Line twist is one of those small, overlooked issues that can have really big problems when it comes to your success on the water. Line twist is caused by memory in lines such as monofilament or fluorocarbon. As these lines sit on the small spinning reels used when ice fishing, is reeled against the drag when fighting a fish and continues to go through ice build ups and heat cycles line twist becomes more and more serious.
Line twist becomes a major problem in your presentation, because it causes your jigs and spoons to spin violently in the water. As you drop your bait down and begin to fish, the bait will spin violently back and forth even when you may not be attempting to move it at all. This spinning is a major turn off to fish and can really decrease your catch rates.
You can easily determine if line twist is being an issue by looking at your bait at the top of your ice hole. Drop your lure a few inches below the surface and watch how it reacts. If it sits motionless and moves with jig strokes as it should, you’re good to go. If it begins spinning back and forth, you’ve got a line twist issue. Luckily, there are a variety of ways to combat line twist and allow you to present your baits properly all season long.
Braid and Barrel Swivels
I deploy a variety of tools to combat line twist. The first tool is braid. Unlike monofilament and fluorocarbon, braid has no memory and won’t kink and coil when sitting on a reel or reeled against a fish. Braid also has no-stretch properties, which gives me firm hooksets especially in deep water. The increased strength also allows me to bring in large walleye and pike, even on 3-4lb test line. You can learn more about line properties in Fishing Line Simplified.
The draw back to braid is it is highly visibility in the water. When you’re fishing a situation there is no wind, no waves, clear water and fish have plenty of time to inspect your presentation, high visibility braid may turn off fish on the fence about biting.
This is where the barrel swivel comes in. I love the size 10 Spro Power Swivels. They’re tiny, difficult to see but yet extremely tough. Not only does this swivel act as a connection between my braid mainline and my leader, but swivels also do an excellent job reducing line twist.
Attached to the other end of my swivel, is a fluorocarbon leader. Fluorocarbon is invisible under the water and also incredibly resistant to abrasion as well. This means fish won’t be able to see my presentation and I’ll have durability against those northern pike you often encounter across the upper Midwest.
When I’m fishing walleyes, I favor a 4-6lb braid mainline and attach a 4-6lb fluorocarbon leader. If I’m fishing an area I expect to run into a lot of pike, I might bump this up to 8-10lb fluorocarbon. For bluegill, crappie, perch and other panfish, I favor a 3-4lb braid mainline with a 3-4lb fluorcarbon leader. For all of these species, I make my leader as long as possible that I can still land a fish easily without reeling my swivel through the eyelet(s).
When I go fishing for lake trout or trophy northern pike, I bump up my sizes for everything. I often go with 10-30lb braid and 20-30lb fluorocarbon leader. For this situation, I favor a size 6 Spro Power Swivel as the longer rods allow me to have a longer leader, making the more visible swivel less of an issue.
Some anglers make the case that to fully reduce line twist, you want both of your lines on each side of the swivel to be braid. I feel this actually reduces catch rates, because you have a highly visible line right on the business end of your set up. If you’re fishing dirty water and/or there is significant snow cover on top of the ice, you can get away with this. However, if the water is clear and the fish are finicky you’re going to have turned off fish.
It took several years of experimentation for me to fully commit to the system I laid out above, but I now will set my rods up only with this system. I feel it’s really plays to the advantages of all the components involved and results in more fish over the course of a season.
You can learn more about fishing with barrel swivels in The Benefits of Barrel Swivels. In the following video, I outline how I rig up my line for the season and discuss more in-depth why I select the lines I do.
In-Line Reels
Chris Seylar has spent a significant amount of time targeting panfish across the Iowa Great Lakes and eastern South Dakota and has learned how important line twist is for success. Fishing the Iowa Great Lakes and Glacial Lakes of South Dakota, extremely clear water is going to come in to play. Couple this with small jigs and combating line twist is critical to success.
Chris has experienced great success utilizing in-line reels to both combat line twist and open up his line options. The benefits of in-line reels are exactly what they sound like. As opposed to spinning reels, there is no twisting to put the line on and off the spool. Line is either being reeled straight up or line is being dropped straight down. This means it won’t be constantly twisted like on a spinning reel.
Because of this, Chris is still able to use monofilament and fluorocarbon. When he’s faced with finicky panfish in clear water, the visibility of braid can have an impact on how many fish can be converted into biters. Chris deploys both of these lines as mainline and no barrel swivel is required so he can tie directly to the bait.
The lack of an additional component and a low visibility line can have an impact on those days fish are acting passively. When faced with clear water, finicky fish and bright conditions he can fish knowing he’s done everything he can to make sure his baits are fishing exactly as they should.
Learn more about Chris’ set up for panfish when he talks Go-To Set-Ups for Panfish and talks rod selection, in-line reels, his favorite jigs and his jigging stroke. Check it out!
To Tie It Up
Line twist is a concern that many anglers have, but some simple steps can help make sure it isn’t negatively impacting your presentation. Whether it’s using braid and a barrel swivel or having an in-line reel be your next ice fishing purchase, you can hit the water confident your baits will be fishing just like they should. Good fishing!
Related Readings
Often one of the cheapest components of your rig, barrel swivels bring a wide variety of benefits. Find out how to take advantage of this small component and increase your presentation as a whole in The Benefits of Barrel Swivels.
One of the greatest advancements in the fishing tackle industry, there are a wide variety of fishing lines on the market and all of them offer their distinct advantages and disadvantages. Learn all about line in Fishing Line Simplified!
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