Simple plastic bait yields big results.

Late spring and Early Summer are the best time to try soft-plastics Stick baits for Largemouth Bass. How can something that has no action catch fish? Just do nothing and see. Everything about fishing the bait is simple. What could be easier than spinner baits; cast the bait out and reel it in. The stick bait is even easier; cast it out and do basically nothing, let it sink, work it in a foot or so, let it sink and so on. Lesser amounts of action equal greater numbers of strikes. For me, the initial fall of the lure is the best time for the strike. The key to the presentation is SLOW; if you retrieve too fast you won’t get as many hits. The strike is a critical stage of the game. Unlike a plastic worm, where the hook set is immediate, the stick bait hook set is a pause for a short period of time to let the fish eat it. The fish will not let go.

Largemouth bass will pick up the lure and run with it and start to eat it; you must wait and watch your line. By waiting you can be sure the fish has the bait well and your hook up will increase significantly. Location is important when fishing sticks, I prefer the Largemouth bass pre-spawn haunts; shallow weedy bays near the hard sand bottom where they will spawn. I work a depth range of 1-5 ft of water. I always prefer to fish the sticks weightless. Without any extra weight, the bait fishes with ease in the heaviest weed choked parts of the lake.

I prefer rigging the bait Texas rigged that makes the lure completely weedless. Texas rigging the stick is exactly like a plastic worm, you take the tip of the bait and penetrate the hook ½ inch down, twist the hook underneath and poke the hook back into the body to make it weedless. The most critical part of fishing a stick is the rod/reel and line. The only effective way to fish a stick is on braided line, use fifteen-pound test. The braids create the ultimate feel and sensitivity. The no stretch aspect also aids in a solid hook set. The hook I tie on with a Palomar knot is a number two gap worm hook. I prefer to use Owner or Gamakatsu hooks, both are ultra sharp. By using a Palomar knot, the line never slips, like other knots sometimes do. I use only spinning tackle when fishing a stick but it has to be heavy action, with the reel having a large capacity. On the reel it is important to “back” your braid with monofilament. As a rule, I will fill ¼ of the spool with monofilament then fill the rest with my braided line. If you don’t back the super lines they will spin around the reel making it impossible to set the hook.

The only part of stick fishing that can be difficult is out of the fisherman’s control. That is the wind. With a lot of wind, the lure will get blown around and not sink properly. The slow lure fall is what tempts the Largemouth bass into biting. Excessive wind will also take the “feel” out of the anglers’ hands. With that in mind, I will almost always fish the stick in the early morning or late afternoon when the wind tends to calmer. This method of fishing has yielded some of my best largemouth bass catches. This spring give a “do nothing” bait a try.

Dave Duwe fishes the lakes of Walworth County in Southeastern Wisconsin and can be reached at 262-728-8063.

By: Captain Dave Duwe