK caffeine shads, and Googan Darts. I have bought 4/0 and 5/0 owner offset hooks for them (I also have a lot of various screw locks, EWG, and weighted hooks already from 1/0 to 6/0). 

 

How deep can I fish the weightless? I'm targeting submerged grass in anywhere from 7' to 12' of water. The grass comes up about 4' give or take.  There are smallmouth in the deeper beds still but they're starting to move out of the bay. Largemouth are mixed in there as well.

I was using the mojo rig with a SK baby craw last weekend with some success. I plan to give a fluke style bait a go on it or a tube.  But I want a baitcaster ready with one as well. Just not sure if I should go weighted or weightless?

Countless number of ways to fish a soft jerk bait.  You'll probably get a lot of mixed opinions, from a nose hook on a spinning reel to a Carolina rig, and everything in between.  You'll want to experiment with each bait and figure out their action and play with fall rates for depth. 

 

Personally I like a Zoom Super Fluke on a VMC Drop Dead 4/0 3/32oz.  Makes it easier to cast, weedless, increases the fall rate but still falls naturally and I can twitch it on the surface if I want to.

 

 

I see the weightless fluke as a 1-5' depth lure. I would use a weighted hook to get deeper.

8 minutes ago, rtwvumtneer6 said:

Personally I like a Zoom Super Fluke on a VMC Drop Dead 4/0 3/32oz.  Makes it easier to cast, weedless, increases the fall rate but still falls naturally and I can twitch it on the surface if I want to.

 

 

 

I have those exact hooks. Will give it a try! 

3 minutes ago, ErieCan said:

I have those exact hooks

The stock screw locks on them are a little too big for some baits.  I change them to a Medium Owner CPS.  May not be necessary but thought it was worth sharing.  

the d shad is the heaviest of those baits, followed by the caffiene shad then the googan. I fish them down to about 6 foot after that i like a 1/16 belly weighted hook. the 3/32 will work too though im sure.

1 hour ago, rtwvumtneer6 said:

Personally I like a Zoom Super Fluke on a VMC Drop Dead 4/0 3/32oz.  Makes it easier to cast, weedless, increases the fall rate but still falls naturally and I can twitch it on the surface if I want to.

 

 

   Super Flukes are great!

   I never managed to find a weighted hook that gave me the results that I wanted; just-so angle on the fall and just-so rate of fall. But I found what I wanted by using a big EWG hook, and it has the side effect of making it difficult for the fish to spit out.

 

14 hours ago, jimmyjoe said:

 

   Super Flukes are great!

   I never managed to find a weighted hook that gave me the results that I wanted; just-so angle on the fall and just-so rate of fall. But I found what I wanted by using a big EWG hook, and it has the side effect of making it difficult for the fish to spit out.

 

I always use a 4/0 Gama superline hook on my Super fluke......Makes it super!

Fall rate is perfect from the heavier hook, and depending on how far into the Fluke I put the hook it will dive down, or up  and jump out of the water.

I've switched from Zoom Super Flukes to Big Bite Baits Jerk Minnows because they have a shimmy when they fall that looks really good.  I usually use a 4/0 or 5/0 offset hook and fish them weightless.  Jerk jerk pause jerk jerk jerk pause jerk pause...etc...If you want it deeper just let it sink a little first.  A fish will come up from 7-12' though to eat a struggling baitfish a soft jerkbait is mimicking.