Jerkbait Fishing For Beginning Musky Anglers

Before I hit the water with my clients for Muddy Creek Fishing Guides, I always ask whether they want to go trolling or jerking.

- Vance Kaloz

As weird as that sounds, when musky fishing it is more accurate than asking whether they want to go trolling or casting. With Lake Chautauqua’s lush aquatic ecosystem, jerkbaiting for muskies is really the only way to cast.

The industry is filled with rubber, bucktails, gliders and more, and sometimes jerkbaits look like a dying breed. This is a shame and I hope to see it turn around. Of course, there is nothing wrong with the lures mentioned above – our company, Fat AZ Musky Products, makes such baits and they are a great way to fish for muskies. However, we think of our Raptor Jerk Bait as our marquee musky fishing product because for many of us jerkbaiting is at the heart of the sport.

Almost 20 years ago, I caught the musky bug for the first time while fishing with my family. My dad or one of my uncles handed me an oversized rod and reel, and an extremely buoyant hunk of wood that I later found out was an Ed Latiano jerkbait. They told me to cast it out and “give it life.” I realized after my first lure retrieve how much jerkbaiting could suck. I had just worked this jerkbait with intensity, making wild, erratic jerking motions, and in the end my only reward was to do it over again.