Lake Lewisville Fishing Guide-Dead Sticking

The water temperatures have gotten closer to 50 degrees, which means a few things…The striped bass, hybrid striper, and white bass have become more lethargic, fish can be found on and off structure, and the dead sticking technique should be very effective. I’ve been starting all my trips sometime in the mid morning, letting the water temperature warm up just a bit. Some days the fish are more active than others, but we have been catching limits every trip. The white bass are in deep water by the thousands suspended around 20-35 foot of water. I like to check around river channels, deep water flats, and off deep water structure. The hybrid striper are mixed in with them. I have been dead sticking to catch them with a tandem jig set up. If you read in the dead sticking section of this post, you can learn more about the technique. There will be a video included as well. Crappie have been on shallow wood, bridge columns, and main lake brush piles. Any day now they’ll start moving up the creeks. Catfish have been good drifting cut shad, carp, or buffalo in 15-35 foot of water.  

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Lake Ray Roberts has been on fire for white bass and should continue for the next several months. Limits of fish are hitting the cooler daily! The fish seem to be everywhere at the moment as we have caught them on structure and suspended in deep water. I have been catching several crappie and eater sized blue cats mixed in with them as well. Dead sticking has been the most effective technique. Take a look at the dead sticking section of this post for an in depth explanation. We’ve been fishing a tandem jig set up to put all these species in the boat. I’m looking for fish around big schools of bait. 45-80 foot of water has been the best. Check out river channels, deep water flats nearby, and off deep water structure. 

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Dead sticking is a winter time technique. It is usually best when the water temperature gets to around 50 degrees. The striper, hybrid striper, and white bass leave structure for the most part, and bait fish become their structure. A lot of times if you find the big schools of bait, you find the fish. There are many different ways to effectively dead stick. Here are some pointers to help you become more successful…I look in deep water, say from 40-80 foot of water. I look for fish and bait suspended around the 20-30 foot mark. I focus my searching around river channels and deep water flats and drop offs. I count my baits down to the fishes depth using pulls from the reel to the first eye on the rod. Usually this is around 2 feet. Therefore if I make 15 pulls at 2 feet a piece, my baits are sitting right around 30 foot of water. Hold the baits still for the most part with a little twitch every now and then. You’re waiting for the thump, just like you were crappie fishing. When you feel the thump, set the hook. Pretty simple right! The set up I use most often is a tandem jig set up with 3 to 4 inch flukes on the jigs. Check out the video above to see for yourself. This was shot on Lake Lewisville by Eric Dulin from Thump Em’ Up Fishing.