Let's Twist

René Kuhns presents two
nice hunks

Angling from small boats with twister tails enjoys increasing popularity among sea anglers

Whether on a chartered boat or your own dinghy: Boat angling on the Baltic Sea is currently enjoying increasing popularity. Particularly thrilling as well as successful: the use of twister tails on lightweight spinning rods. Rainer Korn explains the easy way to catch a codeveals his secret, how to catch a cod; Pictures: Sebastian Rose and Rainer Korn.

Not the slightest breeze over the Baltic Sea, one of these calm November days in-between the gales of the autumn. The view is incredibly good and the anglers on the fishing smaacks die of boredom since without drift and current they do not catch a single fish. Only the real professionals still get a catch once in a while, but empty buckets are common. This is the day of those boat anglers who know how to tease the cod with seemingly light and tasty lures. The bream gets a pause and the twister with a 10 - 25 gramms head is the best cod bait, connected directly with the line. All you need is a monofile line of 0,25 or 0,30 millimeter.

Edges & Mountains
The edges, mountains and plateaus under water are really good to use for catching the cod with a spinning rod. The leopard of the Baltic sea prefers the thickly covered grounds with vegetation. On the one hand it is a good shelter on the other hand it is their land of plenty. There they can find all they need: worms, crabs and shells and prawns.

Picture: Sebastian Rose

Optimal depth
For twisting you need a depth between 6 - 12 meters, depending on the drift. I suggest 8 - 10 meters, because I only need a 12 gramm head and I do not have to wait that long for the bait to reach the ground. What is more: the huge cods are quite often below 8 meters - and with the spinning rod you can feel the imposing power of an eight pounder.

Style
A slow pull in is useful, combined with rushing movements and the bait works perfectly. The common zigzag twister-method is not handy, because the bottom is not plain. An up and down movement is better. An alternative: fishing with floating heads. A thin steel pilker without a drilling is put half a meter in front of the twister. The weight should be between 30 and 60 gramm. With this you can control the bait because you never know exactly the water depth.

Colour information
Sunshine - red, cloudy - black, foggy - yellow and neon green, when sea gulls croak. We always take a lot of colours to the fishing spot. But a try always gains the chance for a big catch. Usually red, yellow-orange and black are successful colours. New on the market are double coloured twisters. But, what is more important, is the flexibility of the twister which has to twist seductively...Especially some bigger twisters are moving really slow. The early evening is the best time for twisting.

The right equipment
Spinning rods: length 2,70 m, twister between 15 - 50 g, winch size 40, 200 m 0,15 mm wicker or 0,28 mm monofile.

The north
In Norway twistern is really nice. The pollack and haddock join the cod, both like the rubber twister. Rule no.1: Pull in really slow! Pollacks pick once or twice before they grap the twister. Stay calm and wait until it really pulls. Best fishing areas for pollack: fields of seaweed and steep rock edges. The bait may hit the rock first before it falls into the water: the pollack likes to hunt directly at these steep faces.