Devil's Lake Fishing Reports

[sunnyday]

Wondering how's the ice on DL. Anyone driving full size truck out yet?

How much snow is on the ice?

[tweedlap]

I talk to a couple of guys that have been up there for the

last few days and they said yesterday was the first day that

the resort plowed on Devil's. Tons of snow.

Walleyes...slow Norts...hot

tweed

[TylerS]

Norts are always hot. Bring some frozen smelt, tip ups and quick-strike rigs and you'll get more pike then you know what to do with!

[Jeff Dosch]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well we have finally started driving on Devils Lake and what a relief it is to be back in our trucks. This cold weather that has came in with the new year has helped a lot and we are now finding ice thickness of 12-15 inches and with this forecast we should easily make an inch a day for the next week. We do have a about a foot of snow on the lake but it hasnt caused any problems and travel is easy.

So far fishing this season has been excellent. Walleye fishing has been the best of seen in many areas across the lake and we have had most of our clients limiting out daily on 14-18 inch walleyes with a few fish over 24 inches. For the most part walleye fishing has been best in early morning hours and evenings but we have had a few days when the bite has lasted throughout the day.

Now that we can drive we are able to cover more area and has made finding perch a lot easier. Last week Brian Hostetler and Dave (the animal)Soeth,of Burlington,Wisconson took home their possesion limit of walleyes and 77 nice jumbo perch. Great job guys!

We havent spent a lot of time fishing for pike so far this season but we have been picking up a few while we are fishing for walleyes. I have heard the guys are doing great in the spear houses and the first 20 pd pike of the season was speared on New Years Day.

I hope everyone is having a greeat New Year and we hoope to see you on the ice!

Jeff Dosch

[TeamWildmanIcefiching]

thanks for the update Jeff

[Rick]

Please keep us posted on how things are going Jeff.

[marine_man]

Thanks for the report Jeff!

marine_man

[riverview]

fished 6 mile bay over new years weekend. morning bite and night bite. limited on nice walleyes and a few northerns. I only fished from 730 to 930 am and 400 until dark.

[vexi]

8 of us going up to devils lake next weekend. What is a good depth to target walleyes or perch this time of year.

[riverview]

Walleyes have been hitting in 14 to 18 ft of water. I am going looking for perch this weekend and will try looking from 20 to 40 feet.

[vexi]

thanks for the advice

[Sam Sterner]

Picked up one pike yesterday on tipups in Wolford in the -20 temps. Walleye bite was good on Rocky Point at sunset and shortly after but died completely after that in 24 FOW. First time on the lake but will be back to try again. Big thanks to the guys Woodland resort for pointing me in the right direction and giving some tips for the area!

[riverview]

18 in. in 6 mile and main bay. creel bay roads plowed. Pickups going off roads are getting around but starting to have trouble. Pretty consistant 12 in or greater of hard drifted snow.

[riverview]

Got to devils lake 10 am on sat. Fished the north end of 6 mile, started in 28 feet of water and marked a lot of fish. Caught 1 13 in perch and 1 14 in walleye. Went shallow for night bite and got skunked. Fished north end of 6 mile Sunday morning 8 to 20 feet deep and picked up a couple of walleyes. Mid morning went south towards Grahams Island. Marked a ton of fish, caught 1 12in perch. Tried every jig in my box and nothing would bite had minnows and wax worms. My buddy caught a limit of 15 to 19 in walleyes at dark 20 feet away from me, I got skunked. On sunday we moved about 20 times I don’t know if it was the weather change or what but the fish I marked were inactive. Not a lot of fishermen on the west end of the lake. Saw a few pickups getting around but having trouble. We were using portables and snow cats. Lake is drifted but we could average 20 to 25 mph without smashing everything.

[vexi]

Will a pickup chained up get around better or should we drag the sleds along? Is there any plowed roads on the main bay? Were coming up Jan 14 - 17. Staying at the casino in one of there cabins.

Any info would be much appreciated.

[riverview]

If you have ever had chains on a pick up you know what they can do. The problem pickups are haveing is breaking through the crust to glare ice. Your chains will hook up on the ice. the casino and woodlands has roads plowed and do a good job of keeping them open.

[bassnbucks]

My wife and I are meeting about 4 buddies up at Devils Lake on Wed. We are going to start fishing by the casino I believe, and go from there. I will post when we get back.

[bassnbucks]

Well we had high hopes of good fishing, We talked and thought about going to East Bay but there was a hug pressure ridge all along shore and no where to get on the ice over there. So we ended up going back to the casino. There were roads plowed out there. There was 5 of us total in 3 seprate locations about 100 ft. diameter apart in around 20 FOW. First off there is a ton of freshwater shrimp in that lake, at least over there. We fished from about 9 a.m. til dark. I caught 1 northern about 8lbs. My wife got bit off from a slimer and missed a small eye (camera) One buddy caught 7 small eyes the biggest about 11 in. the other 6 were about 8 in. The other 2 were skunked, with one of them getting bit off by a shark. The perch wanted nothing to do with anything we had down there for them? Probably all the shrimp.

Oh well it was a nice day to spend with some buddies, and a seafood buffet at the casino did'nt hurt either!!

[TylerS]

Sounds like typical Devils Lake: its either hot, or its not. I've yet to really hammer them in the winter (except for pike, I had a great tip-up day a couple years ago that I still dream about). My best fishing always is in early summer from shore. Someday maybe I'll find them under the ice...some day....

[bassnbucks]

Ya, me too. It was still good to get out with a few buddies that I don't get to fish with alot. I am always looking forward to batteling for a spot on shore in the spring. I think this year I am going to take my 12' boat out.

[Shadow]

Fished DL for the first time on Thursday and Friday. The word everyone was using on the ice and at the resort was "slow". Talked to some guys while unpacking, they fished all day on Wednesday, moving with snomobiles and portables, and only managed 2 8" fish. Ran into a different guy who was walking around with a 9 pound 2 oz walleye he caught. Thursday 3 of us managed 4 walleyes from 15 to 18 inches and two cigars. Fished in 27 FOW. Small red hooks with small minnows were recommended. Caught 3 of the walleyes on small pink buckshot rattle with minnow head. Marked fish on the vexilar but they seemed curious not hungry. A house a ways down caught a walleye over 7 pounds. Moved houses on Friday, and caught 1 walleye, 3 perch, 3 cigars, and missed a northern that tangled all the lines. Fished in 28 FOW, caught everything on the plain red hooks. Talked to a party of 4 that only caught 1 fish a day, over 4 days. Talked to another party of two who only caught 1 northern, who went 4 hours without seeing a fish on their camera. Like I said it was my first time fishing DL. I knew a guy who grew up Close to DL who always drove to LOW to ice fish. When I asked him why he didn't ice fish DL, he said there was too many shrimp in the lake and the fish aren't hungry. After our trip I'm inclined to believe that. Shrimp all around the camera, shrimp in all our holes too.

[vexi]

I will 2nd the tough bite. Fished thursday night through sunday morning. Marked tons of fish hard to get to bite. Really had to jig aggresivly to get fish into the vexi, once they would come in you had to hold it dead still. Caught alot of small walleyes under 12" but did manage 20 between 14" and 18" for two guys. Friday we only caught 1 keeper Sat and this morning was the best bite we had. We fished in front of the casino in 20 to 26 fow, drilled alot of holes and hole hopped. Never caught a fish on a tip up all fish caught on a pink buckshot with either a minnow head or tail. Tail accually caught 75% of the fish.

[marine_man]

Thanks for the reports guys!

marine_man

[riverview]

Fished Devils Lake sat sun and Monday morning. Started on sat morning close to the 6 mile rock pile in 24 feet of water. Moved to buds bay and Stony Point. Marked a lot of fish but no bites. Caught 1 15 in walleye on the north end of 6 mile bay. Sun morning fished 6 mile bay and caught a couple of little ones. Fished the ridge south of 6 mile boat ramp to the 6 mile rock pile caught 1 perch. Fished Ziebach pass to the towers. Fished Sunday night in 6 mile and caught a couple of little ones. Fished bud bay in 20 feet of water Monday morning and caught 3 little ones and lost 3 nice fish at the hole. Landed a 24 in. very tough bite I put over 90 miles on my sled and fished pretty hard.

[cjromano]

For those guys who fish the lake a lot. I have a question. Do you think it is reasonable to plan on driving on the lake at the end of March? I assumed it would be fine, but I saw a post from a couple of years ago that seemed to imply that wasn't the case. I know there are parts of the lake that are never safe for driving, etc. But generally speaking... Thanks a lot.