I’ve been experimenting with a twitch bait for a few months now. However, prior to that, I was completely ignorant of this bait category. This leads me to say that I’m not going to assume that everyone knows what I’m talking about. I’ll try to explain it the best I can because these baits have a lot going on. A twitch bait looks and fishes a little like several things but not exactly like anything specific. At first glance, you might think it is a topwater, since it has a similar profile to a walking bait. Yet, once you throw it in the water, you’ll notice it starts to slowly sink.
If you give it a couple quick twitches, you’ll see that it behaves a lot like a jerkbait underwater. Without the lip of a jerkbait, a twitch bait doesn’t dive down as you work it. If you slow the twitches down, you can almost walk the bait like an underwater Spook. When you go to reel the bait in, it has an action similar to a Magic Swimmer. Pause the bait and it rocks to a stop and begins to slowly fall. As I said at the onset, this thing has a lot going on. Let’s talk more about how to fish it.
THE BAITS
I’ve been fishing with the Yo-Zuri 3DB Twitchbait 90mm SS. I got this bait in for testing last year but I didn’t really know anything about this type of bait at the time. So, it collected dust. Once I finally tied it on, my eyes were immediately opened to how unique this lure category is.
Though the category is relatively new, there are a number of twitch baits on the market. One of the latest to be introduced is the Bill Lewis Depth Strike, which will be available starting this month in three different sizes: ⅜, ½ and ⅝ ounces. Savage Gear has a new twitch bait too: the Twitch Reaper. Deps and Megabass offer twitch baits as well. As you can see, this is a technique that is becoming more and more popular.
One thing I like about this bait in particular is the “3D Prism” colorway that Yo-Zuri incorporates into some of their paint schemes. I have been fishing with the Prism Ghost Shad color and it looks just like a shad as I twitch it along. The shell of the bait is clear, while the inside has a shiny, shattered look to it that reflects light exactly like the body of a fluttering and struggling shad would.
FISH IT THREE WAYS
Let’s talk a little more about the different actions of this type of bait. I’ve caught bass on a twitch bait fishing it three different ways.
- Aggressively twitch it with a pump-pump-pause cadence like a jerkbait.
- Move it slow and stady, walking it underwater like a Spook.
- Simply reel it in.
I really like the versatility of this lure type; that’s the thing that makes it so appealing to me. Bass can be a little moody, we all know that. Having a bait that lets you adjust the action to accommodate the mood of the fish is very beneficial. If the bass are aggressively feeding near the surface, fire it out and work it fast. If they’re a little more subdued and out in open water, let the bait sink a little and twitch it slower. It has a lot of drawing power when you fish it like this, almost like a small glide bait.
Again, the action and profile are more akin to a jerkbait. Simply reeling the bait in offers a pretty sweet alternative to something like a spinnerbait or swimbait. The bait wiggles and rocks back and forth on a steady retrieve, giving off a little flash and drawing strikes without any pumping or pausing required.
I like fishing these baits on a 7-foot medium heavy casting rod with 15- or 17-pound fluorocarbon. I think you could back down a little from that if you’d like, maybe going all the way to a jerkbait rod with 12- or even 10-pound fluoro. I fished this bait in a pond a good bit though, so there was no need to back off that much and the chances of tying into a big one were good so I went with the heavier gear. I did have a couple fish pull off though, where a lighter action rod would have probably lowered the number of lost fish.
GO TO SCHOOL
I’ve found that twitch baits work well anytime you have a little breeze on the water. I suspect it’ll be a great bait to fish in colder water as well, similar to a jerkbait. However, I haven’t had the chance to test this theory yet. I do know that it’s a great bait for two applications in particular. I have another theory that I’ll explain in a moment. First, let me talk about the other two applications: a twitch bait is great for both schooling fish and pond fishing.
I’ve had a chance to chuck a twitch bait to bass that are chasing shad along the surface a few times. The action and profile of this lure make it perfectly suited for this style of fishing. Schooling bass are notorious for blowing up on topwaters and not getting them. The Yo-Zuri bait I’ve been fishing with is slow sinking, which makes it even better for this than a topwater at times. Since this bait drops just beneath the surface, but doesn’t sink far or fast, you can work it right under the water and the fish don’t have to break the surface to eat it.
Additionally, I like this bait for pond fishing, for a couple reasons. First of all, you can make bomb casts with it. You can probably throw it all the way across smaller ponds. I recently went out with it to a big pond I have access to and I could essentially fish 80-90% of the pond from the bank—casting towards the middle from all around it.
It’s also great for ponds because it slowly sinks. When I say slowly sinks, I’m talking about an inch a second maybe. The bait stays within a few feet of the surface the whole time, so you can fish it down the bank or out in the middle and the bait doesn’t bog down on the bottom in the shallow water like a lot of other baits would.
A THOUGHT
I also have a theory that this bait will work really well with forward-facing sonar. I still don’t have FFS yet, as I’m still wrestling with the decision to incorporate it into my fishing. My concern is that, if I do add FFS to my boat, I’ll be tempted to go all in. I like to catch fish “just fishing.” I like to do so in part to help others have the confidence to know they can just go fishing too and catch fish without having to have a $100,000 bass boat with every bell and whistle imaginable.
I’m not saying I’ve ruled the possibility out entirely though, especially after seeing the new Lowrance Eagle Eye units unveiled at ICAST, which include a 9-inch graph, transducer and FFS capabilities all for $999. That is pretty appealing indeed. Either way, that’s an entirely different conversation for another day.
If you do have FFS, I don’t hold it against you in the least. I think this would be a great bait to use with it. It has a lot of the same characteristics that the swimbaits, glide baits and jerkbaits have—and these are all baits that pair well with FFS. So, I think a twitch bait could be another great tool to add to the rotation if you do have this technology at your disposal–especially when you start looking at some of the other branded lures. With those heavier twitch baits, you’ll be able to get the bait much deeper and fish for bass that are suspended well beneath the surface.
VERSATILITY
A twitch bait may just be the most versatile lure I’ve ever fished with. There are other lure categories that you can do more with, like swimbaits for example. You can fish small swimbaits on jigheads and larger swimbaits other ways. However, as far as tying on one single bait and being able to do multiple things with it, I can’t think of another lure I’ve thrown that is as versatile.
You want bait that you can fish along the surface? Hold your rod up and twitch this lure quickly. Want a subtle presentation? Reel the bait back to the boat on a steady retrieve. Need to talk one into biting? Walk the bait back and forth beneath the surface. Throw it in a pond, creek, river or lake and you’re likely to get bit. A twitch bait is a sweet little bait and one I’m glad I stumbled upon.
