February 22, 2016
By Ned Kehde
In the eyes of most Midwest finesse anglers, Berkley's Powerbait Twitchtail Minnow is a nifty-looking three-inch stickbait that is endowed with a thin tail that flickers and gyrates almost incessantly.
The tip of its tail has a larger circumference than the portion of the tail that radiates off its torso, which makes the tip heavier, and that extra weight is what one of Berkley's field testers called the lifeblood of all the tail's movement. This field tester called it a stump tail, and he noted that an angler can cause the tail to twitch alluringly with the slightest shake of a spinning rod. And around lairs that are endowed with current, the tail undulates constantly.
Other anglers have described it as possessing a lifelike action that replicates the profile of a variety of baitfish.
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The folks at Berkley say it is an ideal bait to affix to a drop-shot rig. Most Midwest finesse anglers, however, will rig it on a 1/32-, 1/16-, or 3/32-ounce mushroom-style jig, and the size of the hook on their mushroom-style jigs will be as small as a No. 6 and no bigger than a No. 2.
It is manufactured in the following colors: Black Shad, Breen-Clear Chartreuse, Clear Bluegill, Clear Gold-Black Back, Clear Golden Shiner, Clear Silver Shiner, Clear Smelt, Green Pumpkin, Pearl Watermelon Shad, Pearl White, Perch, Pink-Pearl, and Smelt.
It is impregnated with Berkley's Powerbait scent and flavor formula.
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Anglers can acquire a package of 15 for $4.99.
Endnotes:
(1) BassFan.com reported on Aug. 27 Bandon Palaniuk of Rathdrum, Idaho, used the Twitchtail Minnow on a drop-shot rig to catch five smallmouth bass that weighed 23-04 pounds at the Plano Bassmaster Elite tournament on Lake St. Clair at Detroit. Palaniuk's biggest smallmouth bass weighed 6-03 pounds. That catch put him in third place, and his big smallmouth bass won the big-bass-of-the-day honors. Here is the link to the story: http://www.bassfan.com/news_article/7356/jones-elam-palaniuk-set-early-pace-with-23-plus#.VeBLSJc8rck#ixzz3k6ryhX42 .
(2) Here is a link to a story about the finesse tactics with the Twitchtail Minnow that Mike Iaconelli of Pittsgrove, New Jersey, uses at times on some the Bassmaster circuits: https://www.bassmaster.com/mike-iaconelli/no-motion-minnow . When the black bass are abiding shallow water, Iaconelli affixes it to a 1/16-ounce VMC Ike Approved Wacky Weedless Jig Head, and he nose hooks it onto that jig. He presents it with a straight and slow swimming retrieve.
