Rob Kilby works his bait along the side of a boat dock with a dog-walking sashay. This seductive, side-to-side action has been duping bass since the original Zara Spook was introduced nearly 80 years ago. A 4-pound largemouth pounces on Kilby’s lure and reaffirms the potency of the zigzag retrieve.
Walking the dog with top-water baits has added many pounds to Kilby’s catches in FLW Outdoors tournaments. But in this instance, the Arkansan’s lure is one of several high-tech jerkbaits designed to be walked beneath the surface.
“Walking the dog is no longer just a top-water thing,” Kilby said. “It’s equally effective underwater.”
Lucky Craft’s suspending Pointer 78 is Kilby’s favorite dog-walking jerkbait. He claims some other Japanese baits deliver this type of action, including lures made by Daiwa and Yozuri.
“The best walking jerkbaits have short, stubby bills,” Kilby said. “You don’t have to twitch them hard to make them swap sides. You have to be careful not to overwork them. Gentle pulls do the trick.”
Kilby fishes the Pointer 78 on a 7-foot, medium-action fiberglass bait-casting rod. The rod’s slow response prevents him from overpowering the bait. It also helps the treble hooks hold fast when Kilby plays a bass. He matches the rod with a spinning reel and 10-pound Spiderline Super Mono.
Generally, Kilby fares best walking a Pointer minnow over submerged grass such as milfoil and hydrilla. He also fares well strolling the jerkbait next to boat docks and over rocky points.
“When bass are aggressive, you can walk a jerkbait continuously,” Kilby said. “But most of the time I get more strikes by pausing the retrieve regularly. You have to experiment to figure out how often and how long to pause. No retrieve works under all conditions.”
A few twitches followed by a brief pause is the cadence that produced for Kilby last January when he fished a Wal-Mart FLW Tour event on Lake Okeechobee. He had found a 10-feet-deep sinkhole of tannic water less than an acre in size. It was as round as a donut and surrounded by a forest of reeds that extended for a half mile in every direction. A cold front had pushed scads of bass from the reed flat into the sinkhole. Walking an Aurora Pro-Blue Pointer through the pond snatched enough bass for Kilby to finish in 37th place.
The only time Kilby puts his jerkbait rod away is when the water temperature climbs above 75 degrees. Other lures produce better for him in warm water. In cold water, 50 degrees and below, he prefers jerkbaits that have little action, such as the Spoonbill Rebel. When the water temperature is in the 50- to 75-degree range, he does a number on bass with an upbeat dog-walking Pointer 78.
Fujifilm pro Sam Swett of Covington, La., likes to walk a suspending jerkbait in water as cold as the upper 40s. He believes a jerkbait reflects an especially wide band of light when it moves from one side to the other. This allows clearwater bass to pick up on the bait from many directions. Swett gives the bait long pauses between twitches to give lethargic bass time to react.
“I may give the bait one or two twitches and let it sit for five or six seconds,” Swett said. “That side-to-side movement catches a bass’s eye, yet it keeps the bait pretty much in one place. If you move the bait ahead too much, bass in cold water won’t come for it.”
Swett has devised methods that make almost any jerkbait walk the dog. One of his favorite baits, the 5 1/2-inch Smithwick Super Rogue, needs a little coaxing to do the dog dance. Swett brings the Rogue to life with a 6-foot-4-inch, medium-heavy bait-casting rod that features a fast tip. He matches the rod with a 6-1 gear ratio reel.
“I use different rods for different jerkbaits,” Swett said. “The Super Rogue has a big body and a big lip. If the rod is too weak, the bait will swim forward when you pop it. It won’t bounce back and forth.”
When Swett snaps his stiff rod, it abruptly overcomes the jerkbait’s inertia. This sudden impact makes the bait cut to the side. Swett immediately gives slack line to the lure so it turns freely. He compares the rod-twitching motion to the act of beating a drum. A drumstick bounces back the instant it contacts the drum. So it should be with the rod.
“Silver Thread fluorocarbon line also helps me get the most out of big jerkbaits,” Swett said. “The line has low memory and very low stretch. Both of those factors transfer the rod’s power more directly to the bait.”
The downside to walking big jerkbaits with stiff rods is the effort required to achieve the desired action. It can wear you out.
As for the retrieve cadence, Swett alters the rhythm until he finds what matches the mood of the bass. Once he determines what bass like, he does something that provokes ribbing from his companions – he hums.
“I hum subconsciously,” Swett said. “It helps me maintain the productive retrieve speed. One day bass may have me humming the Mexican Hat Dance. On another day it may be a slow, country ballad.”
Whatever the tune’s rhythm, Swett gives his jerkbait an irregular action. He may jerk three times and pause, two times and pause, then one time and pause. He believes constantly changing up triggers bass to bite rather than follow the bait.
When he fishes a smaller jerkbait, Swett goes with a softer rod. A 6-foot medium-action bait-casting rod gets the call when he ties on the slender 4-inch Excalibur Ghost Minnow. A heavier rod overwhelms this bait and kills its dog-walking action.
Bomber’s Long A minnows have always been high on Swett’s list because they deliver a lively side-to-side action. These lures have proven their bass-catching ability, but they require more effort to work than some baits. Swett has been working on prototype Pro Long A jerkbaits that should now be available. They have been redesigned to deliver better actions with less work.
“I think the 14A, especially, will appeal to anglers who like to walk the dog,” Swett said. “It has better moves than a beagle on a hot bunny track.”
No one questions the effectiveness of a dog-walking action. But why does a bait that cuts back and forth draw kamikaze strikes from bass?
“First, a dog-walking retrieve shows bass the distressed, erratic movement of an injured baitfish,” said Swett. “It’s a dramatic action that puts off tremendous flash, and it really moves a lot of water. Bass can’t help but see and hear the bait. Working the bait from side to side, as opposed to pulling it ahead, keeps it in front of bass longer. That extra temptation time goes a long way.”
Design
Why do some jerkbaits walk the dog better than others? The secret resides in the design. Lucky Craft’s Pointer jerkbaits feature a low center of gravity and the proper bill shape and balance to make them perform properly.
“It’s hard to make a jerkbait walk the dog if it is not built right,” said Ted Sakai, general manager of Lucky Craft. “One big difference with our baits is that we make the plastic as thin as possible. Thick plastic walls make a bait sluggish. We achieve the correct weight, balance and action with internal rattles and weights.”
Kilby dotes on the way Pointer jerkbaits suspend with a horizontal posture.
“The Pointer’s body is a little different, too,” Kilby said. “It’s not as rounded as most jerkbaits. The relatively flat sides act like a rudder. They had their thinking caps on when they designed the Pointer.”
Bomber’s Pro 14A has been totally reworked to give it improved dog-walking abilities. The body is narrower than the standard 14A. It comes with a slightly longer and narrower bill that makes the bait run deeper and cut from side to side with less force. The Pro 14A is available in floating and suspending models. The suspending model hangs horizontally at rest.
The Pro 15A has the same bill as the standard 15A, but is slimmed for a more responsive action. The floating Pro model is not as buoyant as the standard 15A.