It s difficult to concentrate on more than one jigging rod, and the dead rod let s you effectively fish two baits at the same time. Longer, softer action rods, in the seven to eight foot range, are recommended. In most cases, you ll know when the dead rod has been hit, when it doubles over. Instead of letting a fish run, you re usually better off setting the hook immediately. The long rod can buy you some valuable time, time that may allow a fish to fully engulf the bait, before it feels an unnatural resistance and rejects the bait.
Red tails elicit viscous strikes, from every species of top of the line predators.
They will also let you know if there s a predator close by. If the rod tip starts throbbing, hang on. If you don t get hit, you may want to spend a little more time working the area over. Look for late fall walleye fishing to become more and more consistent, the closer you get to ice-up. Some of my best days have occurred when the lake I was fishing had a thin layer of ice starting to develop in the shallower bays.