March 05, 2015
By Ned Kehde
In the eyes of Midwest finesse anglers, Big Bite Baits' 3 3/4-inch Jointed Jerk Minnow possesses the attributes of a fluke-style bait and a shad-shaped worm.
Its head is flat. The belly portion of its torso exhibits somewhat of an oblique shape. Its back is flat and level and graced with a hook slot.
Where the hook slots ends on its back, the jointed segment of its body begins, and there are four segments or joints. From the first jointed segment to the junction of its forked tail, the diameter of the torso decreases significantly.
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It is impregnated with salt and infused with a scent that is called Bite Juice.
It was designed to be employed on either a drop-shot rig or a jig. And Midwest finesse anglers have been rigging a green-pumpkin shad-shaped worm -- similar to the Jointed Jerk Minnow -- on a small mushroom-style jig since shortly after April 1, 2006, which was when Shin Fukae of Osaka, Japan, and Palestine, Texas, showed us at Beaver Lake, Arkansas, how effective a green-pumpkin shad-shaped worm affixed to a small red jig is for alluring largemouth bass, meanmouth bass, smallmouth bass, and spotted bass. In fact, it was so alluring that Fukae used it to win the Wal-Mart FLW Open at Beaver Lake on April 5, 6, 7, and 8, 2006.
Because of its jointed torso, Big Bite Baits' Jointed Jerk Minnow palpitates and moves differently than the shad-shaped worm that Fukae uses and the one that Midwest finesse anglers normally wield. The folks at Big Bite Baits say that it replicates the swimming action of a variety of bait fish, such as gizzard shad, green sunfish, bluegill, and pumpkinseeds, and thus at times, it might be more alluring than the standard shad-shaped worms.
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It is available in the following colors: Alewife, Baby Bass, Green Pumpkin, Green Pumpkin Purple Flake, Smoke /Disco Violet, Smoke Metal Flake/Pearl Laminate, Sunfish Laminate, Talapia, Watermelon/Chartreuse Laminate, and Watermelon Pearl. (A photograph of the Sunfish Laminate Jointed jerk Swimming Minnow is appears that the head of this column.)
A package of 10 sells for $3.99.
Endnotes
1. Here is a link to a YouTube feature about the Jointed Jerk Minnow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzSeOeeDdF4 .
