Many years ago, I learned more about bass fishing from Jake than from any person in the world. Jake taught me about how a bass feeds and when it feeds. He opened my eyes to how bait movement (or the lack thereof) triggers a strike response.
 Jake, by the way, was a bass.
 He lived in my massive aquarium for six years. Jake taught me a lot of things in that time, and one of the most important lessons was how lethal a bait can be when it isn’t doing a darned thing.
 Stroll through the tackle aisles at any sporting goods store and you’ll find hundreds of lures designed to impart an “irresistible action.” The wobble of a crankbait. The flutter of a spoon. The undulations of a curly-tailed worm. All high-action stuff, which is great. Action catches fish. But inaction does too, and that’s what I want to talk about.
 When Jake was really hungry and I introduced minnows to his world, he went berserk. He’d chase and inhale bait as fast as he could. He’d “get while the getting’ was good” I guess. However, if he was in a more neutral mood â neither famished nor full â it was a different story. Jake was patient then. Calculating. Maybe just plain lazy.
 I say lazy because that’s precisely what most predators are. They loaf around when they’re not driven by hunger or fear. When they do choose to eat, they eat. If given the choice between a spry, fast-moving meal or one that’s just sitting there, they’ll take the easy meal 10 times out of 10.
 I learned this from Jake, and began putting this knowledge to work on the water. I began dead-sticking before “dead-sticking” was a part of the fishing vocabulary. If you haven’t tried this killer presentation yet at your favorite bass haunts, do!
 Plastics
Soft plastics are the most popular baits for dead-sticking. There are more choices for the actual bait you use than there are stars in the sky. Jig & grub, jigworm, Texas-rigged worm, Carolina rig, “nothing” worm, hundreds of tail styles, thousands of colors⦠too much to cover in this article. So for our purposes, we’ll say we’re using a Texas rig with a 6-inch Lindy Munchie Ringworm.
 Get out on the edge of a weedline, submerged channel, hump or other “classic” structure and cast the bait. Let it free-fall and always be prepared for a bite as it drops. When it hits bottom, leave it.
 This is the point where most guys will start popping and swimming the bait back. Just relax, avoid this temptation, and leave it alone. Watch your line. Wait for a pick-up. Give it 30 seconds minimum. Maybe as long as a minute. Then, give it a twitch and let it fall again. Let it sit. Then do it again.
 As Jake taught me, bass will often approach a non-moving bait, suspend slightly behind and above it, and wait â just staring at it. The waiting seems to make the fish a little crazy. He gets anxious. Then, after a long wait, when that bait does suddenly spring into action, it can trigger a reflex strike and another tail-dancing bass on the end of your line.
 Crankbaits
Plastics are ideal for dead-sticking on the bottom. But you can also dead-stick within the water column too – with a suspending crankbait. Before they were manufactured, I used to make my own suspending crankbaits. I’d start with a floating Rapala and pinch split-shot sinkers on the hook shanks. After some testing and tinkering in the kitchen sink, I’d dial in the exact weight to make the bait neutrally-bouyant.
 Today, there’s a great supply of beautifully balanced “suspending” crankbaits available from many manufacturers.  Fishing them is quite easy and incredibly effective on bass that are in a neutral to negative feeding mood.
 Make a long cast in productive water. Retrieve the bait at moderate speed to get it down to the depth it’s designed to achieve. Then stop it and just let it hang there in suspended animation.
 I’ve had days when the best bites came on suspending crankbaits that were left suspending for over a minute. You can practically get it in the strike zone, set the rod down and enjoy a cup of coffee while watching for the line to “jump” with a strike.
 As Jake taught me, fish are a lot like people. They can change moods every day or every hour. They can get hungry on schedule or at odd times. And sometimes, the meal they want is the one that’s just lying there or hanging around.
 So if you’re out chasing bass and your usual high-action presentations aren’t producing, try dead-sticking them. You’ll find the bass might really come alive!
 Good Fishing!
 Babe Winkelman is a nationally-known outdoorsman who has taught people to fish and hunt for more than 25 years. Watch the award-winning “Good Fishing” and “Outdoor Secrets” television shows on Outdoor Life Network (OLN), WGN-TV, Fox Sports Net, Fox College Sports, The Sportsman’s Channel and WILD TV.  By: Babe Winkelman / Babe Winkelman Productions
