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Author Topic: Twitching jigs for steelhead  (Read 12214 times)

BCfisherman97

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Twitching jigs for steelhead
« on: January 14, 2015, 03:42:16 PM »

Anyone trying this? Fell in love with twitching for coho and have moved to swinging spoons for steelhead, thinking of trying some jigs too.
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SteelheadAdict

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Re: Twitching jigs for steelhead
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2015, 04:01:52 PM »

I think it would work well i think your jigs would have to have a rabbit tail and some rubber legs so your are almost able to swing them like a swing a twitch
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SilverChaser

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Re: Twitching jigs for steelhead
« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2015, 05:04:33 PM »

fell in love with twitching jigs as well, really want to try this for steelhead. I couldn't really find anything online about it though.  :o
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bald_seagull

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Re: Twitching jigs for steelhead
« Reply #3 on: January 14, 2015, 05:22:12 PM »

fell in love with twitching jigs as well, really want to try this for steelhead. I couldn't really find anything online about it though.  :o

check national prostaff, theres a guy who fishes a creek in ontario, scott something? i remember a few years back when the site first started he had a few posts about jigging steelhead in creeks and rivers, if my memory stills works i think he was using small plastics, similar to berkley atomic tubes

this sparked my interest but it yielded no results for me. i only tried dead drifting under a float no twitching 

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Every Day

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Re: Twitching jigs for steelhead
« Reply #4 on: January 14, 2015, 05:22:57 PM »

In my experience, it very rarely works.

I have had ample opportunity the last couple years out here sight fishing over untouched, rather aggressive steelhead. Most of the time they don't even react to a twitched jig at all (winter runs that is). The only steelies I have picked up on them are summer runs, some days it can be money, other days not at all.

Swinging jigs... that works for both summer/winters. For whatever reason the twitching doesn't seem to very well (even though bouncing under a float they are money?). I think it has something to do simply with how fast they are moving and how much action you need to put on them to keep them off bottom. The good thing about jigs is they are easy to switch to if spoon fishing (with a spinning reel). Sometimes I'll leave a bobber stop on my line, and if I want to jig fish, throw on a small float and a jig under it and fish pockets from downstream - works very well!

That being said.. I don't use jigs much - I'd rather fly fish if I'm going to be using a "big heavy fly" anyway.
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dave c

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Re: Twitching jigs for steelhead
« Reply #5 on: January 14, 2015, 06:58:58 PM »

I use jigs on a regular basis for steelhead with good results.  For the most part I just dead drift but if the water conditions are flat and slow I will momentarily brake my pin reel throughout the drift to impart some action. I haave had strikes when doing this
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BCfisherman97

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Re: Twitching jigs for steelhead
« Reply #6 on: January 14, 2015, 09:38:16 PM »

I have sight fished a few in a tail out over the years and most of the fish I do catch have been at the end when I hold back my float and let my jig swing across the tail out. I think twitching jigs can be held off for summer runs.
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Pin-nook

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Re: Twitching jigs for steelhead
« Reply #7 on: January 15, 2015, 08:17:47 AM »

Saw it done on a local river but the guy doing it was after coho and was not aware he hooked a massive steelhead.  Needless to say he was under gunned and it broke him off once he tried to put pressure.  The guy was twitching a jig with an orange curly tail grub near the tailout.  There was a group of us up high watching and knew there was a pair sitting in the tailout and as soon as we saw the guy trying to pull out what looked like a snag, we looked at where his line was and we could see a big buck starting to slowly thrash. We yelled down and told him he had hooked a steelhead and he either couldn't hear or didn't understand cause he kept yanking with his little spinning rod till the line started moving up river. 
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cutthroat22

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Re: Twitching jigs for steelhead
« Reply #8 on: January 15, 2015, 12:45:11 PM »

Similar to others experience I have caught a few accidental steel mostly while the jig is swinging near the tailout while reeling in.  This has always been with curlytail grub style/no float. 

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BCfisherman97

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Re: Twitching jigs for steelhead
« Reply #9 on: February 20, 2015, 07:29:10 PM »

Tried it out today for the first time. Fished a pool where I knew there were fish and fish have been pulled out during the day but they were reluctant to start biting again. Took off my float set up and put on a blue/black jig with a lot of blue flash. Second cast got an 11 pound hatch doe. Another guy said he got one the other day twitching a red and white jig.
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BentRodsGuiding

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Re: Twitching jigs for steelhead
« Reply #10 on: February 21, 2015, 08:22:31 AM »

Of course a Steelhead will take a twitched jig if the water is correct for this presentation. One of the misconceptions is that twitching is only for Coho and only for frogwater.
Often steelhead will hold in deep pools where float fishing is not that effective, heres your chance to twitch them up.
I carry 3/8 ounce and 1/2 ounce jigs that allow twitching in spots with current.
Simply cast up river slightly and hop the jig as it travels downstream.
One thing to consider is that twitching is better performed with a shorter rod than ones we use for float fishing.
I would suggest heading out for the day with a 9 foot rod, spinning reel and a box containing , spinners(weighted), spoons and some twitching jigs. This will allow you to fish any and all water you encounter and show the fish something different.

Tight lines and Bent Rods
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