Devil's Lake Questions

[Scoot]

I think I'm going to go to Devil's Lake this coming week. I've spent very little time out there in the past, and 95% of my fishing there has been on ice. A couple questions for you-

1) Can I get a boat under the Hwy 19 bridges going up into 6 Mile Bay and Mauvias Coulee?

2) What's the best access to use to fish Mauvais Coulee? Do I put in at the access just on the West side of 6 Mile Bay and motor over by water or is there a landing that's closer?

Thanks!

[Bison9]

To answer some questions, there only is one boat launch on six mile bay - if you get on 19 and follow that west, you will see a sign for the six mile boat launch. You can go off that boat launch and go north under the bridge and all the way up to the north side, however, Channel A is still north of that shoreline - it is only accessible by shore (as it is north of HWY 2) - that is if you want to try that whole deal up there. In order to get the Mauvais Coulee bridge - it is a haul no matter where you put in. You can get to that bridge from Graham's Island - that is about a 5 to 6 mile trip. You can get to it from the Minawauken (sp?) boat launch on the Southwest side of the lake - that is about a 3 to 4 mile trip. There also used to be a man made ditch that I would access Pelican lake through - if you take this route, you will have to get to the Mauvais bridge by driving through Pelican lake which gets very shallow in spots. That ditch, by the way was on HWY 281 - if you turn right off of HWY 19 (this is when you can only turn right or left at the end of HWY 19), that ditch used to be a mile up the road on the right side, if you go north on HWY 281 from 19 - however, I haven't been to that ditch in about 2 years and I am unsure if it even still exists...

As for where to fish, my buddies and I hit Devils last weekend and had great luck pulling pink jigs, tiny white twister tails, and you had to have a minnow by the current breaks of the six mile bridge. You had to be drifting or slowly pulling your jigs with the trolling motor for this method to be effective - We also wasted a lot of time with the huge trek to the mauvais bridge and caught a bunch of northerns using the same technique. It's not worth it if you're walleye fishing to go up to the mauvais bridge...

Just a couple answers for ya!

[marine_man]

Great information and a good report Bison9!

marine_man

[Bison9]

Hey, no problem - I've got no problems giving advice on where to go on the ol' Big Water. Those darn locals up there are so tight lipped and why? That lake has so many good areas and will not be fished out for a 1,000 years... Hope you guys use that info to your benefit - although, I am looking out my office window now and it is pretty soggy and dreary lookin... Forecast looks bad through this weekend unfortunately

[Scoot]

Bison,

Thanks for the info- much appreciated. Unfortunately, I didn't see your report before I left. However, I don't know if it would have mattered much yesterday. What a butt kickin we took from the wind. It was virtually impossible to get out of the wind. Even the wind protected sides were howlin. I couldn't keep up to the wind with an 80 lb. trolling motor. Four footers with wind dominated us! We ended up tying up to trees and rocking up and down all day. We managed four walleyes and a dozen northerns. It was a fun day, but a tough day. I'll be back to seek revenge!!!

[Bison9]

Yeah, that lake can get downright nasty - it's like I said, two weekends ago, my buddies and I were up there and it was just rain and wind. I was able to keep decent boat control, but by the end of the day, the batteries were shot. It sounds like once the lake warms up a little bit, the shallow crank bait casting is really going to be picking up. My Dad is coming up on the 23rd of May and we are going to hit the ol' Big Water all week. I can't wait!

[EXTREME]

What's the bite like on DL lately? Haven't heard much for reports. Anybody out there have any reports? Thanks in advance!!