Taming the Twist

[shadypaddler]

Hello everyone, I'm a long time lurker and finally decided to take the plunge. I've fished hardwater for quite a few years now and read many articles talking about holding the bait still after jiggling/jigging it. Well I would like to swallow any pride that I have and ask those of you all that have figured this out "How is it done?" I upgraded to fireline thinking it might be my cheap line, but that hasn't helped so I seek the wealth of knowledge on this board.

[CSP88]

The easiest method is to add a barrel swivel 12-16" above your lure.

Chad

[Deitz Dittrich]

Welcome to the boards, great to have you with us! Dont worry about asking questions, its what keep the boards going!

As for line twist. It could be the lure.. some lures have a higher tendancy to twise.. Spoons are one. When fishing a spoon I will use a swivel...

Otherwise, I thin kit has a lot to do with how one puts biat on thier lure. Make sure you put the bait on in such a way that it will not twist the lure... Play around with how you hook different bait in shallow water and look how it affects your lure. its quite amazing.

[ozzie]

I have mentioned this in the panfish forum but I read an article by Dave Genz that said he puts 50 feet of new line on often and then he stretches the line out arms length at a time. Stretching takes the twists out....seems to work.

[slipperybob]

When you use mono lines it can develop memory by just being on the reel, even overnight from fishing just yesterday. The stretching the line out works really well. It prevents that coiling line memory which in turn reduces the lure from simply swimming in circles on it's descent.

At times very limp line can reduce twisting at other times very stiff lines does a better job. I think it depends on your reel's twist buster roller. The other cause is as mentioned, your lure does it to you. Choosing a slightly different lure can dramatically change how more/less circles it does, like dart head jigs as oppose to ball head jigs.