I know many of the striper and hybrid guides switch from live shad over to lures. I was wondering when and why they make the transition. I am interested in everyone’s opinion. I am just trying to gather some data. Thanks in advance.

The lakes our group fishes from W'ford are PK, Bporte and Whitney The artificial bite is tuff right now unless fish are on top..i.e... in line spinners have produced the best results. The live bait bite is good early and dies off around 9 . The screen can be full of fish on bottom or mid water column with no takers using slabs with or without flies, little George type baits, jigs with paddle tail swim baits full size or bitten down and crank baits tossed or strolled.
I feel the water temps need to drop into the lower 70's or the upper 60's before slabs and or cranks will work . I have used pet spoon with 1 ounce egg sinker on sand bars in 20 FOW with moderate success.

When it's so cold that it's hard to keep bait alive in the bait tank or catch bait

Disregarding top water, 55 degrees and less for sure artificial. Weeks leading up that, depends on how feeding and what lake.

So it looks like we still have a few weeks before the switch over.

With this upcoming cooler weather (lows in the 40's) the slab and swimbait bite will kick in high gear with the dead stick season right behind. Whitney last year on Halloween day the water temps were 63° in the main lake and 60° further up river, the dead stick bite was really good that day and only got better

What temp do the fish switch over to deadsticking? Or maybe a better question is what temp does the bait get lethargic?

My experience has been when water temps hit 55 and falling , dead sticking begins. Certainly don't know it all with regard to said subject but, have been dead sticking since Feb of 2006.

(concerning whites/hybrids/striper) I have thought about this question for a good week, and personally like to use artificial lures 99.9% of the time. But if I am at a totally new lake, and there is shad available it never hurts to give them something better. It is tough keeping bait alive, but works well if you are setup properly. But I would say that so far this year we have used bait three times. All on Tawakoni in the hunt for a striper for the son. But if you get good enough with artificial it sure is nice going all artificial.
(Now throw in catfish to the mix). If you are on some good fishing, using bait will add catfish to the possibilities. And depending on the lake, that could really add some fun. I was that kind of kid that couldn't sit still, so it was hard for me to hold a rod and wait for a bite.. I liked the casting and actions involved in fishing, more than watching a rod tip/or bobber.

Biggest question is " Is bait available, and easy to catch?". Many times of the year its very tough depending on the lake.

Good information everyone. Thanks.

We filmed these in January. We caught shad and deadsticked both. They ended up catching about the same number of fish even though the weather was cold.... I don't think you ever really need to stop using shad but its much easier to just deadstick...

https://youtu.be/0Nn4K2dWAA0

https://youtu.be/Pn_R_JBjGqU

You got allot of nerve! Im here at work starting my day, and i clicked the damn videos.. Now I'm going to be worthless for the rest of the day. Much appreciate you sharing the videos. Not many people take the time to video, and then share tips. With winter coming up it will be really nice not having to deal with the "wake boats", and "village idiots" out learning to drive their new boat. I saw one of my favorite old work horse reels in the video. The old quantum 1310 flat side reel was a real good reel for the money. Sold a ton of those back in the early 90's when i worked at Oshmans sporting goods in Austin, Tx. Me and Mason did well this year by slowing the presentation down on Tawakoni, was epic...

Take care

Prosise

I fished Whitney yesterday and water temp was 75.6. Going to be a while before water is cool enough to deadstick. From diesel 44’s post earlier, looks like water temps are 10 degrees higher than last year at this time.

Caught 17 striper on live bait. Really had to hunt for them. Catfish were everywhere.

Prosise thank you for the kind words! I have been fishing my whole life and really enjoy giving back to the sport and trying to help others catch more fish (with or without a thumper!). I think that’s what fishing is all about and was really grateful that Brad from Circle B Guide Service and Josh from Southern Wind guide service took the time to show me how they Deadstick!

Please subscribe as I have more videos coming!