New Tricks With Old Favorites

The cycle of predation never ceases. Some eat and some are eaten. When a disoriented baitfish appears, predators approach for an easy meal. Soft jerkbaits and other unweighted lures imitate this life-death struggle that’s part of the watery world.

The action of soft jerks, when manipulated properly, is the closest to irresistible you can get for shallow spring bass. From the late Prespawn Period through the end of the Postspawn, you need to be doin’ the jerk. And in other situations, it can be the best option, too.

This presentation goes beyond lures labeled soft jerkbaits, and includes weightless swimmin’ worms and paddletail worms rigged for surface action, plus other softbaits with actions more erratic than soft stickbaits.

Sluggin’ Today

It seems like ages ago that Rich Zaleski helped kick off the Slug-Go revolution with a feature in the March 1990 issue of In-Fisherman. For the next three or four years, this was the biggest-selling softbait on the market, and dozens of other manufacturers molded similar lures.

If you’re a relative newcomer to bass fishing, you may have missed this fantastic phase. Today, new anglers are thrust into the age of Senko, the only lure since Slug-Go to match its instant popularity. It was so easy to catch bass with a Slug-Go, it seemed like cheating. Anywhere you cast one, a bass would seize it and your line would start straightening out.

While many slug baits have disappeared from the market, Lunker City owner Herb Reed notes a recent upturn in Slug-Go sales. He recently added Slug-Go El Salto, a heavier, salt-laden version of the original, along with an exciting big bait, a 12-inch Slug-Go that should be a great tool for giant largemouths, along with stripers, tarpon, and other big predators.

At Mann’s Bait Company, maker of the popular Shadow, Lanny Deal reports stable but not spectacular sales over the past several years. That fish-shaped bait was designed as a downsized version of the company’s Ballyhoo, a large bait built for saltwater species. The supple Shadow attracted many fans who learned to rig it sideways for best effect.

Part of the allure of Slug-Go and similar baits is their unpredictable behavior. Twitch the rod tip and it might raise its head and glide a few inches left. Bump it again and it might nose up, then tip and fall straight, only to make a turn upon contacting a weedstalk. Bass and other predators are hard-wired to take advantage of such easy pickings.

Forktails, Pintails, and More

While designing soft jerkbaits, Herb Reed found that adding a forked tail to a soft jerkbait increased its stability and allowed it to glide from side to side predictably, in the manner of a Zara Spook. He first made the 5-inch Fin-S-Fish around 1988, and the 53⁄4-inch model appeared in 1991, followed shortly by four more sizes from 21⁄2 to 10 inches.

Today, Zoom’s Fluke is the lure best associated with this technique, and the term fluke may be applied to the whole class of lures, just as the names Rat-L-Trap or Chatterbait often are applied to lures from various companies. Zoom added to the category with a 5-inch Super Fluke and 4-inch Super Fluke Jr., which have become go-to baits for weightless rigging. A 3-inch Tiny Fluke designed for drop-shot fishing has just been added. According to the Eddie Chambers of Zoom Bait Company, the original Fluke performs best when rigged on a jighead.