Page 62 - Lady Bass Digital Magazine Classic 2022

The Dead Stick

There are a lot of ways to fish soft plastics. Each way can in this manner, it is important to watch your line. Com-
catch fish. In this article, we are going to be talking about monly, you will see your line just start to move off.
a method that requires a lot of patience but can also have
big payoffs. For shallow water fishing, we frequently hear A question that may come up is when or how would you
about anglers using a Texas rigged or wacky rigged stick know to use this technique. There are multiple answers to
bait. I am here to tell you that there are other baits that can that question. I will start with a question to answer it. Have
be fished weightlessly or almost weightlessly that are just as you ever made a cast and gotten a backlash and once you
effective. The term weightless is pretty easy for an angler to worked it out and started taking up slack, there was a fish
picture. You simply do not add a weight onto your rig. on your line? Have you ever been out fishing, and you just
can’t seem to get bit? If so, have you cast out and decided
Let me explain my version of almost weightless. As you to take a drink or take a nibble of a snack and look down
might guess, the weight used is very small. For our pur- and see your line moving off? In both cases, it is a good
poses, it is anything from a 1/32 or maybe even a 1/16. You indication that fish want the presentation to be very slow.
may be wondering when and why would an angler choose
to use a weightless or almost weightless presentation. One One of the most common mistakes that anglers make is
reason would be when bass are inactive. During this time, fishing too fast. We live in such a “microwave” society
what you want is a bait that has a much more natural fall. where things are ready in just a few seconds, that we often
The more natural the bait looks as it falls, the more entic- apply that same hurry up mentality to fishing. Yes, I have
ing it is to a bass. In addition to having the more natural heard anglers say, “I’m looking for the most aggressive
fall, this weightless or almost weightless presentation tends fish”, or “I’m a power fisherman”, as they have the trolling
not to get hung up in the vegetation or cover where you motor set on high while casting and retrieving. That is all
are fishing. One other item of note is that the weight of the well and good if you are catching fish, but did you ever
hook carries the worm to the bottom. The rule of thumb stop and think that you might have been fishing over a
is to use the least amount of weight possible for the condi- number of quality, catchable bass simply because you are
tions. There might be a little bit of wind, or you are fishing fishing too fast.
a little bit deeper. In these cases, that little bit of weight
allows the bait to be presented as naturally as possible. The best times to use “Dead Sticking” is when the fish are
inactive, and the fishing is really slow. Bass are hard to
come by maybe when a faster presentation did not work.

The term “Dead Stick” brings a chill up the spin of some
anglers as this presentation requires a lot of patience. For
those who may not know what the term means, let me
explain. You cast your bait out and let it sink to the bottom
and let it sit for a while. When you do move it, you again
let it fall to the bottom and let it sit a while. When fishing

60 Lady Bass Anglers Association Deadsticking