Basser, I can't comment as mine are all old school 'bugs. Will have to try some new ones in '08.

PS.....you forgot this one....

I'm inexperience to at least say on topwater lures...how do you guys work the jitterbug? A slow steady retrieve?

How ever you want. A steady retreive will work, but it works best to play with them. Jerk, pause, jerk, jerk, pause, jerk, pause, or any combo of that. Sometimes a slight pull, like 6 inches, then a pause. Kind of like grandma standing on the porch ringing the dinner bell. Make some noise and they'll come running (swimming) for dinner.

Sorry LBH! Should have been a little clearer. I bought two a while back and on an outing, I tied one on (first time with the clicker style). Made several casts with it (with no luck which was NBD), made another cast and realized it wasn't running right. When I pulled it in, the back half of the bait was missing. I thought it was a fluke so I tied the other one and the same thing happened. With the success I had in the past, I bought a new standard jointed one to regain some confidence in them. After every cast I would inspect the bait. After a period of time (in that outing), I noticed the back half was "unscrewing" itself from the front half. I had never tried to tune it before hand. When I tried to resecure it to the front half, it just made it worse. Sadly, I haven't used one since. :'(

Crazy glue to the rescue I noticed my one and only  jointed JB was doing this and i put Crazy glue in the hole and its like fort knox now

I've never had a jointed one come unscrewed but the super glue trick should solve that.

As for retrieve, there is a ceertain speed (which seems very slow) that makes the bait give off a specific gurggle sound. For me,...that's the sweet spot. Pauses are good but hard jerks like a jerk bait, are not. It's the cadence that drives them nuts IMO. That steady gurgle is very trackable and sometimes, with a pause thrown in there, they just can't put the breaks on and that is the trigger. 90% of the time though, for me, it's a slow, steady retrieve.

My personal favorites are the 5/8's, either jointed or not, doesn't matter. No luck with the big one this yr though. It acts like a different bait in that size, even with the 2 side hooks removed. I just couldn't seem to tune that one to something I was comfortable with. Different sound, different action, I'll stick with the 5/8 for now

Another old Arborghast lure that took some nice fish this yr was the Hula Popper.  Talk about "old school",lol.  Matt's partner Rick caught a few monsters on that one this yr.  It's a funny lure to hear from across the lake,...that tell tale bubble sound, no mistaking it.

Never even heard of a jitterstick until Muddy brought it up. This lure looks pretty sweet...

Never even heard of a jitterstick until Muddy brought it up. This lure looks pretty sweet...

This one was always a contradictory bait for me. It has a prop which likes a hard yank to get it's attention but has the subtle cup up front which wants a slow, steady retrieve. Just not for me.

If I want a prop bait, I use the Heddon Dying Flutter (a sturdier version of the smithwich devil's horse) or a woodchopper if I want louder props.

Hey LBH, i just showed my 7 year old daughter (my fishing buddy) the pictures of the fish you caught on the jitterbug. She asked who that guy in the pictures was, and I said he was a fisherman who also helped with this site, and she then replied "Wow, he must be famous". There you have it, you are now famous.

What size or color?? None this is another one of those lures that I couldnt catch a cold with.Just not my thing I guess.I do own a few of them though since they look and sound sooo cool.

BassFin@ddict-Slow it down.  Creep it till it goes just slow enough to start making a very seductive sound.  And then HOLD ON!!

ShooterMC-That's very funny, I'm flattered

Never even heard of a jitterstick until Muddy brought it up. This lure looks pretty sweet...

This one was always a contradictory bait for me. It has a prop which likes a hard yank to get it's attention but has the subtle cup up front which wants a slow, steady retrieve. Just not for me.

If I want a prop bait, I use the Heddon Dying Flutter (a sturdier version of the smithwich devil's horse) or a woodchopper if I want louder props.

Stop......go....pull.......stop...go......pull>>>>>>HOLD ON!!!!!!!!!

Another good idea is to put split rings on all hook hangers and what i do is take each screw out even on the lip and crazy glue it BTW i use VMC barbarians as replacements

I've never had a jointed one come unscrewed but the super glue trick should solve that.

As for retrieve, there is a ceertain speed (which seems very slow) that makes the bait give off a specific gurggle sound. For me,...that's the sweet spot. Pauses are good but hard jerks like a jerk bait, are not. It's the cadence that drives them nuts IMO. That steady gurgle is very trackable and sometimes, with a pause thrown in there, they just can't put the breaks on and that is the trigger. 90% of the time though, for me, it's a slow, steady retrieve.

My personal favorites are the 5/8's, either jointed or not, doesn't matter. No luck with the big one this yr though. It acts like a different bait in that size, even with the 2 side hooks removed. I just couldn't seem to tune that one to something I was comfortable with. Different sound, different action, I'll stick with the 5/8 for now

Another old Arborghast lure that took some nice fish this yr was the Hula Popper. Talk about "old school",lol. Matt's partner Rick caught a few monsters on that one this yr. It's a funny lure to hear from across the lake,...that tell tale bubble sound, no mistaking it.

Maybe I should have used pull or something instead of jerk it. I guess I should try steady more, but I've alway's had good luck "working" the lure.

HOWEVER, am I the only one that has had bad experiences with them lately?????? The last couple I've bought (5/8oz jointed) haven't even lasted an outing! No, they weren't taken by a bass (or any other fish for that matter), I've lost the back ends of them. The quality of them over the past couple of years is no where near what it once was (IMO)!!!! Unfortunately, they're off my list of baits to buy and not even the Bait Monkey can talk me into that purchase.

Like others have mentioned, I remove the screws and put a drop of super glue in the holes which has prevented lots of problems.

By the way, you guys saying you mainly use black jitterbugs, do you mean you fish it even during daylight?

I use them during the day and have done well at times.

Cool link, Arbogast history pictoral

LINK

Thanks LBH  WAY COOL 8-)

One night we were trying to duplicate a previous banner night, mid summer near full moon 10-12 pm and we couldnt catch a thing on  a jitterbug till we started throwing them out an just leaving them, I mean for minutes 3-10.  We would never hear that wonderfull top water hit. We would just reel in and many, many times we would have a good to great fish on the line.

Wow, there are a couple of real nice looking colors that used to be made in the Jitterbug that look like they would work real well. For instance the brown with black stripes.  If that doesn't look like a giant Junebug on the water, I don't know what does.  The Arbo-Gasters look like the Hot n Tots or Wiggle Warts.

This is my favorite: