Stickbaits In My Lake Aren't Working Anymore

[joshholmes]

i really feel embarassed saying this, but stickbaits just don't work for me anymore. im not blaming my confidence because i always had confidence in them. i remember about 8 years ago when my uncle Darrell brought some senkos down to my lake for the first time. i know all the fisherman around the lake (its pretty small) and i knew that none of them had used a senko before. the next few weeks it shot off at the lake. ever since then people (including me) have been pounding it with em. this year though everyones confused. no one could catch large fish with them in prespawn or when sight fishing. this has been happening for weeks and people are blaming the fish for not biting. i realize that stickbaits are supposed to be go to baits when nothing works, but its not working. I think fishing pressure has finally taken hold of the lake because while everyone refuses to switch to other lures im catching them like crazy on spinnerbaits, lipless cranks, brush hogs, trick worms, flukes and banjo minnows. I was always told that since a senko had no real recognizable characteristics fish couldn't become used to it. i tried them for two weeks texas rigged and wacky rigged but only have caught a few dinks. has this ever happened to your lake and is this just a common phase that goes away after a few weeks? i have hundreds of yum dingers, 5 bags of senkos and some bps stikos and im afraid i wont be able to catch anything on them anymore

[bilgerat]

Not trying to be a Richard but there are at least 37,937 more exciting ways to catch a bass than with a stickbait. Put them in the flea market and let them become someone else's crutch.

I'm not anti-stickbait, any port in the storm is ok, but not for your primary bait.

[joshholmes]

well they havent been my primary bait they've been my primary sight fishing bait but i switched over to a different sight fishing bait last year

[Scorcher214]

Ive caught maybe 2 fish on stick baits, and that was just from flopping them on mats. Never had much luck on them. I keep a bag though just in case.

[deep]

Maybe the fish want something different? Something faster, or something with a little more action? Try lizards or jigs for sight fishing. Bedding bass in my lake have been killing them, while they are turning their noses up at wacky senkos. But wacky senkos skipped under brush been catching a lot of fish for me from the same lake... Weird? That's fishing.

I love senkos. But they do have a have a time and place.

BTW, I use GY senkos almost always.

[zenyoungkoh]

I have the same kind of problem! I fish this extremely pressured pond, and the bass hardly bites on soft plastics (not counting bedding bass! They bite on anything). Not even fluke. I logged maybe 4-5 hours fishing with fluke at that pond and not 1 bite. But recently i switched to spinnerbait and im killing them. I'll probably try a buzzbait next too, because i saw a guy getting 4 strikes in a rather short period of time using a buzzbait.

[grimlin]

I'm doing extremely well right now on stickbaits...LOL

I couldn't say that a few years ago before.

[Grey Wolf]

i really feel embarassed saying this, but stickbaits just don't work for me anymore. im not blaming my confidence because i always had confidence in them. i remember about 8 years ago when my uncle Darrell brought some senkos down to my lake for the first time. i know all the fisherman around the lake (its pretty small) and i knew that none of them had used a senko before. the next few weeks it shot off at the lake. ever since then people (including me) have been pounding it with em. this year though everyones confused. no one could catch large fish with them in prespawn or when sight fishing. this has been happening for weeks and people are blaming the fish for not biting. i realize that stickbaits are supposed to be go to baits when nothing works, but its not working. I think fishing pressure has finally taken hold of the lake because while everyone refuses to switch to other lures im catching them like crazy on spinnerbaits, lipless cranks, brush hogs, trick worms, flukes and banjo minnows. I was always told that since a senko had no real recognizable characteristics fish couldn't become used to it. i tried them for two weeks texas rigged and wacky rigged but only have caught a few dinks. has this ever happened to your lake and is this just a common phase that goes away after a few weeks? i have hundreds of yum dingers, 5 bags of senkos and some bps stikos and im afraid i wont be able to catch anything on them anymore

Trade them for some other type of bait here on the flea market

[piscicidal]

Like any other bait, the stickbaits have their time and place. If the fish are in a neutral/negative mood the senko is hard to beat. But if the fish are chasing moving baits...great! Stick with it. When that bite slows down break out the senkos again.

[krisjack69]

Try a lipless crankbait.I use a spro aruku shad jr in my pond yesterday and caught a few fish when I thought it was going to be slow.I caught 1 bass on a white fluke and 2 on aruku shad.I lost one that had to be about 5 lbs tho.It was my fault tho.I held my rod down and not up while he jumped in the air which threw my bait.The fish yesterday seemed to be little aggressive since I was just burning the lipless crankbait.I wasn't really getting any bites on a stickworm so I started using different baits and they seemed to want a moving bait more.I had fun but I almost had a heat stroke out there.Man its hot.We need some rain the pond I went to dropped a few feet looks like.It hasn't rain all month of may.

[Raul]

It´s not that stickbaits aren´t working, it´s that the way ( rigging, technique & size ) you are fishing them is not working. There´s a bunch of ways how to fish a stickbait, texas & wacky are only two of those many ways.

[joshholmes]

all i really wanted to know was have the fish been accostumed to stickbaits or is it something else. i don't use stickbaits much anymore but man anglers around the lake do. my primary baits are flukes, cranks, lipless cranks, brush hogs, trick worms, strike king spinnerbaits and tubes. most of the stickbaits i have are from last year

[throwback]

Man its hot.We need some rain the pond I went to dropped a few feet looks like.It hasn't rain all month of may.

I hear ya. I haven't gotten in the lake in a couple of weeks. Dry as a bone here in Tifton. Good to know the lipless cranks are working. Maybe I'l start throwing the rat-l-traps.

[krisjack69]

Hopefully we will get some rain in a few days.It would be nice.There is at least 20 percent for about a week or so.Hopefully it will be enough to fill the ponds and streams.

[Quitlimpin]

Fat ika