Beyond the Twitch (More than just a Coho Crusher)

Salmon Trout Steelheader Podcast

From a deadly niche-technique, to a West Coast phenomenon, “Twitching” has added a new tool in many coho (silver) salmon anglers arsenals. This technique has been covered in STS before, and there are many excellent resources to learn more about the basic twitching technique.

Basic Twitching

Here is a quick breakdown of basic twitching.

• Cast into your target water
• Do not allow your jig to hit bottom, instead twitch at least 12 inches from bottom and up.
• Lift the rod tip quickly and drop it immediately. Your line should fall slack for a natural drop. Do not slowly drop your rod tip.
• Reel after the drop and twitch again. If you’re in danger of touching bottom (for instance, when casting upstream) reel in more line. If you’re upstream of your jig, you may not need to reel much at all. Just make sure you don’t let it snag on bottom.
• Cover water quickly and try to cover the hole from a few different angles.

This could be expounded upon dramatically, but let’s move past the standard twitching technique to look at some other ways to fish twitching jigs.

Why change it up? When I started twitching I rarely saw other anglers using the technique (I was the first!!! Just kidding…), but now almost every angler I run into has a rod tied up for twitching. By utilizing some other styles, you can give the fish something different to look at.