Deadfall tactics?
tnmusky
Posted 9/15/2011 7:36 PM (#516764)
Subject: Deadfall tactics?




Location: 0
I havent had much success with fishing deadfalls in my lake which is were most of the local musky fishermen catch them. Other then the obvious throwing chart/firetiger spinnerbaits to them (which is what I see everyone doing) What other tips, lure choice or tactics has anyone had consistent success with?
Guest
Posted 9/15/2011 10:54 PM (#516789 - in reply to #516764)
Subject: RE: Deadfall tactics?


I fish Shelbyville in Illinois which is loaded with dead falls as well, one tactic that I have had success on is taking a Jake or a Crane and tune it so that it runs to one side or the other instead of straight. This allows the bait to bump into the lay down that you are fishing and many times at the end of the lay down a ski will come shooting out from nowhere and crush the bait.
Andrew Veach
tomcat
Posted 9/16/2011 6:57 AM (#516794 - in reply to #516764)
Subject: Re: Deadfall tactics?





Posts: 743


shallow magnum bulldawgs. twitch then with upward twitches of the rod. they will twitch well just a few inches under the water
newmuskyz
Posted 9/16/2011 7:33 AM (#516796 - in reply to #516794)
Subject: Re: Deadfall tactics?




Posts: 567


agree with the loud cranks. jakes etc. bumped on the imbs etc. will work.
HomeTime
Posted 9/16/2011 9:42 AM (#516820 - in reply to #516764)
Subject: Re: Deadfall tactics?





Posts: 247


Location: Uxbridge Ontario
A lot of guys choose cranks with huge deep running lips. The bait swims more vertical keeping the hooks away from the timber. The lip gets caught rather than the hooks. Give it some slack line to let it float and it will release.
TimBurr
Posted 9/16/2011 11:58 AM (#516868 - in reply to #516764)
Subject: RE: Deadfall tactics?


Along with what Andy said, I love gliders worked in and around timber. You can shorten up your casts and place them right next to limbs, then get them to zig and zag into the cover. I think the slightly slower presentation also helps to entice strikes; there's something about that pause! These fish are likely holding tight to cover and an in-your-face presentation can be magical. Make sure you know your bait's nuances; lack of control with your glider around cover will result in snags and usually a fishless tree by the time you go in and retrieve your bait. Hellhounds, Phantoms, and Squirkos get the nod for me.
tnmusky
Posted 9/16/2011 3:43 PM (#516882 - in reply to #516764)
Subject: Re: Deadfall tactics?




Location: 0
Hey I appreciate the advice, do you all generally throw the bright or natural colored gliders for deadfalls? or does that just depend on water color?
Fishwizard
Posted 9/16/2011 4:44 PM (#516887 - in reply to #516764)
Subject: Re: Deadfall tactics?




Posts: 366


What lake are you fishing? The biggest thing that I see with fishing deadfalls, especially here in TN is that not all stretches of trees will hold muskies equally. What bait you throw in them is of less importance than whether or not the run of trees you're fishing is known to hold fish. You can throw the worst bait possible in the best trees and still catch fish, but throw the best bait imaginable into trees that don't hold fish and never see or catch a single one. That being said, having a bait that you are good with and can consistently throw very accurately is the most important aspect in choosing baits. The difference in catching a muskie and snagging a tree can be only an inch or two at the end of a 40 foot cast. Spinnerbaits provide a lot of accuracy insurance in casting timber, as well as floating baits that will dive once worked like Believers and other floating cranks that can be twitched or just cranked around the down timber. Color is of less importance than location and action.

Ryan
jakejusa
Posted 9/16/2011 5:05 PM (#516888 - in reply to #516764)
Subject: RE: Deadfall tactics?




Posts: 994


Location: Minnesota: where it's tough to be a sportsfan!
Three choices here: one is rattlebaits like traps, if you keep the hook size under control you can ram them into the wood and stand the bait on it's nose, pop it up and keep on going. Pretty snag free once you have it down. Next is a square billed crank matched rod and line combo so you have great (not good) feel. You can walk a square bill through wood and make allot of racket once you master the setup. Last is tubes or reapers rigged texas weedless style. You can drop it into a tree and rattle that thing around like a dazed shad! I have even added sound chambers to this rig with success. A few years back I had a 7" tube in a tree w/rattle and had a LM Bass hit it like a freight train. Good tactic...
tnmusky
Posted 9/16/2011 8:42 PM (#516917 - in reply to #516764)
Subject: Re: Deadfall tactics?




Location: 0
Someone asked me what lake I fish, I fish Melton hill Which is near Oak ridge. Im taking all of the advice and I went out and bought a new deep diving crank for my outing tomorrow. Ive always been kinda affraid of throwing them to deadfalls in the past because it seems like I get hung more often then not so I weedless rigged all three treble hooks. Hope my homemade weedguards are the trick I need to pull a big one out of thick cover!
The Toad
Posted 9/16/2011 11:02 PM (#516922 - in reply to #516794)
Subject: Re: Deadfall tactics?





Posts: 137


I second shallow dawgs and Grandma's. Shallow dawgs will get them to come up out of the sticks no matter what time of year. Grandmas work too, when you feel a stick let off a little bit and give it a sec, it will almost always come off. I also throw some paddletail swimbaits around them as well, the new large hollow body swimbaits are almost completely snagproof.

It's weird, but true what Fishwizard says, that there are certain stick-up areas that will catch fish multiple times and others not at all. Just takes time to learn which ones are money and which ones to spend less time on. I've never spent a lot of time with baits that go way down into the sticks, like jigs or tubes, because nothing is perfectly snagproof and it seems it is always easier for us to cover water and make the fish come up out of the sticks rather than losing lures or spending time retrieving them.
Jimbofish
Posted 9/18/2011 7:15 PM (#517064 - in reply to #516764)
Subject: RE: Deadfall tactics?


Gliders, like TimBurr said, works.
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