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Can’t talk ice fishing for walleyes without talking about those bonus setlines and Bro spills the beans in this In-Fisherman write-up, few excerpts below:
> How long should you wait to set the hook on a tip-up? Old-timers will tell you to smoke an entire cigarette after the flag trips, then set the hook. Of course, this can lead to gut-hooked fish, making release difficult. But there is a kernel of wisdom in this old-school approach.
> “Bro: When a walleye hits, you need to give it a little time, especially if you’re using large shiners, suckers, or rainbows. Walleyes kill their prey, but they don’t have crusher pads in their throats like bass or catfish. Their throats are just a soft membrane, so they take their time killing prey before they swallow it. Often, during the killing process they squeeze the minnow until it stops moving, turn it in their mouth, then swallow it.”
> Brosdahl believes too many ice anglers set the hook when the walleye is still in the killing stage and then the fish swims away unhooked, leading to frustration. While the walleye fully intended on eating the bait, it was just going through its feeding routine, and the hook was set prematurely. “Give the walleye anywhere from 30 seconds to over a minute, depending on the size of the minnow.”
> He uses 50-lb braid so it doesn’t burn fingers when retrieving hand-over-hand. To the braid he attaches a barrel swivel, a 6- to 8-ft, 5- or 6-lb Sunline fluoro leader, and a neon-colored slipbobber knot to mark his depth positioning. He also uses a medium-sized split-shot to pin the minnow in place.
> At the business end, he snells a Gamakatsu Octopus Hook for smaller- to medium-sized minnows...with bigger bait, he uses a Gamakatsu Walleye Wide Gap hook. “I like fluorescent and red hooks,” he says. “Sometimes I add a little bead above the hook for added attraction. You’re fishing vertically so you don’t have to tie the bead in. It just sinks down to the hook. Dorsal-hook a minnow and set it 6 inches off bottom. In gin-clear, zebra mussel-infested waters, I might run the minnow a foot and a half off bottom.”
> But walleyes don’t always feed near bottom. Especially if you’re using forward-facing sonar like Humminbird MEGA Live, you might notice that walleyes are cruising 4-5’ off the bottom, so you need to set your bait accordingly. “You don’t want to fish under the walleyes,” Brosdahl advises. “You want your bait at their level or slightly above.
> “And here’s the kicker tip. If you’re fishing an 8-10’ flat, don’t be afraid to set one of your tip-ups just off the nearest drop-off over the 30-40’ water at the same depth as the shallower, adjacent flat. You’d be surprised how many walleyes don’t run along the bottom of the break into the basin. Instead, they suspend high in the water column at the same depth as the nearby flat.
> If Brosdahl is fishing a clear lake where walleyes are fussy, he’ll rig a deadstick with a red #4 Gamakatsu Octopus Hook, often sizing down to a #6 or #8 if the fish are spooky.
> For his deadsticking routine, he’s been using the same simple and economical technique for over 30 yrs. “While deadstick-assisting devices and baitfeeder reels have become all the rage, I prefer to deadstick the cheap and old-fashioned way. I put a rubber band on the handle of my St. Croix Dead Eye rod, flip the bail open, take a little bit of the line out, and tuck it under the rubber band – then, when the fish hits, it pulls the line out from under the rubber band and can run freely with the minnow.”
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Here we go:
) inhaled his panfish jig. Was able to wrassle’er in on 4-lb test with his 
Bay of Quinte giant, Folks already ice fishing, Catch and catch again
in this wild, early-ice 
