I'm new to hard body jerk baits and I seem to be snagging them on the sides or belly.  I've only caught one with a hook in its mouth.  Is this typical for jerk baits?  I'm not too keen on snagging fish but I'm not sure what's going on down there.

Smart fish that are still reluctantly whacking it.

 

Honestly I prefer side hooking them with a jerkbait to digging the hooks out of their crushers/gills/stomach - but that's just me.   Popping a hook out of their scales isn't as fun as knowing they got it good but it beats a murder scene and dead fish.  Honestly - it's just a way that fish accidentally get hooked by an artificial lure that tricked them some of the time.

 

You can try changing colors and going bigger or smaller to see if they choke it instead of swipe at it.  Also try some different cadence/retrieves.

good hooks...

Thanks and you're right about unhooking them.

Just the nature of the jerkbaits especially with small mouth. 

 

Allen 

So this is fairly typical for these lures?

...yep

5 minutes ago, Tucson said:

So this is fairly typical for these lures?

Yep, just ask some of the elite series guys throwing them on FFS last year.

 

Too far?? 😅

Thanks to everyone who responded.  Although it's an effective fishing method I won't be pursuing it any longer.  

I don't catch as many LM bass in colder water with a soft plastic jerkbait. That's why I opt for a hard bait then.

What I see happen frequently with the longer, three hook versions, is the front hook will be in the front section of the fish's mouth and the rear treble will either be burried on the outside of its mouth, or somewhere down its throat.  What I think is happening is the fish are hitting the bait near its head and during the ensuing fight that rear treble ends up someplace else.  On those three hook versions, try removing that rear hook and adding a suspend dot to make up for the weight. You'll end up missing short strikers, but you'd miss them on a soft plastic bait too.

15 hours ago, Tucson said:

Thanks to everyone who responded.  Although it's an effective fishing method I won't be pursuing it any longer.  

This is the main reason i dont, and havent used jerkbaits much.

There are plenty of other baits and lures that dont gut hook as many bass, so ill use them instead. I do know im losing bass by not using them, but the bass arent losing their lives either.

 

5 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

On those three hook versions, try removing that rear hook and adding a suspend dot to make up for the weight. You'll end up missing short strikers, but you'd miss them on a soft plastic bait too.

This however is what will make me try using jerkbaits.

Thanks for the explanation PJ, I have a better image of what's going on now.  Your solution sounds logical.  

Try changing colors or style of jerkbait. They like something about it but aren't fully committed to it, hence why they're slapping at the bait instead of eating it. 

Most of my jerkbait fish get one hook right on the lip, and one of the others somewhere on its outside mouth/face . Smaller bass under 1.5lb-ish do take a thrashing sometimes, but I rarely if ever have had a situation were I'm sure they're mortally wounded or even close. I dont recall ever gut hooking a jerkbait fish.

 

However I once half flayed alive a 25inch hammer-handle pike that got side hooked. Like usual it hit on slack line, the next jerk it felt like I hookset into a submerged bath towel. Perfectly de-gloved a 2 baseball card area of its side. Put it out of its misery and attempted to make some fish tacos but that unfortunately didn't go well. 

On 12/17/2024 at 10:12 PM, papajoe222 said:

I don't catch as many LM bass in colder water with a soft plastic jerkbait. That's why I opt for a hard bait then.

What I see happen frequently with the longer, three hook versions, is the front hook will be in the front section of the fish's mouth and the rear treble will either be burried on the outside of its mouth, or somewhere down its throat.  What I think is happening is the fish are hitting the bait near its head and during the ensuing fight that rear treble ends up someplace else.  On those three hook versions, try removing that rear hook and adding a suspend dot to make up for the weight. You'll end up missing short strikers, but you'd miss them on a soft plastic bait too.

I only use the 2 hook versions, mostly LC or Yo Zuri to avoid this.

13 hours ago, Hogs_n_Logs said:

Most of my jerkbait fish get one hook right on the lip, and one of the others somewhere on its outside mouth/face .

My experience as well and I fish jerkbaits quite often.  It is an erratic bait when worked properly, so you are going to get some fish hooked outside of the mouth.  I also agree that there are times when the bass will slap at the bait but not commit.  However, I rarely have a gut hooked fish with a hard jerkbait.

For everyone I hook in the side I catch 4 or 5 in the mouth, but pickerel are different story.  You can try swapping out the rear treble for a single replacement hook.  Way less likely to snag the fish or find any eye or gill rake.  I swap out trebles on baits whenever I can, but with JBs the hooks do all the work, especially in the winter.  Since I rarely harm fish with them I don't swap the trebles out.