Author Topic: Deadstick Tactics for Mackinaw  (Read 3032 times)

Offline spiltmilt

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Deadstick Tactics for Mackinaw
« on: Jan 22, 2018, 03:12 PM »
Looking for some advice on deadstick tactics for Mackinaw. We are now allowed to use live bait where I fish for them (besides nightcrawlers).

Any tips would be appreciated.

Offline pmmpete

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Re: Deadstick Tactics for Mackinaw
« Reply #1 on: Jan 26, 2018, 11:24 AM »
Suspend a dead fish (smelt, northern pikeminnow, herring, peamouth, or whatever else lives or is available in your area) about a foot off the bottom on a quickstrike rig with two treble hooks, or lay it on the bottom, and wait for a lake trout to slurp it up.  Put one treble hook deep in the bait fish's back at the balance point, so it will float level, and put the other in the bait fish's head with the tips of the hook pointing towards the bait fish's tail, because lake trout always swallow fish head first.  I prefer to suspend bait fish about a foot above the bottom because I believe that they are more visible there, and can't fall into weeds or a crack between rocks and disappear. 

Sausage and hot dogs are less expensive than buying bait fish, and work as well.  You can buy 24 hot dogs at Walmart for 98 cents, which is 4 cents a hot dog, but bait fish cost over a buck apiece in my area.  On Flathead Lake in Montana, a favorite bait is Johnsonville maple syrup flavored sausages.  You can fish hot dogs on a quickstrike rig, but Johnsonville sausages are pretty delicate.  People usually stick a wire with a hook bent in its end through the center of the sausage and use it to pull a leader with a single treble hook on it through the sausage, and then position the treble hook at the bottom of the sausage.

Offline Jstim87

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Re: Deadstick Tactics for Mackinaw
« Reply #2 on: Mar 09, 2018, 08:04 PM »
Thanks for the tips. Will try out and report.

 



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