Hanging Baits

[coldbasser]

Dose anyone DEAD stick flukes or any other type of baits to catch BASS with any sucsess????

[bassinbob]

Sometimes a Horny toad works for me. I don't try to many different baits as I am more of a throw and wind than a throw and wait fisher. The reason for the Horny Toad dead sticking fish is because of overuns when casting. I've tried other baits and the only other one I''ve caught a bass dedicated to dead sticking was on a senko.

[kennethdaysale]

I usually dead stick soft plastics during the "test phase" of most trips to see what they're responding to that day. Seems to be best with weightless Tricks and Senkos. Then sometimes it's an accidental thing like bob said. Can't count the number of times I've set my rod down to net a fish for my wife or jab my finger in a can of Viennas to get that reluctant first link free only to look down and notice I'm into a fish. I'll never forget a trip some years back we were throwing SR8's......stopped reeling about 1/2 way back to the boat to explain something......crank finally pops to the surface....sits there for a good minute or two and a 5 lber harpoons it. Caught 7 or 8 more nice fish that afternoon doing the exact same thing. Talk about an off the wall pattern, clueless why that was their hot button that day. Just this spring I throw a buzzbait out one morning and as soon as it hits the water my phone rings.....set the rod down...talk to the wife for at least 5 minutes....pick up the rod.....solid 3....probably not a repeatable pattern, just saying you never know.

[Rebbasser]

Oh yeah. Deadsticking is high on my list where soft plastics are concerned. I discovered it, like most do, by accident. Biggest smallie I have ever caught came on a Yum Dinger after picking out a professional overrun that left the bait sitting on the bottom for a few minutes. I've caught more than a few just letting it sit. So much so that I always incorporate it into my arsenal.

Remember, where weightless soft plastics are concerned the only way to fish the wrong is to not fish them at all

[keithdog]

I accidently caught a nice 4 pound bass once on a Spro poppin frog. I cast it under a large tree brance hanging out over the water, and got a nasty backlash doing so. As I was just finishing up clearing up the birdnest, a nice bass engulfed to frog, which has been sitting motionless about 3 minutes.

[Jrob78]

I dead stick Flukes a lot. I like to use the Caffeine Shad for this, mainly because it sinks better than Flukes or Bass Assassins. I use them when I want more action than a Senko gives me but still want to fish it in a similar manner. Instead of lifting and dropping like I would a Senko, I twitch it so it "swims" up off the bottom and then slowly sinks back down. Very productive technique.

[IowaBasser]

I used to deadstick a stickbait (a firetiger colored Rapla) next to lilly pads or weeds. I'd just let it sit for a minute or two and then give it a very small twitch. I caught a nice 4+ pounder in a small pond. Not sure why I don't use that techinque anymore, I still carry a couple of those baits, but haven't tied one on in years. Maybe this year?!

[joedog]

Ya, what Joe said!

But I also dead stick Dingers too.
I also dead stick Space Monkeys.

But it's usually after like Ken said, trying to figure fishes 'mood' out.
But I'm not a 'ten minute' dead sticker either.
More like a '3-4 minute' on a GOOD day.

I have a bad/good habit. I almost always leave a line in the water irregardless of task at hand. If I tie on a new lure the old will still be in water during tie.
Amazing how many times the bite was dead, reason for switching lure, and Bam, the the one getting replaced gets a fish on the 'clear the water' retrieve after dead on the bottom for a time.
Drop shotting and float n Fly are really dead stick techniques, just not bottom dead sticking.
Actually 'wacky style' is dead sticking during the fall. Some will do a sit and swoop with them.
Again, popular and effective.

I actually in early spring. Waters still in the 40s, I do a swooping technique with lipless cranks.
Growth even on bottoms is dead so bottoms are pretty clean.
Frequently I'll let the lure sit on the bottom for a minute or two before next swoop.
Very deadly cold water technique.

The challenge is, did it bite at 'dead stick' or after the first site of movement.
More of a reaction deal than a finesse deal.

Anyway that's my take on things.

[3dkicker]

I was fishing a small feeder creek on the Chickahominy river (a tributary of the James) a few years ago with a fellow club member. He spent years guiding on the Potomac river and has fished with many of the top BASS guys from the 80's. I was fishing a fluke on the front of the boat and using my fast twitch, twitch, twitch, pause retrieve and he commented that I was fishing the bait way too fast. He explained that he would let the current move the bait (dead stick) and he would only twitch it every once in a while. I asked if he caught fish that way and he went into one of his long stories about catching many fish on the river with that technique. I was impressed with the number of fish he claimed to have caught so I slowed down a little.........and we both didn't catch a fish. So I turned the boat around and started heading out of the creek. I went back to fishing the bait at my much faster pace and caught 2 or 3 nice keepers. He was amazed that I was catching fish with my fast pace retrieve and he didn't catch a fish. I guess dead sticking, like many other techniques, has a time and a place to be successful......