Apps Are Great, But Sometimes Everyone Needs A Steak
I’m not a big eater. Usually about 3 gallons of coffee, a few Kit Kats during the day and nachos at night during the week and pizza on the weekends will do me just fine unless I am fixing wild game/fish either for the website, family and friends, or to experiment with recipes.
When I go out to eat, an appetizer is usually enough.
However…….
Sometimes, not always, but sometimes, you just need a big steak. A monster steak, a thick cut, juicy piece of beef. When that sometime comes around, a guy inhales it and leaves the plate clean. When this event occurs for me, it usually keeps me good for quite some time and I am back to coffee and small meals.
Are Fish Really Any Different?
Many fishermen have asked the question, while on Devils Lake:
There are so many shrimp, why would the fish even need to bite?
That is the million dollar question. It is no secret that the number one forage item on Devils Lake is freshwater shrimp. The entire system relies on these little invertebrates. When you pull a fish up from the depths, when you clean one, when you drill a hole in shallower water; its shrimp, shrimp, shrimp.
The little buggers are everywhere. I have had times, when drilling shallow, I thought I bottomed out in the mud as when I brought the auger back up out of the hole, it appeared as though there was dirt spraying everywhere. Upon closer inspection, it was 1000’s of shrimp.
These little protein packed morsels are the mainstay of all the fish in the system.
2 pound Perch? Full of shrimp.
18-inch Walleye? Full of shrimp.
41-inch Northern Pike? Full of shrimp.
3-pound White Bass? Full of shrimp.
Then Why Would They Bite A Lure With A Minnow?
Just as almost everyone can relate to my eating habits at some point in their life, I think it pretty accurately portrays the attitude of the Perch on Devils Lake as well. For the most part they are content to gobble up the little Freshwater Shrimp Appetizers.
Sometimes……sometimes though, they want a meal, a big meal, and they go on the feeding frenzy. It is our opinion that as the winter gets longer in the tooth and egg production increases, these feeding frenzies grow in frequency. The little shrimp bites aren’t enough and the Perch need more! That is why I love late ice. Late Ice for me has been some of the most productive time on the water.
Leave Fish To Find Fish? Rethink That Concept!
It is an old saying among fishermen:
‘Never leave fish to find fish”
Often times the finding is the hard part. With Devils Lake Perch though, often the finding is the really easy part, the ‘insight the bite’ part is the chore.
Even though we are usually looking for the hyper active, feeding schools; there will be times when we will sit on a school, especially if we have a non-biting Christmas Tree eruption below us. With that many Perch rising up, it is usually inevitable that they will start to bite. This is the time to grind em. Sit on top of them and throw the tackle box at them along with slip bobbers and plain hooks. Full minnows, minnow heads, waxies, spikes! Everything within reach to try to get them to bite.
You just never know if you will find another school stacked like that and, inevitably, 5 minutes after you leave them, they WILL go off and provide someone with a Devils Lake Gold Mine.
More Pics From Some Happy Fishermen
Good Luck Out There!
