Dead-sticking Strategies/Tactics: Questions

I am trying to become better at dead-sticking and have some questions:

1. Do strategies/tactics differ from lake to lake? For instance, would they be different for dead-sticking stripers at Texoma than for dead-sticking for
Hybrids at Tawakoni? If so, how would they differ?

2. When going out to dead-stick, should I look around with my sonar and side-scan to find an area that has a substantial number of fish or should I just
go to where I caught some before and start there?

3. If action is sporadic, when I do catch some, should I turn and dead-stick that spot more or just keep going?

4. How fast should I drift, and does anyone just spot-lock over suspended fish and start the thumper and splasher?

5. Should I drift faster the clearer the water and slower the less clear the water?

6. How fast should the thumper thump, or does it matter?

7. How important is it to also have a splasher?

8. When drifting and I don’t see fish under me all the time but they come and go, are the fish I am seeing hearing my thumper and coming under me
then leaving, or are the fish I am seeing relatively stationary and I am just drifting over them and out of them?

9. What lures work best (type, size, color, weight) and does anyone use shad (alive or dead) when dead-sticking for hybrids/stripers?

10. At what water temps does dead-sticking work? What temp is too cold to dead-stick?

11. Does Live-scope substantially improve dead-stick fishing? How so?

12. What factors am I not thinking of?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Dennis-

Here is how I would answer your questions. Hope it helps you!

1. I do not believe tactics and strategies would change lake to lake. The only thing that may change is your color and/or size of your baits you are using.
2. I do not look at side scan when looking for a spot to deadstick. I use my 2D and look for bait balls and suspended/roaming fish
3. I would not turn around on a spot. At a reccomended driftin speed of .2 to .4 mph the rate of speed will keep the fish moving along with you as you continue to thump and splash.
4. I reccomend drfiting at sppeds from .2mph to .5mph. I do not spot lock and deadstick. I have found that if you spotlock you will dramtically reduce your catch %.
5. I do not think water clarity plays any factor. I will sometimes mix it up and decrease speed down to .2mph and sometimes will go up to .5mph especially when it is dead calm out. Only for a short time and then I will decrease back to the .3mph sweet spot speed.
6. Quick hard thumps and taps. Play to a beat. Mix it up. I pound harder sometimes and sometimes will pound to a tune.
7. I think a splasher is another big key in catching bigger numbers per outiing. Without it I may not catch as many as if I had it.
8. They may be swimming in and out under your boat but they are definetly coming under your baot due to the thumper and splasher.
9. Depending on winds you may go form 3/8 to 1 oz jigs. 3 or 4 inch Chartreuse. Electric Chicken, Translucent Green, Shad Colored Plastic flukes depending on the hatch size work best. I never use LIvebait. It will dramaticlly increase the chance of killing the fish.
10. 45-55 degrees is the best.
11. Livescope wil increase catches due to how precise you can get your baits close to the fish.
12. Weather- Best conditions are 36-44 degrees-overcast-misty-8-12 mph wind.

Mr Christian....can we add #13 - methods of dead sticking with A-rigs to improve catch rate

WE use SI to the max , when fishing creek beds or any structure fishing balls of bait, stratified bait, trees with fish in the tops and the best is balls of bait with lines running thru them . Those lines are feeding fish destroying the bait !
SI prompts the angler to zig zag from right to left . If fish are spotted on the right go right till fish are on both sides of the screen, left go left, straighten out and proceed at desired speed. Fish will attack when turning if they are close, predation reflect reaction. A lot of times if fish are under boat and not biting, turn troller to jack rabbit for no more than a few seconds... stop motor.... hold lures completely still ... as your baits pendulum down thru water column active fish will hit...not uncommon for two anglers to catch at same time when doing this hack ! We will make two or three passes over an area that produces, not exact same path or trail.

Don't be afraid to bounce jigs off the bottom if they are there, water pressure does weird things to fish due to swim bladder.

Just a few of what we do here west of the more productive east tx lakes.

Great questions, DC, and priceless info sharing, Brent.

Thank you, gborg. Just the kind of info I was hoping for!

You are welcome Mr. C

Here is my 2 cents worth 😀
I agree that size and color will differ from lake to lake. I like to try new colors when I am deadsticking and I encourage the guys that are fishing with me to use a different color combo than I am using, once we figure out what color will trigger a bite, we all change to that color.
I like drifting as well and my thoughts on that is the fish are responding to the thumper. After a time if I am spotlocked I feel the fish get disinterested but if I am drifting I constantly have waves of new fish coming under the boat that are eager to bite. Don’t get me wrong, I will spotlock occasionally if I get a big ball of fish under the boat and when this happens I use a technique where I let my lure go all the way down and then I ever so slowly reel up thru the fish, that will usually trigger a bite. As far as speed, I generally drift about 0.4 to 0.5 but, if my screen is lit up with fish and bait and the fish are not responding like I think they should, I will speed up my drift sometimes as fast as 1.1. Sometimes the fish like different speeds just like sometimes they like a different color lure.
I feel like sunny days for deadsticking are better than cloudy days but just like yesterday it was cloudy and foggy and I had a great day of catching. I also use a Splasher but I have seen times when a Splasher seems to scare fish but the thumper always 100% of the time works for deadsticking.
During the winter deadsticking time I am fishing open water. I am not looking for humps or points. Also fishing close to a river channel or creek bed can pay off greatly.
I also fish with a rod in each hand with my baits at different depths, that way I feel like I have my precise depth covered, high or low.
The main thing I would encourage is to experiment. If the fish are under you and they are not biting like you feel like they should be, change things up. Don’t leave your fish to go find other fish.

Thanks for responding, Brent. Your success adds weight to what you said here. Question: How much help does Lives-cope provide? If you didn't have it, do you think it would reduce your catch by 20% or worse? Also, for number 6 in the list, it sounds like you are manually thumping. What tunes are you beating to?

Dennis-

Livescope helps alot and I think it would reduce your catches by 15-20% for sure. I beat to the radio. Find your tune and start thumping. It helps you forget about the noise a little if you get into it!