Tawakoni Trip 1/9/2018 with Larry, Ed and JR

Larry invited me to join them for a dead-sticking trip to Tawakoni yesterday. It was supposed to get up to 60 degrees, but it stayed cloudy and cold the whole day. After a slow start we finally got into fish east of the Wolf Creek Humps in 45 fow. Managed 17 overs - a mixture of hybrids and stripers - with biggest going about 24 inches. Also caught about a dozen shorts and 2 nice cats. Larry was the man and caught about twice what the rest of us caught. Since you sit there and do nothing except wait for the bite, it was clearly his rig that was the difference.

I managed 5 fish four of which were keepers. We caught no white bass and have no particular explanation for that. We had one of SeaPro Todd's thumpers going augmented by Ed's manual knocking with a knocking stick. Fish were up from the bottom 2 1/2 turns of the reel in 45 fow. We had to wait a lot between bites even when we could see fish down there - leading me to believe we never found the perfect rig. We tried white, pink, yellow and silver. Larry's rig was a 3 oz (I think) dark silver jig head with a 3 inch clear/white fluke with a yellow tail. He was positioned on the trailing side of the boat as we drifted. I was on the lead side of the boat - not that that made any difference - just a fact.

My impression of deadsticking: The company is great, but the method reminds me of fishing with live bait - you just put it in the water, keep the rod still and wait. The trick to catching is 1st locating an area holding fish, use drift socks to manage the drift speed, experiment to find the right bait, position it just above the fish and patiently wait for the bite. If I had caught more - like Larry - I think I would have liked it better, but fishing all day and catching 5 fish is kind of why I don't fish for LMBs but go for whites where I can usually catch a lot of fish. But don't misunderstand - I enjoyed the trip, especially hearing someone say "Fish on" and watching the excitement of pulling in a big fish. I DO want to try it again - with folks who know how to do it like Ed and Larry. But, when I go out in my boat, Im probably gonna stick with structure fishing, which has been producing even in the cold waters.

Here are some pics from the trip:

Larry with nice striper


JR with nice striper


Ed, Larry and JR with the 19 big uns we kept


Yours truly with a keeper

Glad you had a good trip. Like fishing live bait, deadsticking is not for everyone, but I sure do like it!

Looks like a great trip. I love deadsticking, the challenge of hooking the fish and feeling the thump is what I like.

Great trip Tuesday, sure never warmed up it just got cooler, great Tawakoni DS trip. Just waiting to repeat it sooner the better.

I used a 2oz white jig head with a white ice fluke zero on that, pink fluke zero also, then went to a clear chartruse 5" and got a few stripers, my other rod the catching rod had a 1-1/2 oz silver jighead with a 5" glow with a yellow tail fluke, this was the best used.

Jigheads from MTPOCKETS tackle.

Nice box of fish and a great group of fishermen to share a day with.
Dead sticking is a challenge and it can try your patience Dennis but keep trying and it will get better. This time of year it is one of the best ways to catch them on most lakes. Surprised you caught no whites. Did anyone try dead sticking small slab/fly combo?

Hey Dennis...Twok isn’t Fishing red hot like it normally does although some great Fishing has been had on certain days. Deadsticking normally is incredibly high paced...as fast or maybe even faster than ur use to throwing the mepps...having 4-5 bites per minute being pretty normal. (Mostly 3-4 hooksets before hooking up.).

After this next set of really cold weather it’s probably going to slow down even more. My fav water temp for Deadsticking is 48-52.

Im marking 44° On main lake right now.

Nice trip with a great group of guys.

Dennis I think that someone like you that pays such close attention to detail with your mepps technique would love deadsticking. You have to treat deasticking just like you do your Mepps retrieve is you want to be successful. Different size lure, with splitshot or without, speed of presentation, number of turns before pause, line weight, rod stiffness, pointing rod at lure, wind pulling line sideways, structure depth that holds more active fish, ect....


The beauty of deadsticking is that its not just holding the lure and waiting. Just like any other method, basic things will work on easy days, but will leave you frustrated if you can't adjust.

Fish Location Questions:

Water temp: Determines fish depth
Wind direction: wind blowing same direction for two days or more will stack fish on windblown side of lake. especially in the mouth of windblown creeks.
Water temp trend: is temp trending up ahead of front or trending down post front?
Boat positioning: stationary on the edge of structure or drifting? strategic drift locations that keep you in good water longer. most drifts get progressively better, angle boat to put lure under transducer

Technique questions:

slab? slab color? slab size? slab shape?
fluke? fluke size? fluke? head size?
Teaser?

Location of lure in water column relative to fish: above- stationary, middle- jigging, below- slow rise
Drift speed vs lure wight vs lure profile (resistance) line weight (resistance): line angle- less active fish less angle

Aggressive jigging
slow jigging
no jigging
quick fall-pause
slow fall-pause
slow fall-jig-pause
quick rise
quick rise-pause
slow rise-pause
slow rise-jig-pause
jig-jig-jig-pause
pause-quick side swing
slow drag-quick 90 degree turn


That's just scratching the surface of whats going through my head when I'm out there trying to figure it out. When it all comes together it's magical.

My head hurts from all that, thanks Chris

Thanks Captain and Chris. In our trip Larry did the best and he just held the rod still. I was trying various motions like Chris said but with our rigs holding it still was best. Like I said I need more trips with experienced dead-stickers.

Way to go guys the good company is the best part.

Very honest and very good observation on your first DS report, DC. My first few DS trips I had the same thoughts as you. Just keep at it and it will get better. DS is easy but it's not easy. There are lots of details and factors come in play, like what Michael and Chris stated below, and you need practices. Very good info Michael and Chris and I agree!

And also I think Larry is just showing of and a little fun payback because because of all those trips you out schooled him LOL.

Sounds like a job for SPT! Dennis, you taught me mepps and I can return the favor. I have a 4-day weekend but man the weather forecast is lousy. The Friday afternoon may be the only small window of fishable weather. I think after this artic front, the DS bite will slow down also.

And FYI regarding DS temperature. I know the the lakes in OK and AR, guys still catching good hybrids with temp in the low 40s. But I didn't have good success at the DFW lakes in temperatures that low. Fish did not respond to the thump.

I have found EVERY lake to Fish totally different. Literally. Some lakes fish great in super cold temps and others don’t. Fish are still on structure on cedar creek with temps in the mid 40’s. It was like that back in the mid 90’s when I started guiding. Not Twok...Fish leave structure around 55°.

Cooper thrives the hotter it gets...Twok struggles in extreme water temps.

Very good info. Thanks for sharing, Michael.

All very true, every lake has its own personality. Right now there are fish surfacing under birds on Whitney, while deadsticking deep is hot on Cedar Creek.

I've put in significant hours on:
Livingston
Cedar Creek
Richland Chambers
Palestine
Conroe
Whitney
Tawakoni
Belton

I can assure you that they all fish the same at times, they all fish totally different at times, and that the seasonal pattern shift is a little different on each one.

Lake features that seem to have the most significant impact on patterning hybrid/striper are:

Lake Size
Size/width/depth of river channel, true river channel vs creek channel
Timber density/depth/location of standing timber
Availability of food sources other than shad

My neighbor and I have fished a point for black bass , just for fun, In the fall, close to our cove for for the last seven years. This year, twice, we ran into hybrids and sandbass. Same point, seven falls, twice in a year...none in the past six...

Very good to know. Thanks for sharing, Chris.

It's now blowing up to 40 mph and Brrrr!

very nice fish!

any theories on Texoma. I find flats and creek mouths to work best in winter.

Chris, you have thrown out a lot of things to consider. In fact, so much we are still left to figure out what to do on which lake. Would you be willing to zero in on what you think works best for each lake? Let's say it's a cloudy day, temp about 50 degrees, wind about 5 mph and water temp is 45 to 50 degrees. In these conditions from your experience what rigs and what presentation techniques for dead-sticking work best for each of the lakes you are familiar with? There seems to be a lot of interest on the forum about this. I'm sure others familiar with specific lakes will also want to add their input. Thanks in advance for whatever specifics you can share. Dennis

Dennis, I used my phone Navionics map app and studied CC, and the good deep waters for DS are only 5 minutes boat ride from your house. The app has the plus "+" that you can navigate on the map and it shows the depth at that location. I only looked at 40ft to 60ft areas. Love this app!

These deep depths I saw are in open waters and near good structures and over river beds. Great ideal places to thump and stare at your graph to see the responses.

You need to control your drift to desirable point5 mph point3 mph, so mainly you can use lighter jig heads like 1 oz to 1/2 oz. Faster drift will force to use larger jig heads for more vertical fishing. I prefer the lighter setup, you can feel the light bite better. I prefer drifting over spotlock.

Also, depth of lure is crucial. Look at your graph to see your lure is just "above" the suspended fish. Fish look up toward the sun light. If you are not sure, reel a crank or two higher. That's the reason I used two rods with their depth few feet apart to see what works better.

For Hubbard, the skinny slab below with small fluke on top works better for me. But on twok, larger flukes on bottom and smaller on top work better for me.

And also by looking at your graph and seeing the waves of fish moving through, you can be in the "crouching tiger, ninja jedi" mode for the super quick set hook, as opposed to not being ready. You can relax your arms when fish are not there and be more ready when you anticipate the taps.

Drifting works best when there are thousands of fish all in the same area. On the screen that Dennis posted in another post below , Spot lock is the beat option. I like this option the best because i can control where my lure goes more than drifting And if the fish move off the structure i can go find them ( with my side imaging ) and set up on top of them again. Frank and I do this all the time and we catch plenty. So to each their own there is not a one set way to catch fish in the winter.

What Keith said! I've always said deadsticking can make a Preacher curse. It's kind of like a marriage. You have good days and you have bad days. But you just "stick" with it. Having said that will try Hubbard this long weekend sometime. Hubbard has been good to us old stickers.

Question re thumping: We thumped almost continuously on our Tawakoni trip. But where we caught most of our fish there were about 10 other boats in the area and I don't believe we heard any of them thumping. So, why weren't they thumping? If you are drifting through fish, is thumping even needed?

I agree with PlanoKeith. I take good notes and aware that few hubbard guys DS and catching fish while spotlock. But my notes from yearly guided DS trips from the last 9 years, guides are out deep and seldom spotlock unless fish are schooling. It's whatever makes you happy lol.

Dennis i would say no. ( My opinion ) i have seen thumping most productive when fish are in the area and the thumping brings them under your boat when you are spot locked in one position. When Frank and I first saw a guy thumping he was 50 yards away and he kept the fish under him and we did not catch many until he left and we went to where he was. .

Dennis bet most of those boats were guides and they were using the quieter splashers.

But some guys like to thump while drifting .06 MPH. The thing i dislike about drifting is when the fish are feeding on 1 to 2 inch shad a small slab will not stay near the bottom when drifting.

.3 mph drift is the key or spot lock and thump. It brings em in! The bait needs to be vertical for the best action and results.

Thanks guys !!!
Great info!!!!!!! Been a while since info like this is shared...,

Thanks again

Dennis I would have to write a book! lol

I've spent a good part of my life trying to put all that information together and still have a ton to learn. We've sacrificed a lot of what could have been great numbers trips fishing the same ole patterns by getting out of our comfort zone and eliminating water through trial and error. I don't mind giving general tips and hints for others to put in the time and explore themselves but I'm not going into an extreme level of detail on a public forum. Mostly out of respect for my brother who depends on having a competitive edge to make his living.

With that said, for someone like yourself who has put in the time and been so gracious in sharing information over the years I'll make an offer. I am re-powering my Triton right now, but as soon as I get it out of the shop I'll take you out on Cedar Creek and show you what I've learned about deasticking it. We can swap stories about other lakes we've fished over the years and the techniques that work. Please bring ED as well, he's one of my favorite guys to fish with.

And as for your weather scenario, I would need to follow up with the following questions before making an assumption as to what the fish are doing. Trends are more important that specifics when establishing a pattern.

Cloudy
Air Temp 50
Wind 5
Water Temp 45-50

Cloudy: Is this the first cloudy day in a while? Is it the second or third cloudy day in a row?

Air Temp: Is 50 the high, or the low, or was it 35 at daylight with a high of 65 and now its 50 mid morning? Is this 50 degree day pre or post cold front?

Wind 5: What direction? That is extremely light wind so this time of year its probably either the second or third day after a front. If so, it would be North 5-10 in the morning light and variable throughout the day transitioning to SE in the evening. If its South at 5 then its probably the third or fourth day after a front and not the day before the next front because it would be 10-15+ from the Southeast.

Water Temp 45-50: There is a huge difference in 45 and 50 degree water in East Texas. Is the water on a warming trend or a cooling trend? What time of year is it? This scenario could play out Jan-March. Chances are the majority of fish wont be in the same section of lake that entire window.

Fishing is problem solving at its finest, wrapped up in the mystery of the fact that we will never truly understand exactly what goes on under that murky water.

If you want to drift in that scenario you would need to slow to .3 and use lighter line with less drag if you wanted to use a small slab. What I prefer to do is use a 1 oz jig head for weight and tie on a crappie jig 18" above it to match the hatch

Personally I catch more fish drifting vs. spot locking when dead sticking

I have done both and prefer drifting also, as dad said if I fish 10 spots and you fish 1 who's liable to find more fish?

The I pilot link is really good for the deadsticking season. With the link you can set the exact speed you want to go and it stays really close to that set speed. You then can go through the school of fish and once you quit marking fish then you can turn around and go back through them without reeling everything in and go back through the school. His is easily accomplished with the Backtrack feature. This feature works really well as long as you don't have a stiff wind pushing the boat and in that case you would have to hit the school from the original starting point or a different angle. This has made fishing easier for me anyway

Very good read, Chris! I have 48 to 52° as prime time for DS also for size and numbers. But the trend is warmer water temp dropping to 50° and not vice versa.

I fished hubbard yesterday noon to 4pm. 10 different spots, thumping. Fish did not response. Graph looked like a dessert! Water temp dropped 44.5° and I never did well on hubbard when the temp is that low. Hubbard is about 1 ft low which is pretty full. Deepest is 41ft down by the dam. Hubbard is relatively shallow compares to other lakes. Buddies went today and it was very slow as well.

Went out today on CCL from 8-11 and caught 10 from 17-22 all in 40-48 ft with the fish suspended at 18-24.