Suspending Stickbaits For Trophy Bass

The suspending stickbait catches trophy bass because it produces best during late winter warming trends when prespawn heavyweight bass move up in the water column. Ideal conditions for throwing a stickbait are a sunny day with a light wind on a lake with slightly stained to clear water (visibility between 1 1/2 to 10 feet).

A suspending stickbait is so effective because you can work it over any type of structure. You can catch a lot of fish on a stickbait over open water. It is great when you have an isolated target such as one standing tree on the end of a point, but it is also a bait that you can take off down a bank and cover a lot of water whether it is deep or shallow.

How To Suspend A Stickbait

Getting the lure to suspend properly is a key to success. Every stickbait you take out of the package isn’t going to suspend perfectly at every water temperature every place you are going to fish the bait. There are too many outside variables that affect what the bait is going to do once you put it in the water. You have to make sure the bait is truly suspending when you put it in the water.

Before casting the lure, toss it in the water next to the boat and pull it slightly under the water to check the stickbait’s buoyancy. If the lure floats up too fast, add weight by upsizing a treble hook or sticking lead tape to the body. Make sure the bait sits slightly nose down in the water for better hookups because bass tend to attack the front of a stickbait more often.

How To Cast And Retrieve A Suspending Stickbait

Make a long cast with your stickbait to help it reach maximum depth. Then wind your reel eight to 10 turns to get the lure down 3 or 4 feet. Pause your retrieve, pull the bait a few inches and resume your presentation with a twitch-twitch-pause sequence.

Patience is a virtue with this tactic because it sometimes requires prolonged pauses. If you have the bait in a prime target area, the longer you can let the lure sit there the better your chances of catching a lazy big bass.

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