Twitch Baits

One of the best ways to trigger strikes from bass relating to cover is to throw a twitch bait. The ideal twitch bait should have an erratic action when it's worked back towards the boat. The bait should also include rattles to draw attention from surrounding bass and have the shape and profile of a bait fish. Smack Tackle's Gizz 3 and Gizz 4 series of crankbaits are the exact shape and size of a gizzard shad. The baits also have a rattle chamber that produces a lot of noise when the bait is jerked. One thing about the Gizz series of cranks is that they can be made to do a 180 in the water which triggers vicious strikes.

The key to working these baits is to throw them around the nastiest cover you can find and then let them sit for a second. Start out by giving the bait a quick snap of the wrist to make the bait dive and wait till it floats back up to bulge the surface. Then give the bait a couple of short twitches until it dives back under the surface and repeat. The action as well as the noise from these baits will pull bass up out of the cover and that last twitch is usually irresistable.

The twitch bait technique is especially deadly on bass when they are suspending in the tops of trees or laydowns. Another place to gives these baits a try is around grass beds. What I look for is open lanes in the grass. I will take these twitch baits and throw them all the way to the back and tease the bass into striking by working them back with short twitches of the rod just along the grass line.

If you happen to stumble upon schooling bass don't be afraid to break out the twitch baits. Sometimes the bass will not come up to eat a topwater but they will take something worked just under the surface. A twitch bait can be the best bait when the bass are looking up and chasing shad.