"Deadsticking",
that is, fishing lures
without consciously or
deliberately imparting
any motion to them can be
a successful Bass fishing
technique. Strange, but
true!
On
more than one occasion
you must have heard the
tale of someone casting
out a surface lure,
perhaps getting busy with
something else or being
distracted for longer
than usual, only to have
the lure just lying there
- for all practical
purposes, motionless -
being slammed by a
massive Bass! This not
only happens with surface
lures, but with lures
such as plastic worms
just lying on the bottom
of the dam. Bass
definitely do pick up
motionless objects even
off the bottom.
Have
we been
"overdoing" our
retrieves in order to
impart action to our
lures and retrieving just
too fast? Perhaps ...
Read
how Mike Long caught
his personal best Bass of
over 20lb (!) after
sighting the fish in
clear water:
He
... tossed a 6-inch
rainbow-trout-pattern
Castaic swimbait from a
7-foot rod and said a
prayer: "God, let me
catch this fish. I'll
weigh her, take pictures
and let her go."
"I
watched her come three or
four feet toward it and
just kind of stop, then
back up," said Long,
35, a Poway, Calif.,
construction-company
project manager renowned
for his trophy-bass
prowess. "So I left
the bait there and backed
the boat all the way to
the shore."
A
waiting game had begun,
with Long stationed at
the end of 65 feet of
15-pound line at the back
of a rental boat ... A half-hour
would pass, with Long
crouched as low as he
could, the line
absolutely still and
the bruiser bass inching
slowly toward the sinking
swimbait that had
long settled on the
lake's floor. Then
45 minutes.
"It
took an hour for her to
get all the way in,"
he said. "I made
everything calm and
quiet, like I wasn't
there. The water had been
a little choppy for a
while, so I could just
see her black
shadow."
Later
the water would glass
over, and Long could see
the fish
"perfectly."
"I
tightened up the line and
shook the bait once, and
I watched her go 45
degrees," he said.
"And I shook it a
second time, just gave it
a pop, and then she went
as vertical as she could
go and I remember my rod
was just going toward the
water. And I thought,
'The boat's moving.'
"Then
I realized, 'Oh, man,
she's hit it,' and I just
swung. I looked out and a
saw a flash and I knew
I'd hooked her...
Picking
up from this report, BassMaster
Patrick,
a regular visitor to the Big
Bass Forum,
tried casting out a
6" Castaic Trout
swimbait from his
anchored boat and just
letting the lure lie on
the bottom while fishing
with another rod and
managed to catch Bass on
the motionless lure!
"Deadsticking"
a lure works - both on
the surface and right on
the bottom! It may be a
successful big Bass
technique to include in
your repertoire.
Perhaps
surface current or
ripples will impart
minute movements to a
surface lure and water
current or subtle
movement of even an
anchored boat will cause
some movement to a lure
just lying on the bottom.
In many cases this is all
that is needed to
interest a Bass, so hold
off on those crazy almost
violent retrieves you
often see and your catch
rate may well improve!
So,
what lures can you use
for
"deadsticking"?
On
the Surface,
just about any
traditional surface lure
would work, also floating
Rapalas, floating
stickbaits and jerkbaits
as well as any crankbait
which floats at rest
(even the big 9" and
12" MS
Slammers and Castaic
Soft
Bait Trouts!).
On
the Bottom, try
the sinking 6" Castaic
Trout
Swimbaits,
plastic worms (any brand,
but I am partial to Berkley
Power
Worms in
7" and 10"
sizes) or jigs with
trailers (Zoom Brush
Hog or Gene
Larew Hoo-Daddy).
Perhaps this would be a
good time to add some
scent you have faith in
to your lure of choice
...
An
alternative to
"deadsticking"
if you are not yet ready
for such a radical
departure from the norm -
just slow down your usual
retrieve speed and
utilise long pauses and
twitches inbetween
retrieve cycles, or if
you are fishing from a
boat, switch off that
electric trolling motor
and just drift for a
change of pace ...
Let
us know how you do!
*Also
check out Dead-Sticking
Bass by Steve von Brandt.
Jacques
Wolmarans
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