Hello Everyone! I made a video offering a few tips and tricks to being successful deadsticking along with example screenshots from my graph of what you should look for to stop and fish. This is my first winter to finally have any clue thanks to Jake, aka "Honeyhole", offering me just a few pointers and getting me started on the right track. Been a lot of fun and hoping to help get others started on this fun time of year through deadsticking. Obviously, anybody can hold a rod still or "dead" and wait for a bite but locating the fish can be tricky and knowing what is going on through the eyes of the sonar can be difficult. This video offers some tips and tricks to shorten the learning curve. Hope you enjoy and it gets some of you who may not know how to deadstick get started having some good times this winter!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZFTYyEROUA

Great video! Thanks for sharing.

This kind of info is always helpful at this time of year.

Only thing I'll add is that it's not always necessary to hold the rod absolutely still. But you DO have to slow things way down - small twitches instead of big bounces.

Good point! I totally agree.

At least I got a shout out

This will be a helpful video for people interested in deadsticking. As with fishing in general, small changes in technique, baits, and presentation can make all the difference deadsticking.

You da man! I�ve had an awesome winter thanks to the few pointers you showed me!

I saw the downriggers on your boat. have you had any good days holding the flukes with your riggers out and just trolling with slow speed trolling motor?

I�ve never tried it because the bite is so light that if you don�t set the hook immediately you are almost guaranteed to not catch fish. Even if you clipped it in the downriggers it takes too much effort for the fish to pull it loose and would result in a delayed hook set and missed fish....Plus you have to go so slow in winter it�s nothing a slightly heavier jig head couldnt keep at depth if the 1 ounce was too small to reduce the �blow back� during drifting or slow trolling....downriggers would be a hassle more than help in my opinion. Seems best drift speed for winter hybrids is something like 0.5 mph to even much slower which is why a downriggers wouldn�t be needed.

Just my two cents...

Plus #1.

Great job on the video Clay, very informative , thanks.

Plus another 1 !

good idea on the stained/muddy water to use a 7".

Thanks for sharing

Good job Clay. How about a picture of how you rig up you're baits.
Thanks for sharing.

Good Luck,
Bozz

I�ll do you one better and make a 2 minute video

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yj9wDTsxgGQ

Awesome vid! Thank you for sharing!

Good video!

Thanks for the info and especially the screen shots.

Thanks for posting, nice job.

Those are some fatties.

Good ol' Fort Phantom fish!

Great information!

Clay , are you still chasing Hybrids or have you taken up a career in Video free lancing ??

Haha thanks for the pulse check! I�m great just super busy with school. Hoping to get out there in the next few weeks before my last semester of nurse practitioner school starts this summer. Almost done!!!! The few times I�ve gone I�ve had great success in the middle of nowhere near Johnson park and closer to the dam. Good hot spots change on a daily basis it seems.

I was close to giving an official pulse check, glad to hear you're still breathing!

Great video...I'm still in my infancy of learning how to fish for Hybrids on the lake. I think I have the tail race thing mastered. In 5 trips I have caught 55 Hybrids and one 9+lb Striper, plus numerous White Bass.

But on the lake all summer I've only caught a few. I have not tried the lake in the winter because I feel if I can't find them in the summer, I fear I wont do much better in the winter.

The lake I prefer to fish is Lake Somerville which is very shallow compared to most lakes in Texas that actually have Hybrids. The lake is only 24 to 25 feet at best, most of the structure falls off to 18 feet...then very slowly drops into the low 20's. Somerville is not very big compared to most, but it's like looking for a needle in a haystack.

If the local guys and guides know how to catch them, they are doing a fantastic job of keeping it a secret. The marina they operate out of have only talked about then catching White Bass.

Parks and wildlife stock the lake every year with good numbers of fry so there should be plenty.

I have several spots that look like you screen shot with your track, but the water depth is no where near the same.

Not looking for any secret spots someone might have...just need a starting point for shallow water.

From what I've read the fry and fingerling stockings are very different. It seems only about <10% of the fry survive. You often see 10 times the fry numbers stocked in place of fingerlings.