Devil's Lake Fishing Reports

[creepworm]

We fished the East Bay and "The Towers" area. 5 of the 6 keeper walleye we caught were on Lindy Darters and 1 was on a tip-up with a plain hook.

[riverview]

i was out this weekend fishing was hit and miss. woodlands has plowed roads all the way to doc hagens, snow is getting deep and hard if the weather ever stabalizes the fishing should be great.

[ChompChomp_YANK]

Hope we get some nice weather to help pack down some of that snow. Got our 1st trip to Devils coming up with three wheel houses. Anybody else been out thanks for the reports KEEP,EM coming. 11 days and counting for our trip!!!!!! Had 1 good trip to Leech, 2 great trips to Red and a poor trip to Milacs. Hope to add another great trip for the wheel house this year @ Devils

[MuskieFever]

If the weather warms up about 15 degrees and stays you should be good. Fishing has been very tough these past few weeks. I struggled very hard on saturday in an area that is usually a go to. Fished just about every depth and couldn't make it happen.

[ChompChomp_YANK]

I'm hoping for some stable weather instead of the up and down that we have been having lately. I would love to see upper 20's to lower 30's for a straight week before our arrival. But I'm sure that is highly unlikely

[ChompChomp_YANK]

Looks like the snow for the most part missed Devils Lake ??? Anybody get out this weekend with any luck ??? 5 days and counting till our trip !!

Thanks Chomp

[tearin' lips]

Fished Saturday on Devils. Walleye bite was decent in the morning hours in 16' of water. At 10 AM, we attempted to get on perch. Tried 4 different locations and drilled many holes. 3 of the spots had schools of perch down there, but they did not want to bite. We missed 4-5 bites and caught 2. We found the Perch in 40-46' of water.

At 3 PM, we returned to the walleye spot and caught a few more 'eyes and a pike on the tip-up.

Can't wait for a day when the perch start really going. There are some big schools that we were on, but they were just not interested in eating.

[ChompChomp_YANK]

Well we made it back from Devils. The fishing was not good and the drive was the worst I have ever encountered. The drive up was 7.5 hrs with picking up my son in Fargo. The drive home was 12 hrs. The worst was from Devils east to Grand forks radio was saying 45-50 mph winds and was a cross wind. Many times It had my wheel house completely sideways and a few times started pulling the truck with it. With the white out conditions it was by far the worst drive I have ever been thru.

Fishing started Fri evening in the Bud bay area in 18' we got a few eyes which only 2 of them were over the 14" mark. Sat morning we dropped the camera down to see what we were marking on the graphs and we had a steady flow of eyes going thru but most would not show any interest. I tried many diff colors from big to small with no luck. after breakfast we got out in the trucks to find something better. We had 6 of us punching holes went thru 2 tanks of gas in the auger trying to find fish. We tried shallow to deep with no luck most fish graphed we couldn't get to bite. Sat night was even slower. Sun am the fish seemed to have moved out very few seen on the cam. We got on the move with the trucks again and worked our way east. We tried about 5 diff spots around the towers area to creel bay. Our last spot was a rock pile in 40+ FOW we picked up a few jumbos and 2 silvers. The perch were nice the biggest was 13". It was very nice out BUT then we were told about the STORM. We pulled the shacks onto a deep brake close to shore just down from woodland resort for the night. Only picked up a couple eyes and pike. Overall we kept 9 perch, 4 eyes, and 6 pike/2 silvers for a batch of pickled fish for a group of 6. Truck travel was fine off road but the wheel houses had to stay close to the higher traffic areas. Even tho the trip was not good I would like to go back and try for the perch again. It couldn't be any worse could it ????

[dogs]

Thanks for the post, been there twice, the place grows on you. Will be up there kids spring break, in march.

[ChompChomp_YANK]

The next time I plan a trip out to Devils it will be in march during spring break. From the people I talked to it's a good time to be there. The perch put the feed bag on.

[kfk]

Those were the worst weather conditions of the winter.

I'm sorry it turned out that way for you.

It'll be better next time!

[spear foot 1]

Early december and middle of march are my favorite times to go out there.

[dogs]

I assume you also have kid at NDSU. GOOD LUCK TO YOU.

[ChompChomp_YANK]

dogs,

Yes my son is in his first year @ NDSU. He is doing well and likes it so there WILL be more trips out to Devils and I think he has me talked into coming out duck hunting this fall also.

[EpicIceTrips]

Any luck out in Devils for late may early June? Shore fishing also

[lispeej]

fishing is great on DL year round. especially from shore during open water.

[Rick]

Slip bobber tactics for walleye are working and can be so incredibly effective because of the precision involved. You can stick or drift through the “X” for long periods of time and let good live bait do the work.

A lively squirming leech or flashy shiner struggling in place is too much for most walleyes to resist. Especially early in the season before the water warms up, slip bobber presentations are one of the best techniques for triggering shallow fish.

HSOshow Video by Jason Mitchell Outdoors Explaining Techniques:

Watch more videos here at HSOshow

[holmsvc]

A lively squirming leech or flashy shiner struggling in place is too much for most walleyes to resist. Especially early in the season before the water warms up, slip bobber presentations are one of the best techniques for triggering shallow fish.

Stick to leeches. We can't use shiners in ND.

[MattL]

I took a day trip over to Devil's Lake yesterday. It was tough fishing in the 25-30 MPH winds with a 16' aluminum boat, but I managed to get around and catch some fish.

All of the walleyes I caught were casting #5 Shad Raps in Firetiger to wind-blown hard bottom areas with cabbage in 3-5'. I kept a limit of 15" walleyes and threw back several others that size and smaller as well as one 25". Also threw back at least 50+ Northerns. They were all in the mid 20" range except one that was low 30's.

[skee0025]

I spent the last week on the lake. We were having good results in 10 to 12 ft using bobbers and leeches. Best results using pink and white jigs. Got limits of 15 to 17 inch eyes with a few larger ones thrown in.

[holmsvc]

Pulling spinners was good in the bays on the east end of the lake in 8 to 12 ft. Bigger blades seemed to work better.

[Mitchell's Guide]

If you have questions on the Devils Lake area fishing, feel free to ask in this thread and I will do my best to answer.

What a great week we have had at Mitchell's Guide Service. Our clients have been going home with smiles on there faces and fish in there coolers. A few of the tactic's we have been using this past week have been the old reliable bottom bouncer with either a night crawler, leech, or Berkley Gulp crawler or minnow grub.

It seems that color didn't matter to much between white or chartreuse with natural being a close runner up. We would target weed edges in 7 to 15 feet of water. Old road beds have been producing some nice fish too. Don't get discouraged if you don't find them on the top of the road beds, try sliding over to the ditch.

Sometimes it doesn't take much of a depth change to find active fish. Another productive presentation has been trolling crank baits in the same waters as you would pull spinners. It seemed that they preferred them a little faster this past week, with speeds around 3 mph working well.

Don't forget pitching crank baits or plastics along weed edges or rock piles has also been producing well.

Until next week. Good Luck Too All!!!!

[Mitchell's Guide]

Yes, it has been yet another fantastic week on Devils lake. The old reliable bottom bouncer and spinner tipped with a crawler, leech, or Gulp has been the ticket. Continue to try and target the wind blown shores with sharp weed lines. Salmo hornets trolled 110 feet back in 12 feet of water has been another walleye producer. If you are using a braided line for trolling you will need to set out a little more line than lead core line. We like to set our lures at 100 feet back in 8 to 10 foot of water and 110 to 120 in 12 to 14 foot of water. That should get you started on the right track, and remember to stagger a rod or two back a little more to find the sweet spot. 2.3 to 2.8 mph has been the speed that has worked well, we like to use 12 lb Berkley Fireline for this. The past 7 days our clients have caught some real monsters, with one of them being 29 inches! There also have been a lot in the 23 to 28 inch range as well. That will do it for this week, good luck to all and remember if you would like to go out with us for an unbelievable experience give us a ring at the numbers below.

Mitchell's Guide service 701-662-6560

fishdevilslake.net

Woodland Resort 701-662-5996

Woodlandresort.com

[Mitchell's Guide]

Greetings everyone, this week has been another great fishing week here at Devils Lake. We have been catching some nice limits of walleyes and pike. Pulling spinners with either Gulp or crawlers has been one of the best tactics. Try to target deeper weed edges from 10 to 16 feet of water. Pulling the bouncer within feet of the weed edge has been the ticket on real cold mornings because the weeds will hold the heat longer. Also, it is about time to get the lead core rods dusted off and get them trolling. A few of our guides have been doing fantastic pulling both #4 and # 5 jointed raps along with Salmo’s at 3 mph in 10 to 18 feet of water along side roads and weed edges. We have even been catching a few dandy perch along the way with some in the 13 inch range. Shore fishing remains good on all bridges with a Lindy and leech or a crawler being your best bet there. Until next week, tight lines to all!

Mitchell’s Guide service 701- 662-6560

fishdevilslake.net

Woodland Resort 701-662-5996

woodlandresort.com

[MattL]

I got up yesterday and couldn't decide whether to fish Sakakawea, Oahe, Devils, or the river. Good problem to have...... Since its been a while since I've been there I decided to make the 2.5 hr trek to Devils. I started off pulling hammered gold spinners and crawlers along a road bed tight to the weeds and kept moving out deeper until I connected with several fish on a 14'-16' flat a ways off the road bed. That ended late morning when the wind died down and the lake was like glass. Figuring I needed to get the baits away from the boat, I started trolling shad raps. I marked a lot of fish in the little trough alongside the road which bottomed out at 14'. I trolled a #7 firetiger behind the boat about 12' down. I sent a #5 perch on a board right up on the embankment along the weed line. Both baits produced well. I kept a limit of 15-18" walleyes and threw back quite a few 12-16". Also a lot of pesky northerns and a monster white bass.