Dead sticking for walleyes is nothing new. Set lines, bobber rods, rattle reels … there are many ways to soak a live minnow and these dead-sticking tactics have been a staple in walleye fishing for decades.
Way back in the day before we had flashers or electronics, we had to soak live bait to catch fish.
In North Dakota where I grew up as a kid, I can remember when the state regulations changed from being able to use two lines to four lines when ice fishing. Our strategy for finding fish was simple but fairly effective. I simply drilled a line of holes and put four rods out with live minnows. When I set the last hole, I then went back to the first hole and moved that rod ahead to the next hole if it hadn’t caught a fish yet. That was how we found fish and covered water.
After the advent of the early ice fishing electronics like the old Zercom Clearwater Classic and the original Vexilar FL-8 (which is still kicking!), our overall ice fishing strategy changed dramatically. We started to trust our electronics and learned the nuances of aggressively jigging for fish and watching the response of fish to lures. We began to analyze water and find fish with one jigging rod and the utmost trust in our flasher.
The mantra in ice fishing changed to a power fishing strategy, and no doubt I will be aggressively jigging spoons, swim lures and rattle baits this winter below a transducer. More ice anglers, however, are starting to slow down and incorporate more dead-sticking strategies into their walleye arsenal. In some ways, what is old is new again.
Of course, there are regions, specific fisheries, where dead sticking for walleyes never left us. There are some fisheries where catching walleyes by aggressively jigging is difficult. There are many good walleye fisheries where there are quality fish present, but the population densities are just low enough that fish are not overly aggressive or competitive with each other. Extremely clear water is also becoming more common across the walleye belt with the advent of zebra mussels and regulations regarding septic fields and pollution. There are many good walleye fisheries where you can still catch walleyes by jigging lures during prime windows like early ice or the last half-hour of daylight, but if you want to catch fish the rest of the time — you better incorporate dead sticks.
I also believe there is a conditioning factor happening on some lakes with heavy catch and release. The reality is that many good walleye fisheries where there are protective size limits or slot limits create a fish population that has been caught several times. These fish learn to ignore a lot, but the last thing a fish can get conditioned to is a lively minnow on light line with a plain hook.
Dead sticking can take a lot of different forms, but for the sake of this article regarding walleye fishing tactics, we are going to focus on presenting lively minnows. The delivery system can be as simple as a second rod next to your jigging hole of a permanent fish house with rattle reels. For spreading out multiple lines across a large area, we like to use tip-ups when using big baits like sucker minnows and tip-down rod-holding devices, like Clam’s Arctic Warrior, for presenting smaller minnows like shiners. For secondary holes in close proximity to where you are fishing, nothing beats a limber-tipped glass rod with a backbone on a rod stand (often called a dead-sticking rod). The 36-inch Dead Meat Series in our Jason Mitchell Rod lineup was designed specifically for this purpose. Running dead sticks by simply watching the rod tip load up works best if you can quickly reach the rod. If you have to place your rods farther away where you must take steps to reach the them, use a slip bobber. If you have to take several steps to reach a rod — then use a tip-down.
Assuming you are ice fishing where you can use multiple rods, the strategies for running dead sticks or set lines can run the gamut. You can stagger lines in multiple depths to watch the fish move up and down over structure and then chase the activity with a jig rod. Or you can spread out lines over the top of a point, reef or flat and wait for that prime-time window when you maximize the lines you have where you expect fish to be active and feeding. A dead stick can also simply be another rod to compliment your jigging, where you pull fish below with the more aggressive presentation, while the subtle minnow rolling in place gets the bite when fish are negative.
Remember, however, that these strategies are not just for negative fish. A big sucker minnow pinned 5 or 6 feet off the bottom isn’t necessarily a finesse presentation. We often experiment with setting some minnows up off the bottom for greater visibility, and this can be especially important in clear water or after dark. We find that the aggressive fish and the bigger fish often prefer that the minnow is higher in the water column. When encountering tougher fish that are just lethargic, we often catch more fish by creeping the minnow back down closer to the bottom.
Besides height in the water column, the leash a minnow has to move is also a deciding factor. Again, for aggressive fish, get the minnow up off the bottom and place your split shot farther away from the minnow, so that the minnow can swim and have some range of movement. If you have a sucker minnow, for example, pinned on a plain size 6 octopus hook with a single size 1 split shot 3 feet above the minnow — when that minnow gets scared or excited, that minnow can now swim up 3 more feet. If you have your minnow set at 5 feet off the bottom, that minnow can swim and get 8 feet off the bottom. This struggle creates a lot of flash and water displacement and will trigger aggressive fish.
Sometimes walleyes just won’t chase or elevate in the water column. There are times when we must pin a minnow down to a much tighter range in the water column. In addition to setting the minnow closer to the bottom, the next step is to give the minnow a much tighter leash. Move the split shot closer to the hook, begin incorporating small jigs or horizontal single hook spoons, like the CPT Blade Jig, so the weight keeps the minnow in one place. What we also do is pinch off the tails of the minnows so that they no longer have the horsepower to swim away from the fish. The combination of pinched tail and extra weight on a shortened leash causes the minnow to just roll in one place — making it easy for a walleye to catch.
What amazes me is just how much of a difference-maker dead sticking can be for walleye at times. There are many lakes in northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin where it seems like you have to use a live shiner to catch fish. There are tough bites at times in the Dakotas where fish just won’t accelerate toward an actively jigged lure, but if you wait out good spots with fathead minnows below dead sticks — you get bit. What is interesting is that we have caught walleyes in the winter using creek chubs and redtails below tip-ups, but we often catch more fish in the winter with sucker minnows. I believe the reason is that chubs and redtails can almost be too lively under the ice. A chub or redtail will usually outfish a sucker minnow in the summer or fall, but the sucker gets the nod in the winter.
Besides the ecosystem, other factors that can create an obvious dead-sticking bite include cold fronts and predator-prey balances. We all know what massive cold fronts can do to a walleye bite under the ice. Dead-sticking minnows on a short leash in a tight window on good spots is sometimes the only way to catch fish. Another scenario when we see the dead stick shine is on fisheries where there might be a lot of walleyes but there is just too much for fish to eat. It could be a reservoir with record numbers of smelt, could be a flooded glacial lake with an astronomical number of freshwater shrimp. When you have an out-of-balance forage base, this is a great situation for fish, and this environment can create a very healthy fishery, but the flip side is that these fish can be extremely difficult to catch. Walleyes in this environment spend most of their time digesting their last meal. Dead sticks can often be the answer for fish with too much to eat.
With most dead-sticking presentations, less is more. On rod-and-reel setups, we often use 6-pound mono or perhaps 8-pound mono on big fish destinations. The terminal tackle is often simple. I prefer the octopus-style live bait hooks (because of the larger gap) over treble hooks. A plain hook and split shot is really tough to beat. There are times when you can deviate from this basic setup by adding a colored bead or by using a small 1/8-ounce or 1/16-ounce wide-gapped hook, or the horizontal single hook spoon described earlier. On the toughest bites when the fish just won’t chase anything, I find the small jigs or single hook spoons can work as good as anything because the minnow gets pinned down in one spot and just rolls.
For tip-ups, I often spool up with a 15-pound Dacron line and add about 10 feet of 10-pound fluorocarbon leader below the Dacron. I find that the simple split shot and plain hook shines on tip-ups. We often use a size 4 octopus hook for bigger minnows with enough split shot to keep the minnow down. Smaller minnows often only require a size 6 hook octopus hook. As a rule of thumb, if I am going to use bigger minnows more than 4 inches long, I like to use tip-ups. For smaller minnows, I like to use tip-downs.
As expected, there is also a lot of variation in how you hook the minnow. Most anglers will simply knick the back of the minnow in the hide next to the dorsal fin and let the minnow swim. This is how I prefer to hook sucker minnows below tip-ups.
On really tough bites, what I like to do is knick the side of the minnow right behind the gill plate so that the point of the hook is facing toward the head of the minnow. When using this hooking style, a long-shank Aberdeen hook often works better than an octopus hook. This near-the-head hooking style shines on tough bites because fish often grab a minnow headfirst and hold it. You can set the hook immediately on tougher bites.
I also use this trick on dead sticks in rod holders that are placed near me where I can watch the rod tip. The rod tip will often shudder when the minnow gets frantic and simply dip or load when a walleye hangs on to the minnow. Simply lift up the rod and set the hook with the reel.
Across the Ice Belt, there definitely seems to be a dead-sticking renaissance happening. Not that dead sticking ever went away, but there does seem to be more fisheries where you have to dead-stick walleyes in order to be successful. Simple and effective, there is also a lot more nuance and variation to experiment with than what some anglers would believe. More and more ice anglers are beginning to slow down on key spots to catch some of the largest walleyes of the winter.
Jason Mitchell is a fishing and hunting guide on North Dakota’s Devils Lake. Check out his website, JasonMitchellOutdoors.com, and his television show, “Jason Mitchell Outdoors” on Fox Sports North and Midwest.
