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Lure choice  By Diederik.

Hereunder I want to give a summary of the use of the different models Predator jerkbaits during the predator fish-season. It is no more than a guideline, because with using lures you always have to be creative and thus have to vary your approach. That is especially the case with pike in heavily fished waters. So please differ from my guideline!

Beginning of the season, first two weeks

The predatory fish, both pike and zander, usually inhabit the upper layers. On the bigger waters you have to look for pike in the upper 3 meter, for zander and rivers you have to add another meter. The predatory fish is hungry after spawning and because of the increase of the temperatures. In this time of the year pike has a preference for slightly smaller lures, and thus the biggest jerkbaits can stay at home. Zander however is still aggressive of defending the nests, and therefore gets itself in trouble temporary by attacking big bright-coloured lures. For this time of the year the following jerkbaits come in consideration:

1. Small Darter in both bright colours (firetiger, Hot Orange Yellow Perch etc) to provoke aggression as natural colours (roach, bream, perch). You have to experiment with the retrieve, but in general you can fish them quite fast. Especially early in the morning Darters fished high in the water are grabbed just under the surface.
2. Hog 17 en 18-½ cm in bright colours. You can fish the Hog quite fast and thus exploring promising spots. It is better to search a spot with a few casts and then move on, than to cast exactly to a patch of reeds in the hope that sooner or later a pike will emerge. In this time of year pike grab the jerkbait the first time when it comes into view.
3. Zander Hog 17 cm in bright colours (fire tiger, Fluo Orange Yellow Perch, Hot Orange Perch) for zander. With the Zander Hog you can fish the deeper spots. You can bring the zander Hog to 3 meter if you start with a few fast long pulls. The Zander Hog is also excellent for jerk trolling. Let the zander Hog do its job especially in spots where you suspect zander. But pike can’t stay ignore this lure either.
4. Jester in natural and bright colours. Let the Jester make its beautiful diving action over shallow flats where the first green start to grow. But other spots like the various entrances of drains, pits and marinas should be given extra attention.

  Summertime

After the first two “crazy” weeks at the beginning of the season the weather is most of the times more stabile and the temperatures of the water have risen. Hereunder a few suggestions:

1. The small Darter, Hog 18-½ cm and Jester still keep up their good work. The perch-patterns (perch is a favourite prey of pike in clear deep water) Fluo green perch and DL Perch are now good too.
2. Now use too Zander Hogs en Hog Seekers of 17 and 18 ½ cm to tempt pike, that has also occupied the deeper spots of 3-4 meters after the first “warming-up weeks” 3 in deeper spots. Its is now a case of experimenting with what colours to choose but I like to use Redhead perch, Roach and of course Fluo green perch and DL Perch. Use the zander Hogs too for casting potential hotspots and make optimum use of the fact that the Zander Hogs hang nicely at a certain depth in the pauses between the pulls with the rod. If you start tight away and hold the rod high you can fish them in 1 ½ meter deep water too. Don’t forget to (jerk)troll now and then, whereby you can troll quite fast without fear of moving too fast.
3. I now use the Bull and the Agressor to “wake pike up” on those days when they let Darters and Hogs pass by unharmed. An aggressively fished Agressor often provokes an aggressive attack. I prefer the Bull with a silverish or golden colour as main colour, thus silver perch and bream perch. The Agressor works both in natural colours (scale and scar is my favourite) as bright colours. Dare to fish these jerkbaits quite fast. For most anglers that means that they fish just to fast in their opinion. Keep on that fast fishing and try to sweep the jerkbaits unharmed through the water.
4. The Time Bomb is a really high-summertime jerkbait to tempt pike to launch an attack on a zigzagging cigar in the surface. Especially during periods with warm weather this is often the method on clear deep sandpits.
5. For the ultimo imitation of an easy to grab roach/rudd you now can employ the small Jackal in roach and rudd.

Late summer and early autumn

The end of September and October are, along with June, the best time according to me. The preys have grown, the predatory fish have to do their best before the winter period, and the weather is rougher. Now I use heavier ammo most of the time.

13031. medium Darter practically can’t be beaten for big waters. The medium Darter has an even better action than the small Darter. In late summer and early autumn I happily use Darters in silver perch or brown silver perch, as well as Zander and bream perch.
2. In this time of year I like to cast with the Hog Seeker. That one has a less waggling action than the Hog, but precisely that somewhat more subtle action often is preferred after a few months. The Hog Seeker reaches depths more easily than the Hog. A very good colour in the autumn is fluo green perch. This colour is almost second to none. But Golden Zander works well too as well as roach with black perch stripes.
338903. is the perfect time to cast with a small and medium Jackal. But the Jackal can be trolled nicely at slow speeds too. Attach a connector to the front-eye of the (jerkbait)leader and hang in weights of 3-7 gram. By adjusting the amount of lead you are able to troll different depths. The Jackal give a very lazy rocking waving action under water, and this is what most pike can’t ignore! Especially recommended on heavy fished waters where the pike won’t attack the “”normal” lures anymore.

Winter

The fish is now lethargic. This is the time to experiment. Slow presentations lay ahead. Thus you will be come to the Jackal and the Teaser.  But a slow fished Darter or slowly rising Jester will persuade a pike to an attack. I don’t think the winter is a good time for big waters. Sometimes I fish in marina’s that are situated along a big water. Whenever id do go venture out on big water in winter it is most likely for vertical jigging for zander. But the winter is a very good time to fish in the drains and canals of the polders. Here pike can’t lie out of our reach depth-wise. Furthermore they are quite concentrated on certain spots (deeper holes, bridges, etc,). And where pike lets ordinary lures pass by unharmed the relatively big jerkbaits are attacked. You often have to experiment. I usually start with a very slow presentation. When that arouses no response I then fish very aggressive “summer-wise” to wake the pike up. I call this method “chiming the bells”.

Hereunder a rough classification in difficulty and troll ability of the Predator jerkbaits:

Easy to fish: Darter, Hog, Hog Seeker, and Jester

Slightly more difficult to fish: Jackal, Titchy Jim, Bull, and Agressor

Some time needed to find the right way of retrieving: Time Bomb, Teaser

Jerk trolling: Hog and Hog Seeker (both catch too when the rod is in the holder)

Slow trolling: Jackal, Titchy Jim and Bull (if needed weights can be attached to the front-eye of the wire-/ jerkbaits-leader to achieve more depth)

Hereunder a summary of the lighter Predator jerkbaits, usable in the polder (drains/canals), urban waters (ponds), and any other light fishery:

 1. Baby Hog, 45 gram. I request Loz to weight the Baby Hog in such a manner that it floats deep, and will sink at the weight of my jerkbait-leaders. Therefore they more or less "hang" at the same depth in the pauses between the pulls with the rod. This way of weighting them proves really to be fantastic for fishing from shore in autumn. This one is clearly my favourite in early autumn (October).

2. Titchy Jim, 40 gram. This jerkbait is regarded as difficult by some anglers. I don’t agree. You have to retrieve the Titchy Jim with long pulls and then he will roll beautifully whereby his belly even comes up now and then. Reeling is slowly in gives a faint (but deadly) wobbling. The Titchy Jim leant itself for fishing on a nice summer evening, but also for early autumn.

3. Baby Jackal, 35 gram. The Baby Jackal must be fished with very subtle twitches from the wrist with a pause in between. Once you have mastered that you can fish the Baby Jackal and also very shallow. A disadvantage of this jerkbait is that it is costly due to the amount of time what is needed to make them. The Baby Jackal is perfect to use in those beautiful clear drains that inhabit rudd. Chose then for the colour rudd and wait for an explosive attack of a dark green polder-predator.

4. Titchy Jack, 40 gram. A small version of the Jerking Jack. A floating diving small jerkbait, suited for shallow water (this one is not yet shown on the website of Loz or in my information document).

5. Titchy Darter, 60 gram. The Titchy Darter darts more easily to the left and right than the small Darter due to its compact size. Can be fished slowly. Can also be fished very shallow. Because the latter it leant itself for both fishing just under the surface during the summer (fish the Titchy Darter fast and high) as in the winter (present it slower and slightly deeper).

6, Teaser, 50 gram. Deep floating. Can be fished very slowly. You have to fish the Teaser with a slow-started pull that increases in speed during the pull. So start slowly and then pull the rod sideward slightly faster. Not easy to fish, but the Teaser has a deadly action, especially for pike that is not much active anymore due to low temperatures. Highly recommended for the more experienced jerkbait-angler.

With this summary I hope to have given a good guideline for choosing the jerkbaits. But experiment yourself at all times, and that implies that you have to deviate from my guideline too. And exactly that experimenting and then gaining success gives a lot of satisfaction. Tight lines!

Diederik.