# Define "dead sticking"



## Froghunter (Aug 5, 2013)

What is it, and how is it done?


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## Sgrem (Oct 5, 2005)

Suspending or slow sink whatever you like hard or soft plastic. 
Cast into an area with fish and just let it sit there.

I fish like this a lot for trout in saltwater. Under the birds if you twitch you get nailed by the super aggressive little ones. If you you just cast into the school and let it sink to bottom and not move it the bigger fish will opportunistically feed on the "dead or injured" bait. 
Same for lethargic winter time trout or bass. Cast a suspending bait into a warming mud flat or power plant out flow. Cast and dont move....just dead stick that bait sitting there. The fish will casually be swimming around for an opportunistic meal and eat the suspending bait.
Fish this way when they dont want to chase. Or when the bait will be just sitting there .... like when it is cold.


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## tbone2374 (Feb 27, 2010)

IMO "Dead Sticking" is finding your target fish on the Sonar or Down Scan, and, using a slow presentation, straight down. Finesse or smaller baits, work best. Slow... an almost no movement, as the human factor and boat movement, suffice.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Works best with water temps below 55 deg. Soft plastics fished vertically without any movement. The temptation is to put the rod(s) in a rod holder, but many bites are missed that way. 

A variation that works at the upper end of the water temp. i.e. close to 55 deg. is called strolling in which you move the baits very slowly forward over a school of fish with the trolling motor at "speeds" of around .5 mph. You want the line to be near vertical and again holding the rod will increase your hook-ups considerably. 

I've used these techniques for several years now during the winters on Livingston and they will produce striper hits when almost nothing else will.


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## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

X2 on the Lake Livingston answer, it is also deadly on the crappie at times. Sometimes you have to make a conscious effort NOT to move your jig. The bite will feel like mush or just get a little bit heavy.


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## Cody C (May 15, 2009)

Try a mop jig when chasing lmb. It will move jut enough on its own to entice a bite. 
Really slow fishing, fewer bites, but they will be good ones. 


Cody C


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## Roosters Tackle (May 25, 2012)

In winter I often dead stick for white bass/stripers/hybrids in two manners.

The first is with a slab. The white bass are often glued to the bottom (They just look like pimples on your downscan). I'll find a school of them, drop my slab to the bottom, raise it about four inches off the bottom and try to hold it as still as possible. You can't hold it still enough, the bouncing of waves on the boat will move it plenty.

The other technique is for suspending fish. I'll use a Bootlegger (from Roosterstackle.com) and a Deadhead jighead (also from Roosters Tackle) and drop it down to the suspending fish and again, I'll hold it as still as possible. It takes practice and patience, but produces amazing results. The best thing about the Deadhead jighead is that it (along with the Bootlegger) sit horizontal in the water.


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## Froghunter (Aug 5, 2013)

Does this work In muddy or clouded water? Can a fish hit a lure that has no smell to it if its hard to see?


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## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

Not a real good muddy water tactic, this is basically what you do with the drop shot rig. If the water is a little cloudy I have decent luck with black baits or june bug.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

In dingy cold water I bang the slab on bottom for a bit to get their attention, then try some subtle moves like dead sticking to draw a hit. Usually when I dead stick slabs I can feel them nipping at the slab or brushing lightly before the actual hit.
Holding the slab still after they have brushed against it is critical to getting hit, if you start to jig it when they do nip it, they will stop.
In muddy water fish for cat fish, white bass are really tough to catch when the water is muddy.
Even if they are in a small area and jammed up like during the spawn.
At a shoal where white bass spawn I have cast thousands of times into the pool and maybe catch a few. I could see sows shimmying up the shoal with accompanying males at the side. The female would spray eggs and the males milt. Out of curiosity i made a throw with the cast net, I could barley lift as 16" sows came tumbling out of it and there still a dozen in the net when I got it in.
I dumped them back in cast another thousand times and maybe caught two.
That being said I have done very well when the river is muddy and I could find an area where it was just a little less muddy and they would bite. The best presentation I have found for muddy water spawning white bass in current is to cast across a pool and let the current swing the boat through the pool without reeling, about the time it comes to rest at the end of the line the hit comes.


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## Bankin' On It (Feb 14, 2013)

Very informative thread. No wonder I couldn't buy a bite last time I went out. thanks.


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## Cody C (May 15, 2009)

Froghunter said:


> Does this work In muddy or clouded water? Can a fish hit a lure that has no smell to it if its hard to see?


For lmb add a rattle to the jig in dirty water. Then just barely jiggle it while allowing it to soak. It will sound like a crawfish, look like a crawfish, and be eaten like a crawfish. Darker colors in darker water, natural colors in clearer water.

Cody C


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## Froghunter (Aug 5, 2013)

Thanks guys this is TONS of help. Looks like I need a cheap fish finder for the boat and a trip to Livingston.


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## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

If you can afford it a GOOD DEPTH FINDER is the best money you can spend !!!!


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## Roosters Tackle (May 25, 2012)

I agree with whsalum. A good fish finder is an indispensable tool. Don't get caught up in Lowrance versus Humminbird. They both make great units. But, get the best of either brand you can afford. 

Good luck and tight lines
Mitch "Rooster" Parker


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## Rangerbobtx (Aug 17, 2011)

A little modification that we use when fishing the 25'to 35' winter time crappie on lakes like Fork and the Pines that raelly seems to work is that we use a tandem rig with a 1/4oz. jig on the bottom with a 1/8oz. 12"to 18"above. The technique is to drop the jigs to the bottom, tighten the line and then slowly lift no more than 1', then let the jigs fall back down on a tight line. If you are using a good sensitive rod you can feel the 1st jig hit and then the 2nd. Repeat. What I think this imitates is dying shad that flutter up off the bottom and then sink back.

This is deadly in deep water.

Steve


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