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| I am wondering what constitutes a twitch bait? My first year knowledge isn't all that great, but I'm learning. Is a twitch bait, just a crank bait retrieved like a glide bait or jerk bait? Or is it a a separate type of lure all together? Could you please give me some examples of lures you use as twitch bait and in what conditions you use them? Thanks.
Andy
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| Shallow lipped cranks are mostly twichbaits for the most part. Lately some new styles of flat sided baits like TR's have been used quite often with good success.
Here is an article I wrote long ago, maybe this can help. | |
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| Spring Trophies on the Twitch
Dont wait tell summer to stick your trophy, start in right away in the spring.
by Jason Smith
Spring Trophies on the Twitch
By Jason Smith
Muskies in the spring are a sure cure for the winter blues. We all await that first bone crushing strike, that sends a tremble to our feet. As far as I’m concerned there is only one method that does this for me and that is twitching. I will explain the specifics to where when and how you can cure your trophy blues all in a twitch.
Classic Twitch Bait Areas
With the comming of the spring, there is also the emergence of new fresh weed growth into our lakes. Fishing in the new emergent cover in and around spawning areas are some of the best spots to look for. These areas
usually range from one to four feet, with available weed growth, such as cabbage, coontail, and milfoil. Other areas tight to shoreline cover, trees, docks etc can be explosive. Pick these pockets of structure, working in close proximity to the areas. In other words don’t cast from the break line in, move your boat in the slop and pick apart the pockets
with dozens of short casts. Old remnant vegetation can also hold muskies, when mixed with rock. These areas warm up the quickest, and when mixed with wave action to bring in the baitfish, then can often be the hottest thing going. These are some of the first spots I hit in very early May.
The Best Spring Lakes
Fertile lakes that warm up quicker, have an abundant amount of vegetation and good water clarity are the best. Clear less fertle, often deep lakes can be very behind in the spring progression. Dark flowages can also be good if you work tight to structure, areas with stumps, downed trees and cattails in warm bays can hold dozens of muskies.
Deep Weed Growth
Often we see new vegetation on the deeper edges and that will hold muskies. Work these areas with a deep twitch presentation. Use cranks that dive to seven or eight feet (like the slammer deep diver) and crank them down, then pump the rod and reel in with short pauses. Remember to keep the crank bait low at the boat, because those slow spring muskies will not come up and turn into a figure eight that often. These areas will hold some of the biggest fish just after spawn, when they set up for a possible second spawn. Using slow pauses with small jerk baits like the Undertaker can also be very productive in these areas.
Which Baits, When and How
When it comes to twitch baits there are many to choose from Baits that are wood, plastic, round or square lipped. Wooden twitch baits like the Slammer and the Crane rise much faster, that gives it the advantage of working shallow water down to 5ft and shallow cover. Plastic baits like the Grandma, Jake and Shallow Raider rise much slower this allows you to fish more deeper remnant vegitation. Plastic baits almost all ways have rattles which can be good or bad. The Slammer with the rounded lip works with an erratic action. Give the bait two long pulls and two quick pops, this makes the bait go into a change up. This type of action a following lunge can’t refuse. The Crane bait with the squared off lip gives the baits more vibration that can pull fish out. Wooden glide type twitch baits like the Undertaker, Reef Hawg and Slip Slider can be worked real slow with very short and light taps of the rod tip. These baits work great on those deep flats and edges where slow presentations are needed. They are also great fish finders, for the side to side action often attracts fish that were sometimes overlooked by other fast action minnowbaits and bucktails.
Rod Movement
When working a twitch bait, the rods position and the abiliy to pick up slack in a hurry is very important. I use a eight foot rod that is medium heavy. Lamiglas offers a great eight foot rod for this use as does other rod companies like St. Croix. Work the rod with the rod tip scraping surface of the water at about ten to fifteen degrees off center, meaning not directly square between your feet, but a little off to your hook setting side. The reason for this is to get sideways on the hookset instead of setting into the side of the boat or straight up in the air. Palming the reel helps make your movement in the direction easier and gives you more control on the pulls and pauses. Crank your reel tow or three times just as you finish your pull and as you crank, move the rod tip out in front of you. this way there is no slack line developing. Because muskies most often hit on the pause, it it very important to keep
control of your line and rod in order to set the hook and make the bait perform at its best.
The Spring Hook Set
In the spring muskies will often nip or hit short on the bait. They don’t always inhale the bait like summer or fall muskies do. To increase your odds on the hook set, have very sharp hooks set the hook with the rod tip going sideways in order to rip the hook into the muskies mouth, instead of out or in the upper roof of the mouth of the muskie. This way the lower hook on the bait will catch the lower jaw or corner of the mouth. When a muskie hits a dead rise technique I get the hook into the corner of the mouth with one long sweep of the rod tip. This placement of the hook is one of the best possible spots that muskies are most often boated on, and injury is virtually nonexistent.
The Boat Side Twitch
Most of the muskies I catch on this method are within five feet of the boat, so boat control in this area of the cast is critical. As the bait slowly approaches the boat I make the bait pause just a little longer with a dead rise action, with the back of the bait touching the surface. I then lower my rod into the water adn roll into a deep “L” turn at teh
boat. If there is a muskie following he will be low, so keep the bait low and infront of the muskie. Remember to keep working the bait slow and maintain the same action that brought the muskie in, and make your turns very wide. Rolling the bait up and over the muskies snout often works better then the conventional summertime firgure eight. Remember be pattient with the dead rise, the muskies will hit it and when he does give him the iron.
Water Temps
Always look for the warmest water available in a given body of water. In the spring, water temperatures can vary from spot to spot as much as three or four degrees. Wind activity on that day or the day before can bring new life to an area. When I’m ready to go I take a look at my
notes from the previous day. If it’s sunny adn flat calm, I fish the warm dark bottom bay adjacent to deep water. If its very windy, I fish the windy side of the bay knowing the warm water will move into those areas, as well as the bait fish. Try productive areas thoroughly, then move to other spots and do the same. Run and Gun to find active fish in small areas. When I start in the spring, water temperatures range from 50 to 55 degrees. Most fo these fish are very tight to any available cover in the warmest water they can find. They will move according to the wind and bait fish. Muskies in the spring want an easy meal.
Run and Gun
I rig two or three rods up with the baits of my choosing usally a Slammer, Jake and an Undertaker. All areas are different, on one end of hte lake there could be a large flat adjacent to deep water. On the other end there could be over hanging tree cover, docks and feeder creeks. In the first area, I would use a twich bait and pick apart the pockets of new cabbage by covering the high percentage ambush points with dozens of short casts so that the area can be covered effectively. In the second area i would use a glide type twich baits with slow pauses in and around the
cover, and a minnow bait up real tight to cover. Treat all spots differently, learn to use your time effectively be openend minded to changing tactics, using different approaches making muskie more enjoyable.
Boat Control
How the boat is postioned and the speed at which you coveer an area can make a big difference in the amount of hook sets. Work the boat into the wind, this will force you to fish spots more effectively instead of wasting half your cast reeling slack line bacause the boat is drifting too fast. Working into the cover like I previously mentioned is very important. You wont spook these fsih if you knock on their door step, just remember to keep knocking with short precise casts. If weeds are a problem, twitch fast and hard through them, just remember to make longer pauses. Working into the wind will help you cover these areas more effectively. So when you leave those areas, you will know you have done your best.
Trophies
Your more likely to catch more males in the spring because the big females are not always in the feeding mood. But you can trigger these fsih by twitching right in front of their face. I don’t believe that they are always hungry, ubt to them seeing a twitch bait do a change up and pause infront of there snout is hard to resist. These muskies can not be worked fast, they are tired and lazy. As far as I’m concerned, you can not work a bait slow enough in the spring. I often count too five between twitches. Big muskeis can be caught in the spring with twitch baits, if you work the bait real slow and incorporate a trigger.
The Final Twitch
To me muskies in the spring are a breath of fresh air. The winter blues seem to last too long and if you ar not ou this spring because you are waiting for the warm summer, you’re missing the boat. Spring muskeis can be easy and exciting with plenty of hits and follows. That can get any muskie hunter’s blood boiling. So get out those Slammers, Jakes, Cranes, Reef Hawgs and Undertakers, sharpen those hooks, look over those lake maps and start pounding the water a little earlier this year. You might have a trophy before you know it.
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| Jason,
Thanks for the article. From what I understand then; are glide baits and twitch baits the same with the difference being a glide bait doesn't have a lip and a twitch bait would be a crankbait worked with short taps? THanks.
andy
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| Thanks for the great article Jason, I have boated a fish three years in a row on the spring Northern opener with these techniques. | |
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| My 6" Reef Hawgs are the best twitch baits I have. Don't have a lip, but come alive more than any lipped bait on the 2" twitch. | |
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| I know this might sound crazy but to me a Twitch Bait is a minnow shaped lure with FLAT sides. A 6 inch Grandma, Straight Shallow Raider, 10 inch Jake etc. Lip or no lip, if it has flat sides it will twitch way better than any other style of lure.
On the other hand a Crankbait is a lipped lure with round sides. Baby Depth Raider, Depth Raider, Deep Diving Slammer etc.
Now, can you twitch a crankbait, absolutely. Can you crank a twitch bait, yes you can. Is there a difference, absolutely. Did I say anything in this post. Probably not[:)] God bless. | |
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| I believe twitching is a way to fish a lure. You can twitch crankbaits (flatsided ones are best for this, shallow runners) like slammers and bucher shallowraiders by fishing them with shorts jerks and pulls, making the bait dart all over the place.
You can fish some jerkbaits the same way like small reef hawgs, TR twitchers, even small bobbie baits. | |
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| Andy,
Great question.
Bottom line answer - any bait you have on the end of your line can be twitched. I like twitching minnow baits, deep diving crankbaits, smaller crank baits, bucktails, jerkbaits, glidebaits, topwaters..........well, you get the picture.
There are some effective Twitching (triggering) techniques that you can use with just about every type of bait that is out there.
So what's twitching? Answer - can be a lot of things.
1) Short downward quick pops with your rod.
2) Short sideways quick pops with your rod.
3) Short upwards quick pops with your rod.
4) Hard pops with a pause
on and on and on...........no true definition. Make it up as you go along. Every bait reacts differently to different techniques. Soon, with time on the water, you'll figure out what works best for you.
Examples for me:
Bucktails - twitching rubber hair tails like a Shady Tail it a great triggering technique. The skirt flares out and pulsates, driving fish wild.
Suicks - twitching it across the surface over the slop and making it dive into the open areas.
Surface baits like a Pacemaker - if a fish is following and doesn't get excited, try giving the rod a short quick pop while still reeling smoothly.
Possibilities are endless.............
Good luck! | |
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| jason, a good article by the way! It's great to read how YOU fish those baits for someone else to get new idea's. Can we expect more of that type of articles or are you looking for people to write such articles?
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| Divani,
I have a few more articles in the works...just keep an eye the site and they will show up. Glad you liked it.[:)] | |
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What constitutes a twitch bait?