Winter Jerkbait Fishing Bass on Grass Lakes

Winter jerkbait fishing is unbelievably effective once you’ve found the forage. Lake Guntersville-primarily based pro Cal Lane explains that jerkbaits are a premiere triggering instrument when baitfish and bass get schooled up close to shallow flats with grass. We used an early winter season working day on the h2o with Cal to find out the ins and outs of fishing jerkbaits for winter bass on grass lakes in the south.

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Key places

Grass flats on southern impoundments, this kind of as Lake Guntersville, are key winter jerkbait fishing spots well into the winter months. Lane ties on a jerkbait when drinking water temperatures arrive at the 60-degree mark and lessen. He targets bass where ever he finds concentrations of baitfish, shad in this scenario, which typically load up on or all over grass flats. Grass gives food stuff, cover, and concealment for equally the shad and the bass. Safeguarded marinas are great destinations, with the included benefit of overhead go over. Casting jerkbaits into boat slips is an overlooked tactic that provides.

Fishing a jerkbait

A jerkbait is a freestyle bait, indicating you can fish it on a continuum from gradual to quick, static to erratic. There are no regulations, even when winter jerkbait fishing, with bass preferring them fished rapid and erratic a single day and gradual and subtle the future. Lane lets the fish tell him the very best retrieve cadence on any specified day. Your work is to select a quality bait that mimics the forage and reaches the suitable depth zone.

How to opt for a jerkbait

According to Lane, there are close to-unlimited possibilities for good quality jerkbaits, but choosing a person with a good functioning depth is necessary. Shallow-diving jerkbaits excel when the bass are “in the mud,” which is normally the case on heat times. Deep-diving styles frequently run 6- to 10 feet, with mid-depth models hitting the 4- to the 6-foot sweet spot. The moment you dial your running depth, experiment with jerkbait measurements and hues. Really do not overthink it. It is usually challenging to defeat matching the hatch.

Rod setup

And lastly, Lane shares his go-to jerkbait rod, reel, and line combo for earning effortless and exact casts. Usually speaking, a medium-power rod with a moderate-rapidly to quick taper, and a shorter all round size, will excel for target casting, efficiently working the bait with minimal drinking water slap and hooking and maintaining bass buttoned on treble hooks.

Bottom line, winter season time in the south suggests jerkbaits in the grass for huge bass!