Are you a soft plastic jerk bait angler? Have you ever wished for one that had a larger profile without being too long? If so, then the Tightlines UV-Big Fat Jerk may be just what you’re looking for.
The Big Fat Jerk, not named after your employer or the guy down the street, is a new bait produced by Tightlines UV. It has the same ultraviolet vision enhancer that the company pioneered and uses on all of their soft plastic products.
We picked up a couple of these as pre-production samples, and have been using them in the same situations that we would use other, similar baits. We have been throwing them side by side on the same equipment that we use for competitive lures. The results have been interesting so let’s get them on the water and see how they perform.
Fishing The Big Fat Jerk
The Big Fat Jerk is a split tail bait with an interesting head-on profile. The bait is wider at the back while being narrower through the belly. Think of it like the letter “T”. So does this affect the action and if so, how?
To begin with, you need to be aware of the fact that a standard EWG just won’t cut the mustard with this bait. You will need to use a monster-wide gap hook so that when you get a strike, there will be enough hook to not only go through the plastic but provide enough room between itself and the bait to penetrate a fish’s mouth.
Once you get that part figured out, then you just fish it the same way you would fish any other bait in this class. Cast it out weedless, allow it initially to sink on semi-slack line then begin your retrieve employing short, sharp jerks of the rod tip to get the bait moving in the customary side to side erratic way. So far, no surprises.
It’s on the pause that things get a little more interesting. When you kill the Big Fat Jerk, it doesn’t do a nose dive to the bottom of the lake. That “T” design regulates the bait so that it will sink horizontally with a slight undulating action from the tail. It does this very consistently, and will just slowly sink in this horizontal position until you move it again.
After playing with this in shallow water, and getting an unexpected strike in the process, it was time to take a full cast to see what would happen. The weight of the bait is comparable to other soft jerks but, due to its bulkier profile, will catch a little more wind cutting your casting distance down just a bit. This isn’t a big bloody deal, but is noticeable when you’re using it.
We mentioned that things get a little more exciting when you pause the Big Fat Jerk. That’s because, without exception, all of our strikes have come when we allowed the bait to sit following a few sharp pops of the rod tip.
The majority of the strikes of this bait have been aggressive and purposeful with only one that I can remember where it appeared as though the bass just sucked it in and was giving it a chew while holding it in place. Even then, the strike was no problem to detect.
So does the UV enhancer work? I know that it does under a black light, but can’t really answer what it looks like to a fish when it’s in the water. All we have is the evidence of when and where this bait out-shined our usual choices in jerkbaits.
Those conditions were in low-light. Prior to the sun coming up, as the sun was going down, after dark and in off-color, to stained water.
When these were the prevailing conditions, the Big Fat Jerk brought put more fish on our thumbs then did our regular baits. Does this mean that there is something to the UV aspect of the bait? It certainly seems that way
As far as durability goes, this bait gets high marks in that department. Due to its bigger profile which uses more material, it is less prone to being torn up than a “normal” size jerk bait.
In the past we have reviewed a few of the Tightlines UV baits, and have found the plastic in them to be more rigid than most which constrained the action to a degree. The plastic used in the Big Fat Jerk is definitely softer than the products we reviewed in the past. This is a positive move on the part of Tightlines in our opinion.
At the moment, the Big Fat Jerk is only available in about 3 colors. However, those 3 patterns will give you a reasonable chance of catching some fish in your area. Again, in our testing, this bait is at its best in colored, stained water, and in failing light conditions.
| Tighlines UV Big Fat Jerk | |
|---|---|
| Overall Rating |   |
| Great bait in those difficult conditions | |
See ya’ on the water …