The past few years have really opened my eyes to the effectiveness of jerkbaits. I’ve traveled to a lot of different fisheries and time and time again, these lures continue to produce big bass for me. As you could probably guess, they’ve become a much larger part of my bass fishing arsenal.
I’ve spent a lot of time testing the new Berkley Skinny Cutter 110+ Jerkbait this year. It has proven to be a legitimate fish catcher in both large and small bodies of water in all times of the year.
It suspends well right out of the package
It’s not uncommon to let a jerkbait sit for 10 or 15 seconds throughout your retrieve—even longer if you’re in especially cold water. These lengthy pauses make it necessary for a jerkbait to have excellent suspension properties. In other words, when you stop your retrieve, the lure needs to maintain its position in the water column without floating or sinking.
As simple as it sounds, not every manufacturer gets it right.
I’ve found the Berkley Skinny Cutter 110+ to suspend excellently in all water temperatures. The bass are known to get finicky on my home bodies of water and I’ve been incorporating long pauses into my “jerk, jerk, pause” retrieve and the Skinny Cutter 110+ sits completely still and tempts the bass quite effectively.
This has been a major key to many of my fish catches lately. The bass are beginning to position in deeper brush piles in my area and I’ve been making long casts with the Skinny Cutter 110+ and pausing them over this deep cover. The large majority of my bites have occured on the pause, made evident with a quick line jump.
The hooks are legit
The new Berkley hard baits are adorned with their Fusion19 trebles and as I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, they’re outstanding treble hooks. The tips don’t roll, they have very little flex and they maintain their sharpness even when fished around hard cover.
I tinker with my jerkbait hooks a lot in order to experiment with different postures, but I haven’t needed to do change anything on the Berkley Skinny Cutter 110+. I’ve had dozens of fish hooked outside the mouth—a common issue with jerkbaits and clear water—and I have only lost three or four fish throughout my testing.
Anytime I can take a jerkbait right out of the package and catch fish, I’m a happy man.
Impressive durability
Jerkbaits generally get thrashed over time due to the hook rash from the aggressive darting action. You’ll find a lot of jerkbaits out there that might catch fish, but will start chipping and peeling after just a few fishing trips.
I’ve fished the Berkley Skinny Cutter 110+ around a lot of hard cover and I’ve yet to have one start sinking, chipping or cracking. I was a little nervous to see how they’d hold up because of their $7.99 price point, but so far I have no complaints in regards to durability. Hook rash has been very minimal and the structural integrity of the lure shows no signs of damage.
Versatile diving depths
If you’re targeting depths between 2 and 8 feet, you should be able to use the Berkley Skinny Cutter 110+ without any issues. By simply adjusting your rod angle and twitches, you can cover a large swath of the water column with one lure.
In the 2 to 4-foot depth range, you can effectively fish this lure with light, upward twitches of your rod tip. Its coffin-shaped bill allows it to deflect fairly well off of shallow cover, so hang-ups aren’t much of a problem.
Moderate, downward twitches of your rod tip will generally allow the bait to reach the 4 to 6-foot depth range which, in my area, is the prime depth for the best jerkbait action.
If the bass are positioned a bit deeper and hovering around the 8-foot range, increasing the aggressiveness of your downward twitches will get the Berkley Skinny Cutter 110+ in the optimal depth range.
Final impressions
This is an impressive jerkbait, especially at the $7.99 price point. They hold up well, catch lots of bass and you’ll be able to find some attractive colors whether you’re fishing for southern largemouth or nothern smallmouth. If you’re looking to add to your jerkbait collection, don’t overlook the Berkley Skinny Cutter 110+.
The Berkley Skinny Cutter 110+ is available at TackleWarehouse.com.
