D Lake ice fishing ?

[icebum1]

My fishing buddie just got back from a trip to your great state. He caught a boat load of pike a few real nice ones too. We were planning a trip for the hard water . We would like to get into those jumbos, and some eyes would be a major bonus. Whats the best time to come up? I was told late Jan, is there any truth to that?Also any opinion on a guide would be greatly app. It is a 16 hr drive so we are planning well ahead. Thanxs and hope to see ya soon.

[Guest]

Planning around the weather isn't very easy.

[hanson]

Brad is exactly right!! A trip like that can be ruined by the weather in a heartbeat, if the weather is good, it could be fantastic.

I checked your profile and see that you guys would be coming from Illinois. I'm not sure how familiar you are with North Dakota winters but they can be kind of exciting. 4-6" of beautiful snow can fall one day, 30 mph wind will blow it all over the place the next. So much so that you can't see 40 yards in front of your vehicle on the highway. Its just so flat and so open that it can blow & blow & blow!!!

Last year, the lake got covered with so much snow that travel was by snowmobile only. Once they'd get the roads plowed out on the lake again, they'd drift in.

We made the trip out to Devils Lake last year on 17th & 18th of January. Saturday's temp was -4 below 0 with a 30 mph wind. We did all we could to stay warm in our portables. We managed to catch fish but not like we were expecting. I don't think we got any perch that I'd classify as 'jumbo.' We woke up Sunday morning and the thermometer said -16 degrees. We all looked at each other and decided it was better to go to a restaurant and catch breakfast. Needless to say we didn't fish Sunday.

I'm not writing all this to make you decide not to go. You just have to be prepared to deal with a North Dakota winter and whatever the weather is like that day.

Myself, I'm heading back up again this winter. We'll either get up there with good weather or bad, its really hard to plan for it.

As for guides, can't help you there but its definitely a good idea. Its a big lake and they have a good idea of where active fish are at. I can't post links here but Woodland Resort, Perch Patrol, Dosch Guides, & Eds Bait Shop all have very good info on there websites with up to date fishing, ice & lake conditions.

[hanson]

icebum1

I dug up my old thread from last years trip up to Devils Lake. Click this link and happy reading!

http://fishingminnesota.com/ubb/Forum41/HTML/000208.html

[icebum1]

Hanson thanxs for the info. My partner is stuck on devils lake, but Im leaning for a trip to LOW. Fished it 2 yrs ago. amazing trip . Thanxs again.

[hanson]

I do a good majority of my winter fishing on Lake of the Woods. I don't think I've ever had a bad trip up there. We always seem to catch something. The resorts are pretty good with plowing roads and getting you directed to fishing areas. It should be a another very good year up there. All those pesky little walleyes are going to be a little bit bigger again this year.