Hello everyone, today we're going to talk about a family of lures: "jerkbait minnows". They are generally under-used in France, except for pike fishing. We're going to explain everything you need to know about jerkbait minnows and how to use them.
his category of lures imitates fish such as bleak or roach. Jerkbait minnows are therefore generally elongated and relatively thin.
If, for example, you're looking to fish in less than fifty centimetres of water, your jerkbait minnow should have a very short lip and its angle should be as close as possible to 90 degrees to the horizontal axis of the lure. If, on the other hand, you want a jerkbait minnow that goes deeper, its lip should be longer and its angle should be in line with the lure.
A jerkbait minnow is usually rigged with two trebles. Minnows equipped with three trebles are very common on the market. It is also possible to replace treble hooks with single hooks. This will not only preserve the fish, but also give you greater protection when handling them.
There are several possible animations for a jerkbait. This family of lures is very versatile, allowing you to trigger attacks by animating in several ways.
You'll need to choose your rod, reel and line body carefully to ensure the best conditions for moving your lure.
When it comes to rods, you'll need to pay close attention to the weight of your lures. For example, if you're using an 18-gram jerkbait minnow, a 5-21g rod would be ideal.
When it comes to rod action, it all depends on individual tastes, but we have a strong preference for regular/fast actions. They will be neither too dry nor too soft to handle minnows.
Here are a few models of CASTING rods that we recommend:
Here are a few models of SPINNING rods that we recommend:
Reels obviously need to be adapted to suit the rod. However, compact, lightweight reels are best suited to minnows weighing between 10 and 21 grams.
On the whole, we recommend ratios of between 7:1 and 8:1.
Here are our favourite compatible casting reels for jerkbait fishing:
For compatible spinning reels we also prefer the following reels:
We often use braid on the body of the line to give the jerkbait minnow wide swings for maximum flash during twitching.
You can read our article: Braid or Nylon : which line to choose for lure fishing? to optimise your choice.
We use this category of lures extensively and here is a short list of the ones we like best.
Left-hand list from top to bottom:
Right-hand list from top to bottom:
Finally, here's a Youtube link from the Fishing Club explaining how to fish with a jerkbait minnow:
I hope you enjoyed this article.
Best regards
Nicolas Borreau
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