Accidental Dead-sticking

[RenzokukenFisher]

Anyone have accidental dead-sticking stories?

 

I'm sure this is familiar for some,

Today I was out bank fishing at my favorite local pond on a slick calm day and blue bird skies. After messing around trying to force the fish into eating a burned lipless I decided to fit the conditions a bit more and began chucking around a Texas rigged Senko. Despite my best efforts, hopping, dragging, and dropping into pockets of cover wasn't getting me anywhere. Eventually I launched out the Senko to reach a distant weed line and got a backlash instead. Took my time picking out the backlash, checked my phone right afterwards since I was getting a bit bored after 3hrs of no bites, even shuffled around on the bank a little to get a better position for the next cast. Once I came back to attention I lifted my rod tip up and felt the signature weight of a fish munching on my Senko. Was a bit out of my groove though and was playing feels with the fish too long so I got to feel the signature headshake of my Senko flying out of the mouth of a big bass, Dang it!

 

Tried making a pattern out dead-sticking the rest of the day with no luck. I'll get on em next time.

[huZZah]

I’ve caught on lipless cranks, jigs, and worms that sat a couple feet out while I was fixing a backlash. Always funny when it happens; nothing quite like the surprise when you’re just reeling up to cast again and you feel it. 

[papajoe222]

Many and angler, including yours truly, was introduced to dead sticking in the same fashion. It's actually the only time I use the technique ?, but I do use a technique dubbed stitching. It's a painstakingly slow retrieve where you only move your worm a couple of inches, pause for what seems like an eternity (15-25seconds is an eternity to this old fart), then move it a couple of inches and repeat.

My daughter caught her PB largemouth on a hair jig she'd cast out and put her rod down to answer her phone. When she picked it back up, she assumed she was snagged until the snag started pulling drag.

[Catt]

Accidentally?

 

Nah!

 

On purpose...yes!

 

During the Dog Days of Summer & the Dead of Winter dead sticking is very productive.

[T-Billy]

Caught my PB largemouth after picking out a backlash.

5 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

I do use a technique dubbed stitching.

Stitching a TRD Bug on a 1/8 football jig is awesome for cold water smallies.

[Captain Phil]

For years I fished against an older angler who fished this way.  We have a small lagoon on the Chain called the Gator Hole.  It's a large sink hole in the grass about 18 feet deep.  Every single tournament he would sit on that hole and cast out a Zoom Mag II worm.  He let it sit on the bottom and fished it like live bait.  He smoked a whole cigarette before he moved it, then repeated the process.  If you came in with a good bag of fish, you never knew when he was going to pull a ten pound bass out of his bag.  If I fished that way, I would explode. ?

[ironbjorn]

If I ever backlash on a Senko I know the odds are good that I'm going to find a gut hooked bass on the end of my line when I'm done picking it out. Happened just a few days ago with a 1.5 lber. 

[N Florida Mike]

That’s how I catch most of my fish! , ( (deadsticking , not backlashing )?

[MGF]

Me too...had lots of fish pick up my bait when I was busy with something else. 

 

Many years ago a buddy and I used to fish a small private lake where they had a few row boats and a couple of paddleboats for rent. If the row boats were out then we'd fish from one of the paddleboats. Needless to say space was limited.

 

He had a rod laying down with his spinner bait dangling in the water. I repeatedly warned him that he was going to lose his rod and he laughed it off....until this monster bass grabbed that spinnerbait and took off with his rod. It was really something to see. That rod took off like it had a ski-boat hooked or something.

[Catt]

17 minutes ago, N Florida Mike said:

That’s how I catch most of my fish! , ( (deadsticking , not backlashing )?

 

Moonless night, 20' of water, black worm sitting motionless & yet they still find it.

[Dwight Hottle]

 

My buddy Noah caught his PB dead sticking a walking surface bait while he was picking out a backlash. The bait was floating on the surface motionless when she grabbed it.  

[Smells like fish]

Backlashing is my secret technique ? sometimes curiosity catches the bass vs reaction. 

[islandbass]

Yes indeed. One time I was with a buddy. The fishing was slow and every which way I worked a 5” senko yielded nothing. So I make another cast and I let it sink to the bottom. He and I started chatting and for about 10 minutes and all that time it was dead stuck if that’s a word. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere. I felt a serious SMASH. Instinctively, I reeled up and set the hook. That was awesome. 
 

Another time this year. I posted about it here. It happened with a rattle trap style lure. 

[N Florida Mike]

I caught a 6 pounder once by casting a mann’s Jelly worm into a deep hole and letting it sit for 10-15 minutes. The fish finally picked it up after all that time…

[Dwight Hottle]

My buddies & I caught hundreds of smallies over the years fishing lake Erie with a dead stick rod in a rod holder while using jerk baits. We would hold & work one rod with our second rod in a rod holder.  Disclosure; the boat was moving with the wave action so there was periodic movement. Lots of big smallies too. One individual who will remain anonymous had two fish hit at the same time one on his dead stick rod & one on the rod he was working. He picked up both rods & determined which fish felt the biggest/heaviest. He chose the original rod he had been working as the biggest. He had me reel in the dead stick rod. I hurriedly brought the fish in & netted it so I could be ready to net his potential PB. Unfortunately the fish I reeled in was the biggest of the two & was his new PB at 6 lbs-6oz as I remember, lol. 

[Alpster]

On the small reservoir I fished in NJ, after picking apart all the cover & structure I would go to the middle of the lake and plop a dropshot finesse worm on the bottom and drift with the breeze. Almost always kept me from getting skunked.

[Way north bass guy]

I’ve caught a few on a spook while picking out a bit of a backlash. Won the big fish prize in a tournament once on a jig. I had a few loose wraps on the reel so I turned around and cast it as far as I could I to open water just to get all the loose stuff out and he smoked it as I was feeling up the slack. Only fish we got that day too. 

[papajoe222]

11 hours ago, islandbass said:

Another time this year. I posted about it here. It happened with a rattle trap style lure. 

This is one of my most productive patterns for water under forty degrees. The bass will suspend about 10ft. off the bottom of a drop that goes from 12ft.-30ft. fairly quickly. I'll sit off in the deeper water and cast a RES up shallow, then bring it out to the drop and let it fall. Then just let it sit for a minute or so. Next thing you know, my line is moving off to the side and it's game on. 

[Bankbeater]

There has been a few times when I’ve got a backlash worked out of the spool just to discover that a bass has picked up my bait and had gone off with it. Probably the worst one was when the bass started pulling before I had the backlash out. 

[LrgmouthShad]

On 10/2/2021 at 6:42 AM, Captain Phil said:

For years I fished against an older angler who fished this way.  We have a small lagoon on the Chain called the Gator Hole. 

I remember you telling a story about that man on an old post. Was one of my favorites. I have it saved 

[Captain Phil]

13 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

I remember you telling a story about that man on an old post. Was one of my favorites. I have it saved 

 

Bass fishing has been very popular in our area for a very long time.  We have weekly bass tournaments that have been going on for as long as I can remember. Bass fisherman from all over the country come here to fish and retire.  At one time, I fished a Seniors tournament tour where one angler in the boat had to be 50 or older.  If you want to see real competition, fish against a bunch of old guys that have been fishing since they could hold a rod.  Guys like Top Water Charlie and the Adams brothers.  Occasionally, we had some big name anglers enter these tournaments.  They couldn't hold a candle to these locals.  Most of them are gone now.  

[Big Hands]

Coupla months ago, I got a wind knot from hades and spent several minutes trying to p[ick it out. I finally came to the conclusion that it was a lost cause, so I cut the braid and began to pull my line by hand and sure enough, there was a bass on. Of course, I had blown a little ways over and my line was now dragging across a point and the bass managed to find the only tumbleweed on the bank to get tangled up. It eventually shook itself off the hook while cavorting around in the center of the tumbleweed until it earned it's freedom.

 

Just another in a series of 'Bill Dance' moments on the lake for me.