If conditions hold...Epic deadsticking season this year!

Keep your fingers crossed that the conditions hold out. Low-zero flow in the creeks, low lake water levels, good water clarity, and early water temperature drops = Dense main lake populations and epic deadsticking that we haven't experienced in years due to heavy creek/river flows fall and winter.

The hybrid population at "The Creek" has been above average this year and there are plenty of big girls roaming. The fall dock light fishing was exceptional!

My addiction to hunting the national forest should subside by Thanksgiving. Deadsticking trips on Cedar Creek will be available after that if anyone is interested in learning or filling the cooler.

Also, those new baits from Lane look pretty darn sexy!

I can hardly wait! I'm just waiting to finish up welding up my float pods and weld them on. And your right about the new baits Laner has! Can hardly wait to droppem down.

Yes sir, big balls of bait 20-25 feet down in 50 fow, numerous lines running thru the balls, large orange and yellow arches, bright white marks on down scan and SI. Frosty adult beverages and the dead stick addiction paraphernalia is close to complete.

Never in my life have I ever looked forward to fishing in the winter till I discovered deadsticking. It is now and by far my favorite time of year for fishing, go figure

Is Dead Sticking holding the rod still until a fish bites it?

Agree^^. Could someone define exactly what it is. I went online and there’s YouTube’s all over from lake trout, wallets, stripers and bass. Or, if you could direct us to a place describing deadsticking. Thanks

Yes, it's that easy. Find the fish on the graph. Drop a fluke straight down to their depth and hold the it still. Works best if you set your trolling motor as slow as possible but still moving. The bite will either be a bump, a slight pull down or you will see slack in your line from the fish pushing the jig up. Using flukes from 3-7" work I prefer 5" on a m t pockets dead stick screw on jig head. You want the bait to lay horizontal in the water. You want to use a heavy enough jig head to keep the bait straight down so you can control the depth a lot easier

Dead stick jig heads from 1- 2 oz depending on wind.
http://stores.mtpocketstackle.com/screw-lock-dead-stickers-1-2-oz-2-oz-5pack/

can you also use slabs?

Yep

.

I am going to give it a try

The addiction is overwhelming at times. A tiny tap, small push up or slack line can result in double digit fish !

This is a good article

http://www.ntxe-news.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=55&num=88347

yep, before I even heard the term I slayed the sandies on Hubbard one Feb. years ago. It was just dumb luck that I discovered it. I would stop moving my slab for one reason or another (probably to warm hands) and bam they would hit. I told my buddy to just hold his rod still. This year was a great year for bait on the 2 lakes I fish the most. I just hope we don't have a winter kill.

Thanks, that’s a great article

I concur, my favorite technique and it's the time of year for the big fish!

I gave up duck hunting for deadsticking this year. With my thumper and my Panoptix, it should be a fun winter!

Given our current conditions when do you guys think it is reasonable to start trying the deadsticking? This will be my first year to deadstick. However, it is the exact same method I have used for crappie for years.

Right now. The fish will start grouping up in huge schools as the water temps continue to drop. I got a late start last year on Whitney but found acres of stripers in January. They stayed in that area till March. Look for birds out in the main lake (especially Loons) as they will be most likely sitting on top of large schools of shad with stripers/hybrids/sand bass nearby

One March years ago Rob, Herman and I discovered dead sticking on Ray Hubbard and caught the biggest and most hybrids we ever caught on Hubbard. I made a cast with a large swim bait and got a backlash. While the bait was sitting still on the bottom wham big hybrid. Reeled it in, recast to the backlash and just got it undone when wham again. So from that point on it was cast and hold still.

I also hope we don't get a shad kill, it will hurt the fish population and health. I worry about Texoma because it is filled with fish right now.