I spent a good part of my Valentine’s Day in the boat of Prevacid pro Dan Morehead. Sure, he’s not as pretty as my wife, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to do some fishing on a 2,300-acre power plant lake in southern Illinois called Lake of Egypt.
I wrote up a story about it for our Pro Lessons section, but it won’t run until 2012. So I wanted to give you a sneak peak. Let me tell you, I learned some good stuff about fishing a jerkbait, like this:
In Suspense
Morehead fires an errant cast and his jerkbait collides with a rock. I think nothing of it until he sits down on the deck and starts playing with the lure once he has it in.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking to make sure it’s still good,” he answers while pulling out some lead tape. “These expensive jerkbaits are really fragile. If you hit something with them it can throw off their action.”
Sure enough, it now rises slightly when at rest. He adds a sliver of lead tape to the belly and tests it in the water – it doesn’t move.
“I’m always checking my lures,” he continues. “Not all jerkbaits suspend right. Some sink, others float a little. You need to keep checking them, especially if the water temperatures are changing. Just because it suspends at 42 degrees doesn’t mean it will at 46 degrees.”
I immediately think about a jerkbait I was using earlier in the day that had a slight rise. At the time it didn’t bother me. Now I wonder if me not paying attention to that fact was the reason I wasn’t catching fish.
As for how he weights them, Morehead carries a towel and some rubbing alcohol in the boat at all times. He’ll towel off the lure, and then pour a little alcohol on it to dry up any moisture. Next comes the lead tape. Storm SuspenDots work, but Morehead actually uses the lead tape used for golf clubs because he feels it adheres better.
The closer he can stick the weight to the head, the better the action. However, each lure requires it’s own tweaking. If it’s sinking he will place the weight in the middle of the lure to give it more balance. If he adds too much, he cuts a little off at a time until he can put the lure in the water and have it suspend perfectly.