Moved from the south Sound area to Boise about six years ago, but every year I visit my parents (who live in Federal Way) in the fall. The schedule dictates I'll only have one day to fish, Monday the 22nd. At least the pinks won't be running this year so the crowds might be less.

Since I moved out here I've gotten hooked on jig making. It's a great feeling catching a good fish on gear you made yourself. The dams on the Snake River block salmon from reaching Boise, so most of my ties are for trout, crappie and smallmouth.

A friend gave me a 3/8th and 1/2 ounce jig mold so I'm anxious to tie some twitching jigs up for salmon. I'll probably be fishing the Green or the Puke, but I may hit Dash Point instead if the fish haven't moved up by then.

Can anyone suggest some winning color combos?

Pink, Pink/Chartreuse, Flame Orange/Pink, Flame Orange/Chartreuse, Purple/Black, Blue/Black, Purple/Pink, Chartreuse and Red aswell for tidal water. There's many more but those are popular and will work everywhere... These should get you started.

Ok not to try and hijack a thread here but what is twitching? I've not heard of this before. Thanks

It's a jigging technique for slow-moving water in rivers and shallow saltwater. Takes a 1/4 to 1/2 ounce jig. The idea is to make the jig move vertically up and down in short hops near the bottom.

aka jigging,just like you'd do for bass or crappie.

Blue/black, purple/black and the nightmare patterns have always produced for me when targeting fish on the Snohomish system.

I have tried all the colors, and they all work fine, and I have tied them in a variety of sizes and materials, and they all work fine...and now I have narrowed it down to purple in clear water and pink in colored water, and those two work just as well as all the other colors do.

I also stopped bothering with tying them as I have found that a pink or purple hootchie crammed on a leadhead works as well as any other material and takes about fifty cents and ten seconds to build up.

I still tie up a handful every year and fiddle around with colors and sizes, but 90% of the time I will have either a 2 1/2" or 4 1/2" hootchie, in either pink or purple, on my line.

Fish on...

Todd

I think the only color that won't work is the one you don't try. The action on a jig seems to be the thing that triggers bites, and they usually happen on the drop.

Like Todd said, a hootchie on a jig hook will work as well as anything. I like marabou, because it looks better in the water to me (as if that should matter).

Any color will work, as long as it's pink.

Clarification question Todd…….is that lead head the type with lead molded onto the head-end of the hook or just a bullet weight slid down the line to an independent hook? Seems both would work fine??

Either way for me, Eric...leadhead is just the easiest.

Fish on...

Todd

Thanks for the input, folks. If I were fishing for a whole season I'd probably go the hoochie-on-a-jighead route, but since it's just for one day I'll use my own. I just like using my own stuff. I gave away all my soft plastics and only use hand-tied jigs. They're more durable than plastic and they work.

I bought a 25 pack of Gamakatsu 604s and poured up 12 of each size yesterday. I also have a walleye head mold with eye sockets that goes up to 5/8ths so I made one of those too just for laughs. Here's a smaller version of this head tied up for crappie and bass:



This pattern took both my PB black crappie and smallmouth this year:

best colors are black/blue black/purple straight black and nightmare for maribou/bunny jigs. Other than that its like todd said, big or small hoochie in either pink or purple

Whatever they can fit in their mouths?

Seriously, I think yellow perch are the main forage fish, along with young bass, crappie and squawfish. But mostly perch. I've caught bass and crappie that were coughing them up on the way in.

SW Idaho gets the long, hot summers warmwater fish need to grow to respectable size. Both fish were caught in the same reservoir. I've also caught 24"+ rainbows and 10" bluegills out of the same water.

Todd do big coho bite jigs?

Up in Alaska we fish 3/8 oz jigs and any combination of Pinks or Black and green work just fine, even purple/black.
These were all caught last week by these girls on 3/8oz jigs in pink and black and black and green, they had 50 fish days on the Situk all on jigs!

you know. it would be a great idea if someone made a video showing how this is done.

I would not want to step on Merg's game!
But making a video of the teens hooking Coho would be great, they had a blast laughing and competing and squealing over every hook-up!
There biggest this trip was 16 lbs. but they hooked many in the lower teens everyday.
We plan to have a video on the web site.
GBL

Why a video???????? Not tough to do....

1. Cast, let jig hit bottom.

2. Pick rod tip up, 1 - 4 feet.

3. Drop rod tip. Most fish are "legally caught" on the drop.

3.5....crank in a few feet.....repeat 2 and 3

4. repeat process........cast right or left, of last spot.

Duo-lock snap, allows me to change jigs, quickly. High Vis line allows me to see when jig "hits bottom". If you don't like losing jigs, then go to 40-50 pound braid.....can pull most jigs off snags.

3/8 oz. works best for me.......1/8 and 1/4, just take to long to get to bottom, for me.

I've caught fish in water 20 foot deep and all water in between. If you can see fish rolling. and don't get them to bite....CHANGE JIG COLOR, often that does the trick...

Viper, twitchin' can be some of the most fun fishing you have ever done. Give it a try. The colors mentioned above are standard and will get you onto fish. FleaFlicker is right, the action of the floppy tail and the lead head drop is what triggers a strike. It is imperative to let the line go limp on the drop. Snap the rod tip up, then drop it and let it go limp. The fish will pick it on the drop, and you will feel it the next time you twitch it.

Arklier-It is not only used for slow water, if there are coho, or any other of the salmonids that we target for that matter, in runs or traveling water, "drift twitching" as I call it can produce very well. Basically just cast a bit up stream like the drift fisherman do, and twitch the rod normally like you would. The only difference is that with the retrieve you only reel in the slack so that it stays in the drift longer. Coho who are traveling or sitting in a run love this.

Drifter-I think it is helpful to clarify the "legally caught" comment. Greater than 90% of the fish that I catch twitching are honest biters with the jigs inside the mouth, and the hook usually in the top of the mouth as would be expected as the hook points up. Every now and then I will accidentally pull my jig into the belly of a fish, but this is certainly the exception not the rule. I just mention this to let those who haven't tried it know, twitched jigs drive predatory fish crazy and trigger strikes. Some of those who haven't tried it feel that this is modified snagging, which is absolutely not the case.

Also, I have twitched jigs in deep water to suspended fish. With that, I let the jig sink for as long as I think is appropriate and then start my twitching retrieve. You get used to the feel of the jig on the rod tip. If you don't feel the weight of the jig on the retrieve, reel down hard because the chances are you have a fish that is traveling towards you and he hasn't spit it out yet.

This is a lot of fun!

The twitch also does wonders on giant boot male kings, if you're into that kind of thing. Those Tule strain fish in the lower St. Joe oughta like that when they're kegged up in low water Mr. Viper!

fb

I agree the jig head should be blue, black, pink, or purple. The body should be any combination of black, purple, and pink. My preference is a 1/2 oz. black jig head on a Gammy hook, with pink/purple body (cross-cut rabbit fur). But like Todd said, alot of different combinations are equally as effective. Go with what you're confident will catch fish.

In my view, twitching a jig is both easier and more effective than snagging. If those lunkheads I see trying to snag salmon illegally would just switch to twitching a jig, they would never go back to snagging.

I don't think jig color rerally matters, or even if the head is painted. Coho's just don't care. Twitching does work better in slow seams of the river but just casting as you go down the river will likely find you other types of water and places that the fish are holding in. We have located fish along the edges of the river in places that you would never expect them to be, on the next trip we caught them there again sometimes in only 2 feet of water. Fish bright colors first then go to dark ones when fishing the same hole after the fish turned off the bite.

Our fist encounter of a person twitching a jig was late in the season B-run fish on the Skoke, they were not even using feathers, plastic, or any thing on the hook. Just a painted lead head and hook, yea they were snagging a few fish but most of them were hooked in the throat. So it's more of a presentation thing, the vertical up and down action really gets those coho's going and they bite.

Oh boy. Use Grey and moss green. Secret killer combo


You can put Alaska numbers down in Washington. Plain and simple.

DrifterWA....i remember seeing you down there no video.fornyou sir. Sounds like you got.it dialed in fish ooooonnnnnnn. Hahha.

Those fawkers....
They musta got my address wrong when they were mailing out the check.

IMHO color is not the most important factor. Presented properly any color will catch coho. This jig was still catching even after this photo was taken.

Forget this Dave Vedder guy. He doesn't even use hair gel.

I remember that one Dave. They don't seem to care as long as it's moving!

JD

But if color doesn't matter, how will I justify the 30+ colors of powder paint and all the materials that I have?

Thanks for the pics. I've tied some up and hope to use them on Monday. I'll take a few pictures later today.

color matters in dirty water and crystal clear water imo.

good thing most the people to post havent been on the same page as me.