Dead Sticking Tips

Long time lurker and first time posting a topic. I’m new to the ice fishing world and I wanted tips of how to properly use a dead stick. Over the weekend I tried dead sticking for walleyes but I was having problems and would like any tips. My brother and I were fishing in a portable with 4 holes, 2 holes for jigging, 1 for the flasher and the other for my dead stick. I had a few occasions where I had a fish coming for my jigging stick and would get tangled with my dead stick. How far away should the dead stick be? How much low should the split shots be? Thanks in advance!

I put all of my holes as far apart as possible in a portable and generally the deadstick hole closest to the front of the shack. I put the split shot 4-6″ above the hook. one thing that helps to increase your catch is giving it a jig every few minutes as I find that a fish that’s been staring at it for a while will react to the sudden movement and it keeps the minnow moving. start 6″ off the bottom and keep moving it up 6″ at a time to find what entices them. caught a bunch of pigs on mille lacs this weekend with shiners 3′ off the bottom just have to test it out.

Fishwater, thanks for the reply. I had the deadstick closest to the front of the portable as well. The split shot was probably 6-8 inches above the hook. I’m almost thinking that I didn’t have enough weight on it allowing the minnow to move around too much. I was able to catch one on the dead stick but gave up the dead stick after getting tangled up a few times. Trial and error. Thanks!

Try using a Lindy Frostee or an 1/8oz jig; seems to work well for walleyes and perch in ND. I put a small swivel about 12 inches above the jig with a fluorocarbon 8 or 10# leader.

Anything with glow or UV seems to work better than regular paint.

I haven’t tried a jig on the dead stick. Will have to try that as well. Thanks Austin!

On my Deadstick setup I use a plain red hook and tie a 2 foot fluorocarbon leader with a swivel to prevent line twist. When I go up to Lake of the Woods it out fishes my jiggin rod most days.

Saturday I will try a dead stick for perch on Winnie-any tips?

I would jig in my flasher hole…maybe use more weight so your bait can’t swim in a huge circle

John Yang wrote:

Long time lurker and first time posting a topic. I’m new to the ice fishing world and I wanted tips of how to properly use a dead stick. Over the weekend I tried dead sticking for walleyes but I was having problems and would like any tips. My brother and I were fishing in a portable with 4 holes, 2 holes for jigging, 1 for the flasher and the other for my dead stick. I had a few occasions where I had a fish coming for my jigging stick and would get tangled with my dead stick. How far away should the dead stick be? How much low should the split shots be? Thanks in advance!

Well first…welcome to the sometimes surreal world of IDO…
You are not that far off in your setup. Not sure how fish coming to your jigging stick would tangle in your deadstick? Unless you hooked them up and they somehow just circled over there and snagged up in that. Perhaps you could have hollered “double”!
Seriously though that wouldn’t, shouldn’t happen too often.
As others have mentioned though, I have always just hooked up with a jig…no leader needed with 6 lb test line tied directly to the jig. Are you setting up with a slip bobber?
Either way, all depends on the mood of the fish on that given day and at that time. When they’re negative, the may hit the deadstick no matter what you do, right or wrong. Other times, they move right past and thump your jigging spoon. Or they just disappear altogether. That’s fishing!

How deep you fishing? That makes a big difference, on red Lake in 13′ no problem with 4 holes and 2 guys, Mille lacs in 32′ no way I but a tip up out for my dead stick.

All has to do with weight and pinning the minnow down where it should be, never had issues down to 30′. Now fish on if you’re referring to that, lines will tangle no matter what, especially if it’s a good one, which is a good problem to have!

Probably your most critical (and often misunderstood) part of the set up for a dead-stick is to make sure that the hook is sized appropriately. By this I mean that having too small of a hook can result in missed bites. My rule of thumb is that the gap needs to at least 1.5 times as wide as the minnow’s back to make sure that the point if the hook is well free to embed in the roof of the mouth, not the minnows back.

Another thing to consider is how long to wait before setting the hook. I personally like error on setting the hook as quickly as possible to avoid gut hooking fish. This usually means starting off with setting almost immediately once a line goes down… I’ve watched the on camera and unless it’s a huge minnow they almost always inhale the entire bait as soon as the bobber goes down. If you miss then give them twice as long the next time until you find the magic number.

Lastly the larger the minnow I’m using the higher I out it off the bottom… More aggressive fish who are looking for a big meal will come up and hanging it higher allows it to be seen from a greater distance.

Will

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>John Yang wrote:</div>
Long time lurker and first time posting a topic. I’m new to the ice fishing world and I wanted tips of how to properly use a dead stick. Over the weekend I tried dead sticking for walleyes but I was having problems and would like any tips. My brother and I were fishing in a portable with 4 holes, 2 holes for jigging, 1 for the flasher and the other for my dead stick. I had a few occasions where I had a fish coming for my jigging stick and would get tangled with my dead stick. How far away should the dead stick be? How much low should the split shots be? Thanks in advance!

Well first…welcome to the sometimes surreal world of IDO…
You are not that far off in your setup. Not sure how fish coming to your jigging stick would tangle in your deadstick? Unless you hooked them up and they somehow just circled over there and snagged up in that. Perhaps you could have hollered “double”!
Seriously though that wouldn’t, shouldn’t happen too often.
As others have mentioned though, I have always just hooked up with a jig…no leader needed with 6 lb test line tied directly to the jig. Are you setting up with a slip bobber?
Either way, all depends on the mood of the fish on that given day and at that time. When they’re negative, the may hit the deadstick no matter what you do, right or wrong. Other times, they move right past and thump your jigging spoon. Or they just disappear altogether. That’s fishing!

I think it was getting tangled when I’d hook up and the fish would circle. I’m not 100% sure. That’s why I decided to posts and get all the feedback. I was fishing in 20-28 and I was using a slip bobber.

nhamm and Will. Thanks for the replies.
I do believe I didn’t have enough weight on the shiner. It was a larger shiner so that may have been something to do with it as well. How much weight are you typically using? 1/4 oz?
I’ll have to re-evaluate the size of the hook. That makes a ton of sense as well. I did have the minnow/shiner about 4 ft off the bottom.

John Yang wrote:

I think it was getting tangled when I’d hook up and the fish would circle. I’m not 100% sure

Not 100% sure what you mean as well. If you get tangled with fish on that’s pretty easy to tell, as it would if you were tangled while jigging bc the bobber would show the jig strokes.

Keep the minnow pinned, weight depends on size of minnow. Crappie minnow is gonna take less than a 6″ shiner. Drop it down the hole couple feet, check it out and adjust accordingly.

nhamm wrote:

Drop it down the hole couple feet, check it out and adjust accordingly.

x2 Whether jigging or dead sticking it’s a good habit to put it a few feet down to see it’s doing what you want I to do.

How much weight? Variable of course and how much you want it pinned in place. 1/4oz seems quite heavy to me.

Here’s a link that might help: http://customjigs.com/products/demon-the-original.html

Assuming you’re on fish, it’s all about where you are in the water column, and bait size.

You’d be surprised at the difference in action, under certain conditions, if you’re 1.5 ft (example) off the bottom vs 6 inches off the bottom, and vice versa.

Size is huge too. The hook size, as mentioned above, is great advice. Also, bait size will make a difference at times.

It all depends on conditions. I like to set it about 1 ft-1.5 ft off the bottom for starters (for walleyes), then, based in the reactions I’m getting on my flasher, I’ll adjust it larger/smaller, or higher/lower in the water column. Being able to read what the fish are doing on your flasher (are they responding to aggressive presentations, and flying off the bottom? Are they spooky, and sticking on the bottom?) will usually tell you what you should be doing.

SW Eyes wrote:

Size is huge too. The hook size, as mentioned above, is great advice. Also, bait size will make a difference at times.

Another excellent point… I generally downsize my bait selection as well as moving it closer to the bottom as the season goes on and oxygen levels decrease leading to less active fish.

I also don’t use anything bigger than a fathead or medium shiner if I’m fishing a bobber rod in the same house where I’m jigging. I’ve noticed that larger minnows actually can negatively impact the number fish who will come in to your jig/spoon if they’re within a couple feet.

Will

I use a finicky fooler tip up as my deadstick. Its a tip up that allows you to use your rod and reel combo and actually keep your bail open. It goes off smoother than any other tip up I’ve ever used. I just came back from a trip on LOTW and it was a real light jig bite and if it wasn’t for this product it would have been a long weekend.