The plastic jerk bait is now my best producer for stripers. There are many reasons for it's affectiveness and although there might be others, these are what I see as the key reasons this bait is so effective on stripers.

• They closely resemble a baitfish in profile. Whether it's a herring that the spring stripers feed so heavily on, small bunker or sandeels, the plastic jerkbait presents a NATURAL looking offering.
• They offer a more natural looking appearance than a swimming plug used for the same purpose.
• They can be worked from the top to the bottom of the water column by applying (more on this below) lead to the hook shank. With built in scent and the natural feel of the plastic, stripers will hold on to these baits long enough for the strike to be detected and the hook set.
• With the most common jerk, jerk pause retrieve, the bait draws on the stripers natural instincts and will trigger reaction strikes, even if the fish aren't in a feeding mood.
• With a single strong 5/0 hook, the hook-up percentage is higher.
• At least in the short term, most stripers are realatively uneducated, in that most haven't seen that many plastic jerkbaits thrown their way.

The Bait

I pour many styles of baits, each with it's own strong points and preferred season. For example, during my winter fishing for holdover stripers, I fish my 4-1/2 inch split tail on a 3/8 oz Kalin Ulimate jig head. It's fished either vertically in 20-30 feet of water without much action or strolled (using a trolling motor to maintain some boat momentum) behind the boat. The cold water and sluggish fish, both dictate a small offering. Come spring when fresh fish arrive, I will move up to my 6-1/2 inch Half Jerk bait as the fish are still smaller schoolies and come easier on the smaller and thinner profile bait. Once a good supply of fresh schoolies and large arrive, I switch to my personal favorite, my 5-1/2 inch split tail. It's about an inch wide, flat on top, has a built in keel on the bottom and a split tail, hence the name. Although I have had success with the longer plastic Sluggos available today, I find I get a better hook-up percentage with this length bait. This is especially true early in the season when the size of the stripers is running between 5-12 lbs. I think it's a size that appeals to both school size fish, as well as fish into the 40 lb range. I basically gear the offering to the season, bait the stripers might be foraging on and to some extent the conditions on hand. A good example would be mid morning on a hot summer day, when the fish aren't moving up off the bottom. A narrower stick bait in the 6-1/2 or 9 inch size rigged on a lead head might be required for a faster sink rate. Or maybe a switch to a bucktail jig with one of my 8 inch curly tail grub trailers. The split tails and flukes are better in the top of the water column, but can be worked very effectively down to 15 feet or better. The larger 7 inch split tail or 9 inch Big Jerk, come in handy in windy conditions, when bigger baits or fish are around or when I want a faster sink rate.

Here are a couple pictures of some of my baits rigged with a hook shank weighting method (more later) and your typical jig heads or shad heads. My favorite color is two toned, with a clear plastic with silver glitter for the bottom layer and smoke with black glitter on the top. If the stripers are finiky, or bait is scarce and they are feeding heavily on lobsters, I will use a bait with more of a redish color. Some baits I use no color at all and add a generous mix of glitter to give the bait a salt and pepper appearance. Then there are the standard lines of thought, white in the spring, pink for when squid are the prey, black at night, bubble gum for worm hatches and so on. I've used enough different colors to come to one conclusion, color isn't all that critical under most circumstances. Having said that, choose your baits with natural colors and in the size most suited for the season. Choose smaller baits for early in the season, when the waters are filled with small schoolies and gradually increase the size of the bait as the larger fish start to show up.

The Hook

I prefer to use a 5/0 saltwater 90 degree jig hook from Owner, for my favorite 5-1/2 inch Split Tail. With it's wide gap, extremely sharp hook and upturned eye it's a great hook for this application. I use something similar to a large HitchHikers by the makers of Tru-Turn hooks and offered on my Ledgerunner Bait site. I turn my own for added strength when blues are about, but the HitchHikers work fine. The 3/0 hook and medium HitchHiker are perfect for the 4-1/2 inch Little Jerks and Split Tails and the 7/0 hook (sorry no HitchHiker big enough for this hook, you'll have to turn your own) would be the ticket for the 7 inch Split Tail or 9 inch Big Jerk. The hitchhiker is a small corkscrew device with a clip to attach it to the hook eye. There are a couple reasons to use the HitchHiker. First it's a snap to rig the bait, by screwing this device into the head of the bait. More importantly, this device holds the bait well, prevents the bait from being torn up after a fish or two and allows for a more natural presentation. I have caught upwards of 20 stripers on one bait before I need to re-rig, so it also saves money and time. On average, I'll catch 6-8 fish before I need to re-rig.

While I'm on the subject of the hook, let's discuss the rigging of the bait. Once the head of the bait is screwed into the HitchHiker, hold the shank of the hook so the bait hangs beside it. Picture where you need to penitrate the body of the bait to make the bait hang straight. Run the hook through the bait at that point and completely out the other side. The bait should now hang straight, without any bends or twists. The only exception to this rule would be if I happened on a school of fish busting on top. Under those conditions I might opt for a weightless hook and put a bow in the bait when rigged. That bow, in addition to my baits flat profile, will actually allow me to skip the bait out of the water when retrieved in brisk rod jerks. That little trick sometimes will pay off big time if the bass are selectively feeding on top. During fishing if the hole in the bait gets too big and the hook starts coming out of the bait during the cast, I just push the hook off to the side a bit and penetrate the bait in a new location.

I use various diameter lead solder wrapped from the hook bend up to the eye and then a back down the hook about a third of the way to get different sink rates with the bait. Typically it's rosin core "lead free" solder and approximately 1/16 in diameter and is available in Home Dept stores, some better equiped hardware stores and plumbing supply houses. Experiment with the amount of weight to get the sink rate you need for the mood of the fish and depth your fishing. It's important to start the solder wrap close to the hook bend, work up to the hook eye and back over the solder to the first bend at a minimum. That keeps fish from pulling the solder down the hook. Obviously the above is geared for the larger plastic jerk baits. Early in the season, go with a smaller bait, a 3/0 hook and less weight to gear your offering for the smaller schoolies. Like the two 4-1/2 inch baits shown below without weight, or search out some hobby solder or fine diameter solder for just a little more weight.

Owner 3/0 hook, screwlock bait holder, before and after rigging.

Rods & Reels

My first rod specifically built to fish plastic was a 7 foot custom spinning rod I built on a Lamiglass GLB841M graphite blank. The blank had a moderate action, was rated for 15 lb line and lure weights of 3/4 to 2-1/4 oz. The moderate action helped load up the rod to enable long distance casts. Don't let the 15 lb line rating fool you, this rod handled several stripers over 50 lbs without problem. What you don't want is a heavy stiff action rod, because it won't give you the distance you need, the sensitivity required to properly fish plastic baits and will end up being a lot of work. I've since gone even lighter and am currently fishing a spinning rod built on a Lamiglass GW84ML, 7 footer, 10-17 lb line rating and 3/8-3/4 oz lure rating. Considering my 5-1/2 inch Split Tail weighs around 1-1/4 oz weighted as shown above, you can tell I'm pushing that rod a bit. Still it works well from a boat, from shore it would be a different story. My next shore rod will be a Ron Arra Lamiglass XRA1083, a 9 footer, 12-17 lb line rating and 3/8-2-1/4 oz lure weights. You should get a good quality graphite blank, but stay with ML or M actions which load up much more easily with the lighter weights. I think the rod ratings above will give you a good feel for what works best, both from the front deck of a boat or standing in the surf.

When I started out I used a Shimano 3500 Baitrunner spinning reel on the heavier spinning rod and it was and is still a great reel for this application. It had a large enough capacity to spool over 200 hundred yards of the 30 lb (equivilent 6lb mono diameter) spiderwire I use, it has a very smooth drag and casts the braid line and these baits extremely well and with none of the associated problems with braids. TIP:Remember, braid has NO STRETCH, so back off those drags to avoid tearing out the bait when that big one makes that last hard run right at the boat. Whatever your choice make sure you have the capacity to spool at least 175 yards of 15 lb mono, at least a 4.6:1 gear ratio or faster, as many ball bearings as your budget will afford and one built by a known quality manufacturer. Plastic jerkbaits don't work themselves, so try to keep your outfit (rod/reel) on the lighter side so that you can comfortably fish them all day without wearing yourself out. When I went lighter on the rod, I made the same move on the reel and switched to a Shimano Stradic. It's a very smooth reel, with a nice drag and just enough capacity for my boat fishing. From shore it might be too small for some situations, but remember a lot of guys spend their entire career casting over the fish.

Line & Terminal Tackle

As noted above I prefer 30# spiderwire, which has the equivilent diameter of 6# mono. Why the braid and not mono? I don't know where you do your striper fishing, but where I fish tidal current, wave action and wind were a big problem in that they all created a lot of slack line. The 15# Trilene Big Game (great mono by the way) I had been using just wasn't sensitive enough, which combined with line stretch, was causing missed hook-ups. The spiderwire is so sensitive that I started feeling strikes I was missing before and the lack of stretch meant sure fast hookups that previously I might have missed.

Whether you choose braid (30# is my recommendation) or mono (15# is a good choice), I recommend you tie that to a small barrel swivel. In the case of braid a Uni knot works well, for mono a Palamar or Improved Clinch Knot. From there tie in a 18"-35" (depending on the mood of the stripers) length of 25-30# mono for a shock leader and to keep the braid or mono from being frayed if fishing around rocks. I switched the last couple years to Seagar 30# for the leader and am very pleased with the results. I'm not certain the fluocarbon is added to my catch, but I'm not sure scent makes a difference either, but I use them both :). Tie on the hook as detailed above, rig on your plastic jerk bait and your good to go.

Fishing Techniques

There are numerous ways this versitle bait can be fished and with the addition of lead to the hook shank, it can be fished effectively throughout (15-20 foot probably the maximum depth) the water column. I like to start my day before sun up and might start off with a slow deliberate twitch-twitch-pause, which will allow the fish a better opportunity to find the bait under low light conditions. Once the sun is up I start fishing the bait faster up near the surface in the top 3 foot of the water column, to take advantage of the typical morning feeding activity. My first goal, as it would be for any kind of fishing, is to try to locate some fish and see if they are agressive. I constantly look for trailers and if I see some I will kill the retrieve and let the bait spiral down until I just loose sight of it. That will sometimes trigger a strike from one of the trailers. I'd read that again, because it's one of the biggest benifits of fishing a plastic jerkbait on a hook weighted with solder, compared to fishing that same bait on say a one oz jig head. What happens when you pause your retrieve fishing a heavy jig head, well that bait falls to the bottom like a stone, not many dying or struggling baitfish go to the bottom that way. Even though my bait weighs 1-1/4 oz, the weight is spread out over a fair part of it's length. Then consider the bait is almost an inch wide and with a built in keel and now you understand why I love to weight my hooks this way. The bait glides naturally, yet you can still attain some depth and when you pause your retreive the bait falls in a 5 foot diameter circle. Put my even wider 6 inch Fluke on that same hook and it falls in a circle almost 10 foot in diameter. Look back up at the two pictures with the various baits. The picture on the left and the one on the right show two vastly different approaches to fishing plastic. The one on the right is what so many of us have been used to, the approach on the left is a new approach I've fined tuned over the years.

My standard retrieve is similar to that used for fishing hard jerk baits (rapalas & rebels), a jerk, jerk pause, jerk, jerk pause.As the sun gets higher, the feeding activity might slow. If the fish become finiky, then I will start working the bait more slowly with fewer and more subtle jerks and longer pauses to let the bait sink further down in the water column. Maybe I start a countdown after each cast hits the water, to allow the bait time to reach a certain depth, before I even begin my retrieve. As the bite slows fish will have a tendency to move off the top of structure and at the same time move deeper in the water column. Sometimes I have success working it just like a plastic worm would be fished for fresh water bass right along the bottom. When I see a school of fish working on top, I will tie on a hook without weight and work the bait fast right on top and actively feeding stripers just can't resist that. Sometimes I will purposely rig the bait with a bow in it, so the bottom of the bait is arched downwards. This will make the bait skip right out of the water, which will drive schooling stripers absolutely crazy. Remember conditions change; tide goes in/out, wind gets lighter/heavier, waves build/flatten out, cloud cover increases/clears and it all affects how the stripers relate to their environment and the feeding activity. Pay attention to what the fish are telling you with each strike and when things slow make changes based on what is happening around you. You boaters, turn the damn fish ID off, turn up your sensitivity and pay attention to your depth finders. Edges are probably one of the most important things you can key in on. Edges between rock and water, sand and surf, shallow and deep, clear water and stained water, musscle beds and sand, strong current and lesser current, the list is endless. If you key on edges and let the fish tell you something after each catch, your fishing will improve.

My best success has been around coastal rocky ledges, islands, shallow kelp flats, underwater humps that top out just under the surface to 10 foot down at a high tide and around harbor jetties and channels. Obviously, this is a great bait for any of the coastal rivers that support herring runs. Mussle beds are also a good spot to give them a try. It would be easier for me to tell you where I haven't had success with this type of bait, because I have yet to find one. Obviously this bait is limited to relatively shallow water, but there is no limit to where you can fish it within the coastal reaches of the stripers range.

I usually average about 20-30 fish a trip with a keeper or two. My best day in 1999 was 62 fish, including 4 keepers over 30 inches. I've caught fish to 45 lbs on the bait and even bluefish like the bait. The problem with blues is the mono leader, but luckily I don't run into that many blues in the areas I fish. Still when blues are around, I will switch to a fine wire leader or the new titanium leaders and my plastic will catch them like crazy. One note of caution if you want to give spiderwire or other braids a try. Certain spinning reels seem to work better with braids, probably due to the reel diameter or the way the bail closes. The reels above I've found work best, but I also close my bails manually because that really eliminates the loops. I also either visually or with my finger, check to make sure the braid hasn't crossed the spool. Even pulling some drag out before you start the retrieve, will insure any potential loop is off the spool. Don't forget to adjust your drag, it's not necessary or recommended to set it too tight. DON'T try pulling a sizeable fish from the water by grabbing the braid or your liable to loose a finger, it will cut you right to the bone.

If your getting tired of sitting at anchor for hours, hoping a striper will pick up your chunk bait, maybe it's time to try something new. Give a plastic jerk bait a try, it will open up a whole new avenue for striper fishing. In my opinion it offers the best of both worlds, fast action and numbers or fish, with the chance for a couple of the big boys. Good luck and may your line always be tight.