Capt. Mike Gerry offers some tips for deadsticking in windy conditions.

One of the most productive baits on Lake Guntersville over the past several years has been a soft-plastic, cigar-shaped jerk bait. Senko, Dinger, or Magic Stick… whatever you call it, dead sticking with one of these baits catches fish and lots of them.

One of the problems is how do to effectively fish it in a wind. This bait is most productive when it’s fished on the bottom, and because you fish it weightless, wind won’t allow this bait to do its thing. Therefore, you must devise a way with to make a weightless bait work itself to the bottom without changing the action of the bait.

There are three very distinct ways to fish this bait that can really help you when it’s windy and the water is rough. The first thing I do is tie a swivel about 12 to 14 inches above the hook. The windier it is, the bigger the swivel I use. The swivel adds just enough weight to get the bait down, and it is located just far enough from the hook to not interfere with the productive action of the dead stick bait in windy conditions.

The second strategy is to drop the nose of your rod so that the wind doesn’t catch your line and then drag the lure along the bottom by twitching the tip. The keys here are to (1) feel the grass with the dead stick bait and (2) keep the rod tip in the down position.

The third thing worth trying is to choose longer, heavier, baits. Most makers of the dead stick baits offer these soft plastic lures from 4 inches to 7 inches and the longer ones are fatter, heavier and sink with the same dead stick action.

So if the wind picks up, don’t put away one of the most effective baits on the lake. Any day that is not too windy to fish a worm, using these tips should enable you to be very productive.

Captain Mike Gerry
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
Web: www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
Email: bassguide@comcast.net
(256) 759-2270