The moment Noffsinger notes surface temperatures tickling the 43-degree mark, he rummages through Plano tackle totes in search of a suspending jerkbait. It’s the lure he and his clients use until the water warms into the high 50’s.

“I have my customers pause the bait so long between twitches that some of them actually get bored,” says Noffsinger. “But the next thing you know there’s a big bass engulfs their bait and boredom instantly turns to elation.”

Noffsinger targets water depths from the super skinny, say, 2-feet, down to 18-feet. Here, his tactic is to cast, reel in only a few feet for a quick dive, and then just let the lure sit motionless. Sometimes suspending up to two minutes before giving it another twitch.

“It was quite by accident I found that letting a lure sit suspended in the water column, doing nothing, was a technique,” said Noffsinger. “It started a few years back when I set my rod down to answer my cell phone, and, after several minutes, realized my lure was swimming away.”

When it comes to equipment, Noffsinger uses a 6 1/2-foot medium-action rod with a fast tip. Fluorocarbon of 8-pound test is his line preference. My personal favorite for employing this method is the 6-foot 8-inch St. Croix Legend Tournament Bass in the same action. Superline in the identical test is another low-stretch option that works well for spinning combos.

Motion detector
Sometimes the best trigger for strikes is a lure that falls ultra-slow through the water column, looking like a minnow on its last leg… er, fin.

Soft plastics poured with deep ribs for more water resistance, as well a wide minnow-like profile—such as a 3- or 4-inch Custom Jigs & Spin’s Moxi—will descend at a creep when threaded onto a lightweight jig head like a 1/16-, 3/32- or 1/8-ounce H20 Precision Jig. Just cast it out, give it a jerk or two and let it fall. Another tug or two and the lightweight lure will swim back up, and then fall once more during the pause.