Dead sticking for bass.

[ROBZILLA]

Serious bass anglers crave inside information. In spite of all the input they receive from fishing magazines, videos, TV shows and seminars, they're constantly on the lookout for subtle innovations in equipment or techniques that can give them an edge over their competition.

We recently got wind of an incredible tactic that tournament anglers and guides are using to put big bass in their boats from late-winter through early spring. It's the very antithesis of the run-and-gun approach so commonly employed by skilled anglers. It's dead-sticking a jerkbait, the most awesomely effective "un-retrieve" we've yet run across.
Researching dead-sticking required some major-league digging. We found most of the anglers who are using the technique extremely reluctant to talk about it. But as Woodward and Bernstein discovered when reporting on the Watergate break-in, persistence pays off. We've uncovered not one, but three variations of the dead-stick method, all geared to putting lunker bass in your boat from February into the bedding season. A word of warning: if you're the typical hyperactive tournament basser who relies on a high-speed approach, dead-sticking is definitely not for you. It requires more patience than many competitive anglers can muster, but properly performed, it'll put you in the winner's circle.

Variation # 1: Lou Treat's Cold-Water Method
Bass expert Lou Treat is a master at dead-sticking in cold water. The Flippin, Ark., angler is a veteran of the regional tournament scene. He's won a number of events, including two tournaments each on the Central Pro-Am and Red Man circuits -- all on jerkbaits.
Treat's dead-stick approach works best during the initial warm-up phase typical of his region; this occurs sometime from late February through mid-March (you'll have to adjust your calendar to fit conditions in your area). "Usually our deep reservoirs get down to around 41 degrees in winter," Lou explained. "Prime time for dead-sticking occurs when the water first warms up 3 or 4 degrees. That's when they'll absolutely eat it up!"
The cast of characters that Treat employs for dead-sticking includes Smithwick's Suspending Super Rogue (a 5-inch 1/2-ounce plastic minnow) and Suspending Pro Rogue (4 1/2 inches/3/8 ounces). His favorite colors are "clown" (reflective yellow back/white belly/red head) and black back/silver sides/orange belly. These lures come factory-weighted; once reeled down, they'll suspend about 4 feet beneath the surface. If Treat wants a deeper presentation, he'll drill strategically placed holes in unweighted Rogues and fill them with lead. Custom-weighting a jerkbait is an art; only by trial and error will you get the lure to behave exactly the way you want it. An easier approach is to use Storm SuspenDots or SuspenStrips; these adhere to the lure's surface. First-timers to dead-sticking usually find the factory-weighted suspending models work well under most conditions.