Fishing with My 4" Twitch Shads

           There’s something about fishing a soft jerkbait that never gets old. For me, it’s the way a bass can appear out of nowhere, nose up on a bait, and commit just as it starts to fall. That moment is why I love throwing my 4" Twitch Shads. They’re small, simple, and they flat-out catch fish when bass are focused on baitfish.

I fish them just about everywhere. In the spring, when bass are cruising the shallows and guarding beds, I’ll twitch one across a flat and kill it right over a bluegill bed. In the summer, I’m throwing them over grass lines and skipping them under docks. When fall comes and the bass start pushing shad to the surface, nothing beats working a Twitch Shad right through the middle of a school. Even in those cold-front days, I’ll let it sink and shimmy, and it still gets bit.

My Go-To Colors

I keep it pretty simple when it comes to colors. Natural Shad and Threadfin Shad are always tied on for clear water. If I’m around grass or bluegill beds, I’ll go with Sungill or Baby Bass. And then there’s Darter, my ghosty confidence color that just works anywhere.

How I Rig Them

Over the years, I’ve tried just about every way to rig a Twitch Shad, and each one has its time and place. Most often, I’ll throw it on a weightless EWG hook, which lets the bait glide and fall naturally—two twitches, let it fall, and I just wait for that line to jump. On windy days or when I need to get deeper, I’ll rig it on a light 1/8 oz jighead and work it like a hard jerkbait. If the fish are acting picky, especially clear-water smallmouth, I’ll nose-hook the bait to give it extra freedom and a subtle, natural look. Around grass, I’ll go with a belly-weighted hook, which keeps the bait tracking true through cover. And when the bass are schooling, nothing beats the double-fluke rig—two Twitch Shads darting side by side like a pair of fleeing baitfish, and the strikes can get absolutely chaotic.

How I Fish Them

The retrieve is everything with a Twitch Shad. Most of my bites come on a simple twitch-twitch-pause. Two sharp jerks, let it glide, then kill it. You’ve got to make yourself pause longer than you want to—it’s on that fall when a bass usually eats. Sometimes I’ll work it just under the surface, walking it back and forth like a topwater. Other times I’ll let it glide down deeper, especially if I’m fishing clear water smallmouth. And there are days when I do almost nothing—just cast, let it sink, pop it once, and let it sit. You’d be surprised how many fish can’t stand that.

Seasons with the Twitch Shad

In the spring, it’s all about shallow flats and grass edges. A couple of twitches and a long pause will fool both cruisers and bed fish. As summer sets in, I throw them over grass and around docks, fishing them a little faster and keeping them higher in the water column. When fall arrives and bass are schooling, I go with the double-fluke rig. Nothing matches a feeding frenzy better than two Twitch Shads darting through a ball of bait. In the winter, or during tough cold fronts, I slow everything down. I’ll let the bait fall on a slack line and give it a single twitch every so often, just enough to draw a strike from lethargic fish.

The beauty of the 4" Twitch Shad is how many ways you can fish it. It’s a bait that looks alive with just the slightest twitch, and bass can’t seem to resist it. I’ve caught largemouth in grass beds, smallmouth on rocky flats, and plenty of fish schooling on shad. No matter the season, I always keep a few tied on—you never know when a school of bass will push bait right in front of you.