The deadliest feature of them all is the pause, letting it ‘hang’ with a tiny bit of slack will do the trick most of the time. One of the key benefits of the jerkster is the hollow chamber on top. This hollow chamber can be accessed, and you can add or completely remove the metal and plastic balls inside. This way you adjust your presentation. Either add some of these balls to add some extra weight and noise, making the bait go a bit deeper which can help you fish closer to the dropoff in wintertime. 

Personally, I usually remove all of the balls and fish it as light as possible, giving me a more natural presentation and more ‘hangtime’, which can be very, very effective in winter when fish are slower and need more time to strike your bait.

When I cast on a spot for the first time that day, I like to test different speeds to see what triggers the fish. Connecting the dots is one of the most important features in pike fishing, so recognizing certain patterns will help you adjust and catch more fish. Do you need more or less ‘hangtime’? Do you need to trigger a reaction strike and thus speed up more to cover more ground in a shorter amount of time? Mixing up your casts will help you find the key to success that day much faster. 

Colder weather, usually a slower presentation…

As the type of rod I use to fish jerkbaits, I am a bit of a weirdo I guess. Usually most anglers would use a short jerkbait rod between 195cm and 213cm. This comes from a legacy where you wanted a stiff rod and shorter rods used to be the only stiff ones, back in the early days of jerkbait fishing. Also, it was thought that a shorter rod would help prevent you slamming the rod tip in the water as it was believed that the only right way to fish a jerkbait, is with your tip downwards…

Now fishing from the banks I can imagine that a longer rod will be frustrating with trees, bridges and other obstacles that prevent you from fishing comfortably with a 258cm rod. However, from the boat I started to like it. Like, a lot! Some of the benefits of fishing jerkbaits with a longer rod:

• Cast like a maniac… A longer rod will beat the a shorter rod, anyday and with a big margin!
• More flexible in styles of fishing. It is a lot easier to ‘steer’ you jerkbait over weeds and around obstacles because you have more reach.
• It Is more fun! Fighting a big fish on a longer rod gives you more feeling and control over fighting that fish on a short (and usually very stiff) rod.

But what about slamming your tip into the water? Isn’t that a problem with al longer rod? Well it turned out that’s not an issue as all. As you use a longer rod you slightly change the angle of your rod towards the surface of the water. Problem solved. I even fish my jerkbaits with my tip pointed upwards to fish it as high as possible when there is a lot of grass, a very good technique during summer.

I like to use the Savage Gear Custom Predator 258cm, with the Jerkster usually the 100gr or 170gr casting weight version. You do not need that 170gr to cast the Jerkster but it is such a versatile rod, that I use it from anything to 40cm Real Eels, 25cm Roaches and the new 36cm shallow Burbot… and the jerkster!

The Custom Predator 170gr is also excellent for casting big swimbaits like the 25cm Roach!  

As for braid, do not compromise. Im my experience, 0.32mm Silencer Braid will be super reliable and that is really an important feature when fishing jerkbaits. Even with a shorter rod-setup, the strikes will be super hard and you do not want to risk breaking your line. At roughly 60lbs test it will be more than enough. Slap on a 1mm to 1.2mm thick fluorocarbon leader and you are good to go!