Plug (fishing): Difference between revisions

A jerkbait <ref>[{{cite web | url=https://eatthatfish.com/best-suspending-jerkbaits-for-bass-top-7/] | title=Best Suspending Jerkbaits for Bass – Top 7! | date=30 October 2020 }}</ref> or "minnow" has a [[swimbait]]-like slender body that resemblingresembles a small bait fish (e.g. a [[Alosa|shad]]), a short steeply angled bill, and usually two (or sometimes three) treble hooks. A jerkbait's bill is not large enough to make the whole lure dive, but if the fisherman flicks the rod and line during retrieval, the sudden brief acceleration causes the nose of the lure to easily decelerate, [[roll (aviation)|roll]] and [[yaw (aviation)|yaw]], thus imparting a stop-and-go, random "darting" motion ("[[jerk#Other uses|jerk]]sjerks") that resembles the [[spasmodic]] struggle of an injured or dying fish.

Most plugs have their "action" built into them by design, but good fishermen give nuance to the plug's action in many ways, such as varying the speed of the retrieve, occasionally "twitching" the rod tip during retrieveretrieval, or even letting the plug stop completely in the water, then resuming retrieveretrieval at a very high speed. Plugs are often cast so they land next to places where fish may be hiding, such as a [[snag (ecology)|snag]] pile or an overhanging tree and worked back enticingly. A skilled fisherman can methodically explore many possible hiding places forof fish by continually casting and retrieving a plug.