Dead Sticking

[papajoe222]

I rarely, if ever, see dead sticking mentioned here on the forums.  I'm not talking a do nothing presentation like a Ned rig, but actually letting a bait sit motionless for more than a few seconds.  I used to do it a lot, especially during the summer month's dog days.  Top-water, suspending cranks and especially stand-up jigs like shakey heads.  Lately I've all but abandoned it favor of finesse tactics. Just like I've done with some old tried and true lures and presentations, I'll be revisiting this one this season. Let's hear from some of the guys that still do this, seeing as I've let the cat out of the bag.

[Bluebasser86]

I got this one deadsticking a Slammer. First hint of movement she crushed it. I do it a lot with big topwater swimbaits. Anything to make it look like a big, easy meal. I'll do it with frogs too just because that's how a real frog will do a lot of the time. 

[NittyGrittyBoy]

When you say dead sticking, how long are you leaving the bait motionless? 

 

In my mind the fish has too long to look at bait and will quickly realize it to be a fake?

[Bluebasser86]

22 minutes ago, NittyGrittyBoy said:

When you say dead sticking, how long are you leaving the bait motionless? 

 

In my mind the fish has too long to look at bait and will quickly realize it to be a fake?

That big Slammer fish had well over a minute to investigate the bait before I twitched it and never decided that it wasn't real. 

[papajoe222]

3 hours ago, NittyGrittyBoy said:

When you say dead sticking, how long are you leaving the bait motionless? 

 

In my mind the fish has too long to look at bait and will quickly realize it to be a fake?

With top-water baits, I’ve let them sit motionless for a couple of minutes, especially when I ‘know’ a fish is eyeballing it. With soft plastics, about 1/2 a minute is as long as I can hold off without at least rocking or twitching it in place. 

[Mike L]

Agree

Some of the most violent strikes useing a top water especially a spook or frog, comes after a 30 sec pause then a sideways pull. 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[TOXIC]

I would give seminars on the tank at Bass Pro to show how dead sticking a senko works.  I would toss it in the tank and if it didn't get bit by the time it got to the bottom, the bass would gather with their noses pointing down and their tails in the air watching the bait.  I call it "Bird Dogging".  I would leave the bait motionless for 30 seconds or more (doesn't sound like a long time but it really is) then I would give it a "hop" and one of them would always dart in for the bite.  The whole purpose of the demo was to show how bass react to a dead sticked bait.  

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

I dead stick senkos and ikas mostly. I throw them out set rod down and fish with another set-up usually a paddle tail. I make 10 or so casts with paddle tail then go back and either recast or retrieve senko/ika a few turns set back down.  Just like shore fishing for catfish wait for the rod to start twitching.

[Mr. Aquarium]

i dead stick big 8 inch jitterbugs at night, cool windy nights in mid fall. cast out reel in a bit, let it sit, the wind will continue to make the bait rattle but not move forward with the line. they smoked it

dead sticking slammers and other big baits works awesome

[OkobojiEagle]

Are you the same guys that have a locker full of 8 or 9 ratio reels?...

 

 

oe

[scaleface]

How   long I dead stick depends on how bad the back-lash is .

[Choporoz]

8 minutes ago, scaleface said:

How   long I dead stick depends on how bad the back-lash is .

That's me, too.

 

3 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

With top-water baits, I’ve let them sit motionless for a couple of minutes, especially when I ‘know’ a fish is eyeballing it. With soft plastics, about 1/2 a minute is as long as I can hold off without at least rocking or twitching it in place. 

And THAT'S where my plan to deadstick...or dropshot....or jerkbait.....falls apart.  I blame both the dingy water I fish, as well as being low to the water in a kayak, but I rarely see fish and often have little confidence that I'm on good ones.  Especially, on a slow day.  I'll go to finesse stuff that I can move around, figuring that I'd have a better chance of putting it near less active fish if it's moving.  I just have very little patience, I guess.  Like @scaleface, 30 seconds or more without moving my bait probably means I have a backlash.  I do like the idea of letting something sit and fishing another rod, but I don't know if I can fish another and still watch the line on the first very well.

 

[BassNJake]

I stopped deadsticking soft plastics as my experience is that is my highest ratio of fish that get gut hooked.

 

You wanna guaranteed bite?

Toss out a topwater and while your dead sticking it, use the bathroom.

[Brad in Texas]

My experience is when dead-sticking is working best, it means by elimination that bass aren't acting aggressive and, say, biting on the drop or at the "thud." You can't get to the dead-sticking stage unless your bait/lure is first ignored.

 

So, I see it the way Toxic explains it, that non-aggressive (cold weather?) or bass not in an actual feeding mood, that if you throw something into a "fishy" area, and it sits there, it doesn't mean the fish aren't keeping an eye on it. This is where they'll often pick a bait up and drop it really fast, so you have to really be ready to set the hook. 

 

And, often several fish are close by and that likely accounts for a lot of fish not all that hungry floating close by, then after the dead-stick, the angler pops the bait and there is some competition or just natural predator response to hitting it.

 

*** This year? What has worked exceptionally well for me all through April was to throw a weightless Keitech 4" Shad Impact soft jerk bait, let it fall like an injured/dying bait fish to the bottom, and if not bit on the way down or at first contact, I have been dead-sticking it. Dead-sticking a jerk-bait. Go figure!

 

 I have been so surprised at the lengths of the actual delays before the Keitech is actually picked up and swam off with in the fish's mouth. Up to a minute delay, I'd say. Line watching is imperative. 

 

Could be the salt in Keitechs which is pretty strong. I recently bit the head off of one where it was torn. I had been using it for a good while but noticed that it still had a distinct salty taste.

 

Brad

[Armtx77]

I have dead sticked Crick-Hoppers up to a 60 count when the cricket hatch is in full swing. Often times, that first subtle twitch, after the dead period, will produce a strike.

I have had the lure in the water for up to 5 minutes at a time and had a fish hit it.

 

It is painfully, difficult fishing for me, but the excitement of watching topwaters get blown up is fun stuff. I dont throw topwater baits very much, eventhough I know I should.

 

 

[geo g]

I only use this tech when things are really slow.  I will let it sit for almost 30 seconds and then two little jerks and then sit again, jerks only shake the bait.  The hit often comes after the jerks and it sits again.  Being curious I think they move into the strike zone and watch the bait.  When it shakes they make a strike.  It has saved many a slow day.  I often use trick worms, beavers, hollow tube baits, and even flukes.  Almost any plastic will do.

[geo g]

6 hours ago, scaleface said:

How   long I dead stick depends on how bad the back-lash is .

 

 

Been there done that!  But it does send you an immediate message!

[N Florida Mike]

I catch most of my fish deadsticking  various soft plastics. 20 seconds is usually about the maximum  I let it sit before starting to work it back in.

I once caught a 6 pound bass over a deep hole in the middle of a day in The summer after letting the 10 inch Mann's Jelly worm sit there for 15 MINUTES..

I caught more big fish over that hole using 5-10  minute waits.

[scaleface]

22 minutes ago, geo g said:

 

 

Been there done that!  But it does send you an immediate message!

Yeah ,  there are better ways to land a fish than to  bring it in hand over hand .?

[BuzzHudson19c]

Spooks I dead stick for a bit before starting my retrieve. I would say 1/4 of my strikes on them come from that first twitch after the bait has just been sitting there.

 

One of my favorite way to throw frogs is cast onto the shore and slowly creep them into the water. Once they touch water I let them sit for a 30 sec to a minute sometimes. Again, I get a lot of strikes as soon as I start to move the bait after that long pause.

[Catt]

We live in a world that wants instantaneous results!

 

My Dad taught me when you throw out a top water lure ya let it sit until all the ripples have disappeared before ya move it.

 

With bottom contact techniques it called establishing a rhythm!

 

After the initial fall ya may need to let it sit before moving it or ya may have start moving right away. Ya may have to make short hops with long pauses or long hops with no pauses.

 

Establishing rhythm is the simplest thing to pattern but most anglers are oblivious to it because they're to busy fishing fast.

[TOXIC]

IMHO, deadsticking a soft plastic imitates a favorite food of the bass and found almost universally....a crawfish.  If you've ever watched them, they sit motionless until disturbed and then they aggressively flick their tail in an exagerated reverse move.  Bass have been conditioned for a very long time that a movement like that is one of their favorite foods.  

[frogflogger]

I use to roll my own cigarettes - cast the frog - roll a smoke - light up and watch - some days this was the way to get 7lbers -

[NHBull]

Just a side note.......I find guys that hunt, especially bow hunters don’t have  problems slowing down and using slow or stop techniques.  I also noticed that kids that grew up “casting” struggle with the same.  Think about it, if your a kid on the bank, you went to the same opening often.  The bite was sporadic, so you enjoyed casting to pass the time.  This becomes learned.  Kids that used a drop line in a boat, learned the opposite.  

 

When I first started sky diving, hearing I had 6 seconds to decide if I liked the canopy or had to cut away, made me nervous.  Truth be told it is an eternity. So.......2-3 minutes are a life time

[Dens228]

1 hour ago, NHBull said:

Just a side note.......I find guys that hunt, especially bow hunters don’t have  problems slowing down and using slow or stop techniques.  I also noticed that kids that grew up “casting” struggle with the same.  Think about it, if your a kid on the bank, you went to the same opening often.  The bite was sporadic, so you enjoyed casting to pass the time.  This becomes learned.  Kids that used a drop line in a boat, learned the opposite.  

 

When I first started sky diving, hearing I had 6 seconds to decide if I liked the canopy or had to cut away, made me nervous.  Truth be told it is an eternity. So.......2-3 minutes are a life time

Ha, I've bowhunted for 40 years........I took up fishing a few years ago.  I'm the opposite.  The thing I like about fishing is being able to be more proactive....this summer I've pledged to slow it down!