Winter can be the most difficult season to go bass fishing. When the water gets cold and the bass are lethargic, they may seem uninterested in baits that perform well in warmer temperatures. During times like this, a jerkbait can be one of the few things that will trigger a bite and kick the skunk. 

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Video transcript:

Jeremy:
Oh, we did it right as it landed. Oh, there's a good hit. Oh, that's a better fish. It's a decent fish right there.

Jeremy:
What's going, guys? Welcome back to the MONSTERBASS channel. My name is Jeremy, we're Fishing The LoneStar. If you've not yet, get to check out my channel, it'll be linked below, but that's not what we're here to talk about today. Instead, we're here to talk about throwing jerkbaits in the winter. This is the perfect time of year to be throwing jerkbaits like this, the LUNKERHUNT series. We're going to talk a little bit about the tackle, the equipment, the gear you need to go out and have a successful day on the water jerkbait fishing, and hopefully we'll catch some big fish along the way. Stay with me. Let's roll. Let's have a good time. Let's get it.

Jeremy:
All right, guys. The lure that we're going to be using today is the LUNKERHUNT Distress. It's a pretty cool chartreuse with a black back color. Got some really super sticky hooks and the small little bill right here is going to allow it to dive between three to five feet, right. Pretty awesome lure. This is the jerkbait we're going to be using. It's three and a half inches in length. It is about a half ounce in size. It does float but as you retrieve that bill's going to allow it to dive, right. So a pretty cool lure here by LUNKERHUNT. This is what we're going to be using today and hopefully sticking some bass with.

Jeremy:
All right, guys, the main retrieval that I like to have here with the jerkbait is really just one where I'm twitching and then rolling in my slack and twitching on slack, all right? So I don't want to tight line when I twitch, I want it to be a little bit of a slack line, but I'm just giving it some twitches, I'm rolling in the slack. One thing with this Distress by LUNKERHUNT is it has a really good erratic action so you don't really need hard twitches, you kind of notice my rod twitch is barely moving, but it's getting it a good dart side to side. And soon as I pull out of the water here, I'll show you too the rattles. This is a pretty loud lure, right?

Jeremy:
So you need just a little bit of action to make a lot of noise here with this. We're fishing some pretty stained water in this little lake so this chartreuse should work pretty well. Hopefully it'll calm up and we'll get a couple of bites here, especially because today's cloudy, so again, chartreuse is going to work pretty well. Stained water, cloudier days, but so will that noise to help calm up.

Jeremy:
One thing that's also important on your retrieve is to pause, right? Sometimes, especially in these colder months, water temperatures right now are in the low 50s. On the pause is when sometimes you're going to get a strike, right? So you want to have some twitches but then have a good pause. Let it sit there for a minute. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of time for those bass to react right now in those colder months, so pause. My hardest thing to do is pause, but pause sometimes, give it some twitches and see if sometimes you don't get a strike on that pause.

Jeremy:
Oh, he bit it right as it landed. I twisted it once and he bit it. Dang. See if I can get that fish to come back and bite it again. My throw out passed it this time. That fish came up and hit it right as I gave it one twitch, let's see if we can get another one to come back and do the same.

Jeremy:
There's one. There's a good one. All right, guys, it's a decent fish right there. Whew, that fish is cold, cold, cold, cold, but there you have it, came up, fish came up and hit it, again on the pause. When you twitch it... Man, these hooks are sharp. Right, there we go. Guys, I'm telling you, these hooks are sharp. But there's a decent little fish right there. Just twitching the jerkbait, came up and hammered it right there on the pause. So that's what I was saying, guys, just hit it with that twitch, pause and see if that fish can come back and eat it. So pretty good one. Got him on the front hook that time. Well, that's a good sign when they're eating it and that front hook head first. Oh, there's one. Another one [00:05:12] but dumped it.

Jeremy:
So the lack of color on these fish tells me that they've been in deeper water, right? So they're pushing up. They're pushing up to come eat this bait fish. So the more I get deeper off the bank, the more I'm having success catching these fish, right? So it dives, like I said, four to six feet somewhere in there. I'm going to crank it down right when it hits the water and then kind of start pausing and twitching it and that bright color and those loud rattles has really helped drawing up those fish.

Jeremy:
All right, I mentioned earlier that the lure will dive a certain depth depending upon your line. So the way that basically works is the thinner the diameter of line the deeper your lure is going to dive. This is 12-pound fluorocarbon so mine's probably getting down around that four to five foot range. It'll dive zero to six but zero is just because it floats and then once you start to retrieve it's going to dive or as you jerk it, as the name implies, it's going to dive as well. So if you're throwing thicker line, it's going to stay a little bit shallower, maybe three to four feet. If you're throwing thinner line, say 10-pound fluorocarbon, or even eight, it's going to get down to that full depth of six foot. So that's how you can vary your depth.

Jeremy:
Now, I will tell you the equipment I'm using. I'm using a seven-foot cranking rod and it's a moderate action, okay? Anytime you're throwing treble hooks think about small, little hooks. You don't need a heavy rod or even a medium heavy rod for that matter. So think about kind of a medium, moderate, medium power, moderate action rod to set those hooks with and keep the fish pinned as well. That's the other important thing is you want a rod that's going to respond to the fish as they're jumping back, excuse me, as they're jumping back to the boat.

Jeremy:
Now, then, from a reel perspective, it doesn't really matter because you're moving the lure with your rod, not with your reel, so the reel doesn't really matter. In this particular case, I'm going to 7.5:1, kind of a middle of the road in terms of speed, but a 7.5:1 reel and just trying to remind myself to slow down on the pauses. You don't need big twitches with this lure, just small twitches. Slow down a little bit. Let the fish react. Let them come find it because, again, it's 55 degree water temps, the fish are colder, they're going to be slower as are the bait.

Jeremy:
Oh, there's a good hit. Ah, it's a better fish. Oh, I just kind of foul hooked. Dang. All right, might have found a spot right up here by the boat ramp. They may be coming off the concrete there. All right. Number four, so far, on the Distress, let's see if we can get a few more while we're at it. There's one. Pretty decent one there. All right. I'm telling you, guys, these hooks on this Distress by LUNKERHUNT, my goodness, they're sharp. I mean, we got two just little, bitty pieces of the treble stuck right here in the corner and they will not come out. I realize that's the point but, dang. All right. Got those hooks out.

Jeremy:
Coming overcast today, that water's cold though, I tell you, it's in the mid to low 50s. So I'm trying to work this jerkbait radically, but also somewhat methodically and slow at the same time and just see what these fish are liking right now. There hasn't been a consistent pattern, just a couple of little, small jerks here and there, letting it pause and sit. Some have hit it on the movement, some have hit it on the pause. So it's been a little bit of everything but most of them have been a little bit further off the bank. They're not up shallow right now.

Jeremy:
You know, it's one thing, guys, that's so great about a jerkbait. This time of year bass are, yeah, they're reacting, they're still eating, for sure, but the bait fish are a little bit slower, the bass are a little bit slower and what's great about a jerkbait is it allows you to fish deeper in the water calm, to your desired depth, depending upon, obviously, how deep the bait dives. So it allows you to get down there but at the same time also allows you to stay down there because that bait will suspend or kind of float down in that level. So it allows you to get down and stay down to the desired depth you want.

Jeremy:
In the cooler months, the jerk bait, guys, can be super, super effective and, I tell you, I'm really impressed right here with the LUNKERHUNT Distress. Again, three and a half inches, half ounce, floating jerkbait, and it did some damage today, I tell you, the hardware, the hooks on this thing are super sharp. It's really good.

Jeremy:
You know what also is good? MONSTERBASS Regional Pro subscription. Make sure you check it out. That's where I picked up this awesome jerkbait, where you can pick up many awesome new lures that maybe you never tried before. Get out and challenge yourself. Try something different. Get better as an angler, learn from videos like this right here on the MONSTERBASS channel, which is why you should subscribe, if you haven't, hit the link below. Also, jump over to my channel, Fishing the LoneStar, give me a subscribe there as well. And, and, there'll be a link below where you can head over to MONSTERBASS check out all their tackle, all their gear, all set up to help you catch more fish and actually catch monster bass. Go catch one.