How to fish the stick bait?

It may sound crazy but I have never tried fishing a stick bait, but now I want to learn. I'm going to be using it wacky rigged weightless. My question is do you let it sink all the way to the bottom or do you let it sink a couple feet then pop it back up? I'll be throwing this thing everywhere and at diffrent depths. All tips and tricks or good advise will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Fish will tell you how they want it, sometimes deep sometimes shallow, In the spring and the bite is on most of the time they hit it just after hitting the water. I use an O-ring on mine so the bait last longer, center the O-ring and place your hook between the O-ring and the bait. picture of O-ring tool.

IMO.. the action of the stick bait is when its falling.. once it hits the bottom.. either pop it up or reel it in. If you are fishing shallow.. weightless is the way to go. deeper.. the strike zone will be deeper so adding a little weight gets the bait down faster.. Its a killer technique either way, but its all about feel and being able to detect strikes. I used to hook fish deep because of that. They pick it up and start swimming toward you or up in the water column and you never feel them. Learning the different "feels" of the bait really helps with hookups. A soft tip rod with good backbone is needed, I like spinning for soft plastics. YMMV

The less you "fish" it the better it works.

Exactly. I'm not very patient so this type of technique isn't always easy for me but I've caught a bunch of fish on them. How I fish weightless senko type baits, flukes and wacky rigs is to be very target specific much like flipping. I don't fish them all the way to the boat, I keep them in the zone I believe a bass lives. I cast or pitch to an object and employ a do nothing retrieve and if no takers, I either repeat the cast or on to the next. You hear guys like KVD talk about fishing slow fast, that's what this is being very specific and covering water but doing so slowing during the retrieve process.

Agreed. I throw it at a stump or dock piling and let it sink on a slack line. Don't try to keep tension on the line as it sinks. A Senko is designed to wobble as it falls on a slack line. That is what draws the strike. If you see the line tick or move in any way as it is sinking set the hook. Don't worry about trying to feel the bite. If you pick up on the line and it is heavy, it is a fish. Set the hook.

Once I know it is on bottom, I will hop it a couple times and let it fall back to the bottom again. If I don't get bit I reel it in and throw it at another target.

One more thing. If you are fishing water deeper than 6' or if it is windy you may want to add a tiny bit of weight to it. Lunker City nail weights work well.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat....

Love the wacky rig. I have caught them down to 20' on the wacky. By adding just a piece of a nail to the head, it will get down a little faster. You dont want it going down too fast, defeats the purpose.
In shallow water, site cast to a spot, and work it through, then crank it in and do it all over again. I dont fish it all the way back either. But occasionally, you'll get a surprise cranking it back in.
One more thing, I like to fish an open hook. I just get more hook ups. Weed guards are nice but I would rather not use them

keep your eyes on slack line the whole time. the good ones will just get heavy like a jig, no tick or line moving to the side. just a bounce in the line, if you feel a tick and no fish then it was her spitting it out. extremely versatile bait, keep an open mind.

Try taking it and rigging it Texas style without a weight on the nose. Put a nail in the tail and pick it up on slack line it will flutter and sink going away from you. I do this often it is deadly. With the right presentation (line size, nail weight) it will swim or fall backwards. A lot of times a bass will swim upon to a soft plastic and look at it before eating it. If you pick this up and it goes toward the fishes face they will eat it. I have caught so many fish on this technique it isn't funny. This is a perfect spawn/ post spawn with fry guarders or even prespawn in the right areas.

90 percent of hits are on the initial fall !

Let er sink and drag it!

Get a couple different sizes of weighted weedkess wacky hooks, the o ring tool, and some regular offset 3/0, 4/0 hooks for weedless rigging. That's pretty much all you need. Try the wacky some and try it Texas rigged some. It's killer in spring. I fish it very similar to how I throw a fluke. I try and let it fall to the bottom or near bottom everytime I move it

Fish it Texas rig, once it wears out fish it Wacky rig, once that wears out cut the last 3 or 4 inches off and fish ot on a Ned rig, more bang for your buck.

Put it in the water... you cant scew it up, they just eat it

unscrew a fat ball point pen casing for the tool and get the O-rings at a plumbing supply store or home depot. much cheaper.

Add a Tungsten Swanger Rig to your hook shank....horizontal fall and added shimmy to your stick bait.