Jerkbaits

[Bender]

I just got back from the "Ultimate Fishing Show" in Novi, MI. The only seminar I went to was a jerkbait one put on by Don Watts.
Pretty good information. The only ones he uses are these in color 14 or 18, I can't tell from the picture. He went over key topics such as his retrieve which he only jerks on slack line and varies it. Basically it is a "walk the dog" but underwater retrieve and vary the amount of jerks between taking up the slack.
Also in water over a few feet he uses Suspenstrips to get the nose to dive a little bit. His retrieve is constant, not much time letting it suspend so the weights let the nose dive since he wraps them longitudinally around just behind the bill.
He changes the front hook out for a red Gammy and adds a mylar skirt to the rear hook or puts on a feathered hook.
Up until June around here he fishes open water flats with it. After the spawn he runs parallel to the outside of weedlines. Also in later summer he uses them a lot around docks, rip-rap, and his favorite steel seawalls. Always he fishes these parallel to the structure, always.
He keeps 3 rods rigged. One for straight retrieves, one for left, and one for right. The directional ones he bends the eyelet in the bait slightly so that when jerked it is always tracking that direction. This is useful to maintain contact when bouncing it off of structure.
This is basically the only bait he uses year round. He uses a 6'6" M Setyr rod, 14lb. Fireline, and a Quantum PT (I forget which one) reel with an ultra low profile to be comfortable all day.

After this was a KVD seminar but it was so packed I couldn't even hear what he said so I left.