Yup

What did they need to learn?

+2

The last two deadstick trips on RH, Frank said little prayers for us and both trips my Pastor caught the most fish! Please tweak your prayer a little for me, Frank

At RH, the fish seems to hug closer to the bottom at 30 fow, and suspended in 3/4 near bottom at deeper 38 ft. The 30 fow bites are more aggressive so my pastor's slab outcatch my flukes. The 38 ft depth, the fish there seems to swim around around our lures and only a few hookups.

Not long ago, I was that "staring" fisherman not knowing what the heck deadsticking was. I remembered watching other cath big fish after big and I was one frustrated dude!!!

Lots of deadstick infos are posted here every year. But you still have to go out with good instructor to show you the rope. Deadstick is easy but also aint easy. There are many small details/variables and you gotta practice and practice and its best if you have a good teacher or two. Not sure what else to tell ya. Deadstick season peeks in January and should be good teil Feb and sometimes to March, depending on the water temp and not too many snow storms.

Good looking fish "sea Pro " looks like ur green bait that is tied above the bottom bait strikes again and again. Fat health " Peskies" , I like that !!!

Nice Fish!

do most bites when deadsticking come a foot or so off the bottom or up more?

Find thermocline, balls of bait fish and fish above the bait a foot or so. There are some guru's on this thread on dead sticking. One or many will likely chime in.

Watch your electronics, fond fish and put your bait just slightly above the fish. A lot of guys this time of year catch fish with their rods in rod holders. That is a good indicator of how still your bait needs to be.

Good question BassFro! Your graph will dictate the depth of the lures. I am glued to my graph when deadsticking. What Gene and gregborg are saying is true in deeper water at most lakes like Hubbard and Twok when the fish are suspended mid water column this time of year. But my last two trips on Hubbard (water temp were 52 and 47 respectively), the more agressive bites and bigger fish were near 30 ft depth as opposed to deeper 37+ ft areas on Hubbard. At the 30ft areas, the fish were hugging the bottom and stacked up to sometimes 25 ft in the water column. I mostly used flukes to deadstick and dropped them to 25 ft, as I can see my lures on the graph. I caught good hybrids and magnums that way.

But I had my pastor and two newbie anglers on my boat on each trip and they prefered the heavier "feel" of slabs and the results were interesting to me. They caught yellows, crappie, kitties, sandies of all sizes, hybrids, including the three biggest hybrids at 23". Their slabs were about a foot off the bottom??? What da heck do I know? lol! With fishing I am always learning, even from watching newbies on my boat. LOL!

I only use flukes on Twok for deadsticking this time of year. On Hubbard, I use one rod with flukes and one with slab and fluke.

Disclaimer: I am just a weekend warrior and enjoy learning new stuffs as I go in this sport. Just sharing what I observed. I aint no "pro" LOL!

I will add to Todd's info. I caught em on slab and fluke both. I found that If I put the slab in the rod holder it catches more than the fluke. I was 2 to 4 cranks off the bottom and the magic number saturday was 33 feet for some odd reason. Todd is one of the BEST weekend warriors I know

Thanks Keith! And I know you only know ONE weekender out of all your friends...lol. Yeah its the same area Keith but 33ft three weeks ago and 30ft this past Friday because the birds were working near the shore there. I stared at the graph so long now I know the spot just by the depth at Hubbard and Twok, and I even see fish swimming by in my sleep? Oh man I am losing it BIG TIME...

NICE FISH TODD!!! I guess one of these days I need to try some winter fishing...