I don’t fish jerkbaits. I don’t like them, I have no confidence in them, and I never feel like I’m doing it right. Until today.

 

Went out to The Pond today and it was an absolutely **** day out. Temp dropping fast, it was 60 yesterday and we’re expecting snow on Saturday. 10-15mph W wind, one of those 48 but feels like 38 days. Sporadic rain, all the fun stuff.

 

My tackle warehouse package finally came in yesterday so I had a Berkley Stunna 112 in Blaze pattern tied on.

 

I absolutely killed it.

 

Caught 5-6 crappie and over a dozen bass in about 3 hours. This jerkbaits is the one that finally gave me some confidence in the lure as a whole. It looks great, with an erratic dart on sharp twitches. It responds really well to light twitching as well, and has a deadly slow nose down sink. The hooks are sticky sharp right out of the box and a couple of the fish I hooked were definitely just swiping at it. 
 

This was fished on:

Abu Garcia Vendetta rod 7’ M/F 

Shimano SLX 8.1:1 reel with 14lb trilene xt

 

Someone who knows more about jerkbaits may disagree but this is my new go to confidence jerkbait. Has anyone else tried it out, and what are your thoughts?

That is awesome!  Glad you had a great day and built some confidence. It is one of my favorite techniques but have not tried the stunna yet.  I need to pick a few up! I keep hearing good things.

It has been a top producer for me since it came out. I have quite a few now in a variety of colors and they account for about 80% of my jerkbait fishing time. Catches small and big fish. This one rose from 25 fow to get the shallow version on a steep offshore drop. 

 

5 minutes ago, JS Patterson said:

It has been a top producer for me since it came out. I have quite a few now in a variety of colors and they account for about 80% of my jerkbait fishing time. Catches small and big fish. This one rose from 25 fow to get the shallow version on a steep offshore drop. 

 

Love it!!!

With the success at 2022 RedCrest at Grand lake TW will be sold out of Stunna’s.

Tom

15 hours ago, WRB said:

With the success at 2022 RedCrest at Grand lake TW will be sold out of Stunna’s.

Tom

Glad I got a couple when I did then!

I have 3 of them and only caught a few fish with them so far.  I have had better success with the Megabass Vision 110.  Not sure why?  Both actions on the baits are excellent, colors are great from both, hooks might actually be better on the Stunna and both suspend pretty well. Also, to me, the Stunna casts better but I have caught more on the 110. 

I've got 7 or 8 Stunnas in the 112 and 112+1. The slow sinking has really been productive in cold water for me. 

On 3/25/2022 at 6:12 PM, DinkDreams said:

The hooks are sticky sharp right out of the box

 

Interesting. I only picked up two of them to try, but the hooks weren't particularly sharp out of the box on either of mine. They lightly scratch my fingernail but don't dig at all. I lost most of the strikes I got the day I fished it. I swapped the hooks on one and sharpened the ones on the other, so we'll see.

 

I really like the action of them and they definitely get bit, I'll be picking up a couple more. I won't hold the hooks against them, dull hooks will happen on large production runs from any company and it's completely possible I just got unlucky.

I picked up a modest selection.

Be a couple weeks before I can fish them.  Changed the line tie to an oval because standard rings there make me crazy.

I plus sized the trebles to #4's.

The stock 6's seem decent but also pretty small.

Either way, the perch pattern looks Very Promising.

#stunna

A-Jay

13 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

I picked up a modest selection

Is the front red treble your alteration or so they come that way?

29 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Is the front red treble your alteration or so they come that way?

Menderchuck trademark 

53 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Changed the line tie to an oval because standard rings there make me crazy.

 

This feels like such an easy thing for companies to get behind, but so few baits come stock with one.

42 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Is the front red treble your alteration or so they come that way?

I add the red treble.

It's a confidence thing.

A-Jay

 

My review from a couple weeks back so far I like it. - One of my acquisitions over the winter were a few Berkley Stunna jerkbaits. First outing of the year with water temps in the 45 to 47 degree range and I threw about 8-10 different jerkbaits. The only one that produced on that outing was the Berkley Stunna , I had to wait about 10-15 seconds between twitches ( painful ) to get them to bite . I suspect the reason that the Stunna was my most productive jerk bait on this outing was that it was a slow sinking bait which appealed more to these cold water fish verses my suspending models as it was only 3 days from ice out . Because it is a small lake under 150 acres they were many already in staging areas in about 6-10 deep. I ended up catching about 15 on this outing with a nice one that was just under 5 lbs for a solid start for my season fishing in SW Michigan.  Regarding this lure it cast well but is not elite in that category as I have other jerkbaits in a similar size that offer more distance , it slashes well and as mentioned is a slow sink . Mid priced bait around $ 15 and in my opinion a very worthy addition to your jerkbait arsenal. I started off with 4 to sample the bait and after making a good first impression added 4 more today.

5 minutes ago, Primus said:

My review from a couple weeks back so far I like it. - One of my acquisitions over the winter were a few Berkley Stunna jerkbaits. First outing of the year with water temps in the 45 to 47 degree range and I threw about 8-10 different jerkbaits. The only one that produced on that outing was the Berkley Stunna , I had to wait about 10-15 seconds between twitches ( painful ) to get them to bite . I suspect the reason that the Stunna was my most productive jerk bait on this outing was that it was a slow sinking bait which appealed more to these cold water fish verses my suspending models as it was only 3 days from ice out . Because it is a small lake under 150 acres they were many already in staging areas in about 6-10 deep. I ended up catching about 15 on this outing with a nice one that was just under 5 lbs for a solid start for my season fishing in SW Michigan.  Regarding this lure it cast well but is not elite in that category as I have other jerkbaits in a similar size that offer more distance , it slashes well and as mentioned is a slow sink . Mid priced bait around $ 15 and in my opinion a very worthy addition to your jerkbait arsenal. I started off with 4 to sample the bait and after making a good first impression added 4 more today.

Sweet ~

Thanks & Congrats

A-Jay

@Primus thanks for sharing.  Hope to have first ice out trip here soon.  Been delayed more than usually since it was thick ice season and it's still been snowing almost every day. Getting the boat out of storage tomorrow. 

 

I picked up some over winter too. What colors worked well for you? I'm just north of Grand Rapids and fish similar sized lakes.

I also remove the line tie and use a Norman speed clip instead. I’ve never had a problem with it and can make a quick change between baits if needed. I change the front hook to red also. I have not noticed an increase in strikes but it seems that fish tend to be more securely hooked. The custom black crappie paint was a 10 second job with a sharpie.  The stock ones with speed clip will work fine though. 

2 hours ago, EzyEric said:

@Primus thanks for sharing.  Hope to have first ice out trip here soon.  Been delayed more than usually since it was thick ice season and it's still been snowing almost every day. Getting the boat out of storage tomorrow. 

 

I picked up some over winter too. What colors worked well for you? I'm just north of Grand Rapids and fish similar sized lakes.

The MF Tennessee Shad was my most productive color on my outing from a couple of weeks back and the Perch color contributed a couple of fish.  I live in Battle Creek and after the ice came off I had enjoyed a couple of good outings and with our recent cold stretch it's been a struggle with water temps in the high 30's / low 40's. Should start warming up around here this week and get 'em going. 

My confidence jerkbait is a Googan Squad Scout. It’s outfished every other jerkbait I’ve used. 

Did that bait monkey send you.?   I’m gonna try a couple.  Blaze and stealth minnow.