By Jonathan LePera
Special to BassFan


(Editor’s note: This is part 1 of an occasional 3-part series on cold-water jerkbait techniques used by pros.)

Jeff Gustafson finished 5th in the 2016 FLW Tour points race and it wasn't by accident.

“Gussy,” as he’s referred to, is well known for his fishing skills that he honed in western Ontario’s Sunset Country, which boasts some of the coldest winter conditions in Canada.

Once bass season opens and some patches of ice recede enough to create fishable water, Gustafson ties on a jerkbait with the knowledge that after a long winter, bass only have one thing on their mind: eating. They’ll track down cisco, smelt and shiners, hence the jerkbait approach.

“That first week after the ice goes, if you can find the little sweet spots where large schools of fish move towards shallow water, you can catch 25 fish in 25 casts some days,” he said. “It's incredible.”

Read the Conditions

Any time the water dips below 38 degrees, Gustafson knows a jerkbait will be a big part of his game plan when targeting smallmouth. In those conditions, he makes sure he has a sinking or slow-falling version tied on, among others.

“I throw several different jerkbaits,” he said. “Sure, many of them do start to sink slowly in the super-cold water, but I like it because it helps to get them down a little bit deeper, which could be necessary. I also think slo- sinking is more natural than a perfectly suspending or slowly floating bait.”

On the Canadian Shield lakes Gustafson grew up fishing, such as Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake, finding smallmouth in ultra-cold water is all about finding “a structural element where these fish move up shallow and eventually disperse,” he said.

Typically, he’ll target a point or shallow rock shoal – the better ones are located inside the shallower bays where the water warms first. During an outing a few years ago, he found a large group of fish on a small rock pile that had a big chunk of ice pushed up against it. He caught smallmouths right on the edge.

Getting Specific

Cold water means Gustafson will fish smarter, catering his approach to the mood of the fish. In contrast, during the summer he fishes a faster jerk-jerk-jerk-quick pause cadence. Cold water calls for a good rip initially to get the bait down to the proper depth zone. When fishing a jerkbait after a long cast, that initial rip is needed to move the weight back to the front of the bait.

Once a bait is over top of structure and running at the right depth, he’ll employ a jerk-pause, jerk-pause cadence while pausing as long as it takes to elicit a strike.

“Most bites will occur on the pause, which is opposite of when the water is warm and most bites come as you pull the bait away from the fish,” Gustafson said. “It takes patience to fish jerkbaits slow. It's just all about finding that right edge where the fish are so you have an idea of where the best part of your cast is to really slow down. That helps you be more efficient.”

A Different Tool

Gustafson isn’t afraid to fish a jerkbait with a spinning rod, especially when using smaller baits like the Jackall DD Squirrel. There’s no need to break the bank on an array of color choices, he says. If it isn’t matte pearl white or secret shad, Gussy has no use for it. He likes the smaller profile of this bait, especially for smallmouths, and its ability to probe depths down to 8 feet.

The benefit of using 10-pound PowerPro braided line and an 8-pound fluorocarbon leader is that it gets the bait down while providing an invisible connection to the fish. He fishes a Shimano Stradic Ci4+ 2500 series spinning reel paired with a 7-foot Shimano Zodias medium-action spinning rod, which allows for long casts and good hooksets, yet is forgiving enough to keep spunky fish buttoned up.

For larger baits like the Jackall Squad Minnow 115 and 80, he prefers the casting version of the spinning rod he uses paired with a Shimano Curado 70HG reel. He finds the rod to be perfect and paired with the smaller Curado, the combo makes for easy fishing all day long.

He prefers 10-pound fluorocarbon made by Gamma or Sunline when fishing with casting gear.

Regardless of what set-up you have, Gustafson says how the bait is worked trumps everything.

“Always pull the jerkbait in a straight line as you retrieve it as well, with some downward motion as you pull the bait,” he said. “This will help it run straighter and dive as deep as possible.”