Soft Jerkbait drift and pop technique
Posted by PA-Smallies at 10:32 AM. Filed under: Techniques
I’ve written a little bit about soft jerkbaits in previous posts on my blog. I’ve covered general information about rigging soft jerkbaits and selecting the right bait for the right situation. In this article, I want to cover the most common technique I use when fishing for smallmouth or largemouth bass with this type of bait. I call it the “drift and pop” technique. I can’t say enough about how effective this technique has been for me over the years. I often joke with my fishing buddies. If this doesn’t work we might as well go home and mow the grass!
Rigging the bait
Typically I will texpose rig the soft jerkbait with no weight when using this technique. You can read about how to do this here .
General Thoughts and Strategy
I find many times fisherman tend to “over work” a soft jerkbait. What I mean by this is that they feel the bait needs to be worked or moving all the time. There are definitely times when a fish wants the bait in constant motion but this type of retrieve does not play to the strengths of a soft jerkbait such as a slug-go.
The strength of this bait lies in its unpredictable darting action and its almost neutrally buoyant slow tantalizing drop. The drift and pop technique plays on both of these key strengths. Here’s a pop quiz for all you fishermen:
Q: When does a fish usually hit a soft plastic bait or jig?
A: On the drop
Where to Fish the Bait
Typically, I use a soft jerkbait and the drift and pop technique in 8 feet of water or less since I generally do not add weight to the bait. If fish are suspending over deeper water but willing to raise for baitfish, this technique will still work just fine.
I will fish the bait into and around a variety of cover and structure. For example over and around ledges, drop offs, channels, submerged treetops, and rock piles are key areas for smallmouth bass. Weed edges are another key hotspot if you are fishing for largemouth bass. These edges can be on the surface or submerged.
Executing the Fishing Technique
Typically, I like a lighter colored jerkbait for this technique because I like to be able to see the bait in the water. Some of my favorite colors are white, alwive, or shad.
Overall the drift and pop technique is pretty darn simple. For example, if I’m targeting a large submerged boulder in moving water, I will cast the bait upstream from the boulder so that it will sink to the desired depth by the time jerkbait drifts into the desired area. Notice I said “drifts”, that’s because I want to let the bait “die” or sink down to the desired depth before imparting any actions.
Once the bait has reached my fishy looking target and depth, while holding my rod tip at about 10:00, I’ll give the rod a subtle quick single “pop”. A simple wrist snap will do. You don’t want to overdue this. After the “pop”, I’ll let the bait slowly recede into the depths for several seconds. Once I’m satisfied that the bait has sunk enough, I’ll give the bait another “pop”. I will continue this cycle until the bait is out of range of the structure.
The action imparted by the drift and pop technique very closely imitates a dying baitfish. Most often, 99% of the time, the bass will hit the bait on the drop. This technique is also excellent for slack water areas or lakes because once you develop more skill at finessing this bait you can almost make it hover over or near fish holding structure. The goal of any good fisherman is to keep a bait in the strike zone as long as possible!
It’s important that you watch your line and the bait if possible for any tell-tale signs of a strike. Many times, if I’m using a lighter colored jerkbait, I can see the bait suddenly disappear. In this case I reel down the slack and hit the fish. In murky or deeper water, you will have to be a line watcher. Be weary of any “ticks” or direction changes in the line.
I am confident you will have great success with this technique. Please feel free to leave comments below. In particular, if you give this a try and it works for you let me know!
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- How to texpose rig a soft jerkbait
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