Perch on the bite, Walleyes moving shallow

[Jeff Dosch]

Walleyes are moving out of the deeper water and are again roaming the rocky shorlines and flooded timber along the shallow banks. Finding weed line edges have been the key and both crank baits and slip bobbers have been working well. Perch are showing up in the shallows as well and have been very aggressive. Several different areas have been reporting good perch bites. The ND Game and Fish Dept. at the their last meeting said perch numbers were up 5 times of what they were last year and they stocked over 1.3 million fingerlings this year. Over the summer perch catches have been up compared to previous years. The one thing the Game and FIsh was surprised about was the numbers of crappies they had in the nets. Think Ice!

Jeff Dosch

Doschs Guide Service

www.doschguides.com

[ozzie]

I am coming up this weekend.....can't wait....i have never been to Devil's Lake.....Are the crappies just a bonus fish or are there certain areas to look for them.......by the sounds of it they are probably just a bonus fish but if there is hope in finding some i will give it a try..Thanks for the help......can't wait to tangle into to some nice walleyes....

[iffwalleyes]

Mostly a bonus fish but it sounds like there are getting to be better numbers of them in the lake. I think it was only two or three years ago when they first really showed up.

[ozzie]

That is what i thought. Thanks.....Just curious the crappies that have been caught any size to them?? also what is the limit for perch for a non-resident?? Thanks in advance!!!

[Jeff Dosch]

The crappies we were catching last winter were running from 9-14 inches. The limit on perch is 20 per day and 80 in possession.

[ozzie]

Cool thanks for responding.......I will be out on the east side somewhere....So if you see 4 young guys in a lund with a saltwater mercury say hi and give us an update on how you are doing!!! Good Luck and I will let ya know how we did on Monday!!!

[Bison9]

Ozzie, my buddies and I are hitting up the ol' Big Water on Oct. 14th. I can't wait! This time of year and the Spring of the year, in my opinion, are the best times to catch bigger ones...

[ozzie]

That is what I like to hear!!! I just hope the wind stays calm enough to get out...Sounds like it should be a nice weekend.....Good Luck to you...

[Bison9]

Yeah, I'm just a little nervous that these low 30 degree days won't find their way into this Saturday. Yowsa! I just got done looking at the Lakewood boat launch camera today and man it looked brutal! I then made my way over to weather.com to look at the windspeed in Devils Lake because from the looks of the camera, it looked rough! The windspeed was gusting to 32 mph! It gets tough out there when the wind whips up... Good luck!

[ozzie]

Well we made it on and off the lake this weekend.......Friday was windy but we made our way around the lake only to cathch 10 walleyes keeping 6. Saturday was a great day to be on the lake. We had slow action until the evening bite. We set up on a little drop off near a bridge and jigged and bobber fished. The action was pretty fast for a hour or two then it slowed down 20 minutes after dark when all the sudden the wind picked up. It went from 5 to 50 mile per hour winds in the matter of 5 minutes. It was the worst conditions I have ever been in on the water. We had to get back to the landing through 5-7 foot rollers. Very scary. Regerdless the fishing was decent and the 4 of us came home with 23 walleyes. Beutiful fish really white bellies. Biggest fish caught was only 19 inches. We trolled spinners a little but mainly jigged and corked. not alot of action from the people we had talked to trolling either.. Can't wait to get back in the winter.

[Bison9]

Yeah - I'll tell you what, I took my Dad up there this past May and we were fishing when the PWT tourney was going on. We were fishing by this pro guy when all of a sudden, this rain storm came up and it was the wildest thing - You could literally see the curtain of rain coming and you could hear it from a mile away. When that thing hit, it was the same thing you had - rain, massive waves because of wind and hail also! It was the worst rain I have ever been in. We were looking at this pro and we both were wondering what the heck just happened. Needless to say, that was a bad time to be out on the water with a shot bilge pump!

Also, as far as the trolling is concerned, I have trolled cranks only once up there with decent action and as far as the bottom bouncing stuff is concerned, I think that's a wive's tail - I have tried bottom bouncing numerous times out there with not even a hit. Coincidentally, I have given up using that pattern out on the ol' big water. No, jigs and live bait either slipp bobbin the trees and working the bridges have been by far the best methods for me. Also, going off of what an old timer told me a couple years ago - the crankbait casting into windblown shores is a year around pattern. The old man was right...

[Bison9]

Well Boys, my buddy and I went to Devils this past Saturday and did real well. We got there at about 7:30 and didn't have action until about 3PM when they turned on! We tried what seemed like every bridge on the lake before we got to the Hwy 57 bridge. From 3PM to 5PM we proceded to limit out on 3-4 pound eyes. It was like it was spawning season again because the eyes were so fat. They all were on a jig and a minnow and, oh yeah, you had to make sure to find some bigger minnows - we stopped at three different bait shops before funding some larger minnows at the casino. This made a huge difference I think because we went from no luck to lots of luck! Also, we were moving with the current of the bridge and the wind and were using the trolling motor to stay vertical. You had to be vertical also! Good luck to all!