Ok I am still kind of new to strictly bass fishing...never used a jerk bait! What would be a good one to start with and how do I work it? I fish Hawkins and Holbrook most of the time .

I personally like and mostly use Spro jerkbaits and play with different retrieves until you find what they want.

call always start with your rogues and cheaper jerkbaits to get started but once you throw a lucky craft or megabass its hard to go back. I good cheaper alternative and the Lucky strike Rick clunn Jerk baits that are megabass clones play with the retrieve but a twitch twitch pause is a good place to start

I love the Livingston Lures Stick Master jerkbait. And for a smaller size jerkbait, I'll use a Rapala X-Rap 08. Like lamoon said, I usually work different retrieves until I find the way they want it. It's usually like a jerk, jerk, pause retrieve. Sometimes three jerks then pause. Generally, the colder the water temps, the longer the pause.

Are jerkbaits supposed to float back up? Or does it literally sit there?

A floating jerk bait will float back up. A suspending jerk bait will suspend.

A suspending jerkbait will even sink a little with fluorocarbon line. Sometimes the bass like this, sometimes they want it sitting perfectly still during the pause.

Jerk, jerk, pause. The first fish I ever caught on a jerk bait hit as I watched a plane fly over. That is when the light came on. They often like a looong pause.