White and ‘shad colored’ baits have been effective for me in every kind of lake condition, and water clarity, even in small grassy lakes here in Texas where bluegill is by far the predominant forage fish. I have had some of my best days with white crankbaits pulled right over the top of submerged vegetation in lakes with clear, tannic water, and zero shad for forage. It doesn’t match the hatch at all, but it’s very visible, and it’s swimming by like something a bass would eat.
One thing I’ll alway remember from a deceased great Bass fisherman years ago. Smilin Bill Newsom!! “No matter where you’re fishing in the country. “Harold, a bass is a bass, is a bass, is a bass no matter what water it is in”. I’ve caught bass everywhere because it acts like a bass 😁
Good reflections and no need of ten colours of the same lure (done that, been there ha ha). One thing that boosts most jerkbaits is give them a black striping with a waterresistant black marker. That makes a bait more easy to strike for the fish.
Salt Strong has some new hard plastic baits you might like. The Skinny Lipper is a jerk bait with a little lip so it stays shallow. It casts like a bullet. Bass would definitely hit it. They have a new suspending twitch bait that should be a bass slayer too. As far as colors of baits, I catch lots of fish with white or chartreuse soft plastics in the saltwater. They seem to work no matter the water color. For hard baits white or chartreuse is good too but I like silver a lot too. White with a red head is a classic that still works.
Agreed, to take it even further, I've caught many bass using saltwater lures when I lived in FL. Lots of bass on Shrimp style lures or other random looking things that they NEVER saw in real life. Even now with the new fuzzy dice and stuff like that, cant say ive seen any fuzzy dice in a lake, so its hard to argue that you HAVE to throw baits that "match the hatch".
I bought my frist Stunnas a couple of weeks ago because of your channel. I also have some other jerkbaits I've bought over the past year that I have still never used, haven't been fishing in a long while. I'm gonna try learn to throw jerkbaits by this time next year, though it's a bit riskier from the bank with more expensive lures that you can't go retrieve when they get hung up.
Thanks Matt: I’ve never asked the “best color” question, but I sure appreciate your answer. It makes sense. Why does a bass bite a weird colored chatter bait, or spinner bait, etc. ? They react because it came by. I don’t think they thought about the light and color spectrum. Thank you again for great info. God Bless!
Usually Match the hatch or based it off water clarity for colour selection; but might be open to trying more of off colours, shad even Thanks for insight
I missed one the other day as I was starting to pull the jerkbait out of the water. The lure was literally out of the water and he jumped and took a swipe at it. Was at least 4lbs. Totally shocked me!
Hi Matt. It sure looked like you were throwing white braid with a leader probably flouro. Couldn’t tell for sure. If you were was it just convenient for fun fishing or was it purposefully chosen? Assuming that it was braid to flouro. Thanks
I want to try the stunna 100 cause I like the smaller two hook baits myself. I am just hoping it holds up like the old cutter 90. I see they are making a saltwater version of the cutter still but not in my favorite color. I primarily fish jerkbaits for walleye in rip rap of rivers and the bill on the cutter is the strongest out of any bait I’ve tried. I have never broken the bill on a cutter but many other baits I have.
I agree with you Matt. I would like to see what your comments would be on putting it a bead or weight on a frog body to accrsct bass??? Please comment on this topic Thanks! Give me some suggestions.
Good old blue and silver lipless crank bait will catch bass anywhere you throw it. I can not begin to count the number of bass I have caught on a blue and chrome lipless in ponds that have only bluegill as forage. The bait comes flying past the bass and they eat it because they don’t want it to get away. Bass are like cats you move something fast in front of them and out of instinct they grab it.
The Gobbi that was brought to the great lakes more or less wasn't even a bait fish that bass had ever seen especially in the great lakes. I'm guessing where ever they came from besides God there are Bass there too. Regardless, now the bass have become smart enough to hunt in packs dislodging the rocks under which the Gobbi like to hide when the predator appears be it Walleye, Trout, Salmon or Bass, None of those species and I'm sure the Muskie that Michigan is raising to reintroduce into the waters of Lake Michigan will make a meal of such a plentiful food source, Even the Gobbi themselves, they began to eat the Zebra young muscles because the shell isn't hard yet. No body taught them or sent them a memo.
Chartreuse & White! Bass are green shift and see chartreuse like human beings see red! That being said in saltwater fishing Bone is the Man! Any baits that have plastic cover a color pattern I believe is seen by a fish like a person wearing polarized glasses looking at watch with a plastic crystal instead of glass!
Do you always throw your jerkbait on a spinning rod, because that seems to be what a bunch of true jerkbait fishermen use. And I’m new to jerkbait fishing so I’m curious what you think.
Better casting distance perhaps,more natural feel for jerking motion,weight of reel on bottom,just feels more comfortable on spinning rod to me@@mattfleming86
