Jerk Minnow In Package
Let’s take a look at another soft jerk bait from Big Bite Baits named the Jerk Minnow. This company has really come on strong the last couple of seasons with their soft plastics.
The Jerk Minnow was intriguing to us due to the fact that they have several unique color patterns as well as offering this bait in two sizes, both a 4 inch and 5 inch.
We obtained the Blue Back Herring and the Reel Shad in 5 inch for our testing. We began by rigging them weightless with a 5/0 Gamakatsu EWG on ten pound line and got to work.
One thing that became clear immediately is that this bait has a lot of action. Small snaps of the rod tip will have the Jerk Shad moving sideways, diving and reversing direction like a shad being chased by a four-hundred pound gorilla. Frantic is an understatement when it comes to describing the action of this bait.
You can slow down your retrieve, barely tap your rod tip and still have the action of a fleeing baitfish. Changing your retrieve cadence, the energy of the rod tip pop and speed all vary the action that you’ll get from the Jerk Shad. This is a handy feature to have so that, depending on the mood of the fish, the angler can alter what they are doing to entice additional strikes.
Another pleasant surprise the bait exhibited was how easily the angler can keep it at or near the surface. Just begin your retrieve shortly after the Jerk Shad hits the water and it will stay up in the water column walking back and forth, making a surface commotion, similar to a wake bait. The flip side of this is of course that it will take longer for this bait to get down in the water than some other, similar lures.
When we were doing our testing we found that rigging the Jerk Minnow with a 1/16 ounce, weighted EWG didn’t change it’s action negatively but did get in down in the water faster. Of course you can use this bait like any other fluke style bait in terms of dragging or carolina rigging in you choose and it is as effective as any we have tested. However, I believe that the Jerk Shad is at its best thrown weightless.
Another well thought out feature is the hook slot in the top of the bait. It really does help to align the bait when you’re rigging it as well
Notice The Head And Body
as provide the hook point a recessed area to sit in which keeps the profile of the bait unchanged from when you pull it out of the package.
Unlike some of the other baits in this class, the head of the Big Bite Bait is fairly solid which keeps it from tearing easily from repeated strikes. We found the Jerk Shad to be excellent in the durability department when measured against competing offerings. While it has all the action that it does, it will stand up to repeated fish. I’ve not had a single one destroyed after only one fish. In fact, after having caught seven on one bait, I finally had to replace it with another. Without doing precise counts, I would have to guess that we averaged 5 fish per bait. Considering the cost of the bait is only about $3 for a pack of ten, it’s really value priced for what you’re getting.
The Big Bite Bait Jerk Minnow has lots of salt and of course the Bite Juice the company infuses in their soft plastic lures. The weight of the Jerk Minnow is comparable to other lures in this class. It casts well on both spinning and conventional gear.
| Big Bite Baits Jerk Minnow | |
|---|---|
| Overall Rating |   |
| Excellent soft plastic with sturdy construction | |
See ya’ on the water …
