First off, I would like to say thank you to each and every person out there that is serving or has served our country in the United States Military, we live under the blanket of freedom and security that you provide and there is no amount of gratitude that can sufficiently thank you for what you do. Sometimes we complain about our jobs and everyday mundane mental and physical maladies, none of which can remotely compare to what these men and women sacrifice to ensure our freedoms, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!
One of these trivial things would be, of course, FISHING!!
July started with a bang, what a fishery Devils Lake has become, it never ceases to amaze me at how fertile of a fishing water this lake is. Our Sunday limit was there for the taking, but cooler heads prevailed and the big 27 incher went back as did numerous 12-14 inchers. I am a meat hunter, I fish to provide for myself, family, and friends. I am also a conservationist and realize that to preserve this fishery we must give back to it. The best eating walleyes on this lake are in that 14-18 inch range. Those big pigs must go back to provide us with future fishing.
The spinner bite is ON, on like Donkey Kong. Right now we are trolling in two water depths, that 6-9 foot range seems to be the ticket for some bigger fish, a lot of 18-22’s coming out of that depth range, there are a lot of old shoreline ledges and weed bed edges to target for that feet of water depth range. Hammered gold and Chartreuse and green spinners with leeches has been our best presentation. Some of the hits have been tremendous, almost ripping the rod out of our hands, truly exhilarating.
The other window of depth right now seems to be in that 12-18 foot range. A lot of the fish at this depth are 12-15 inches, but there are A LOT of them. Not unheard of right now for two guys to have 2 and even 3 hook ups at the same time as you hit a school of these sandwich sized eyes. I like to run 2 oz. bouncers up front with 1-1.5 oz. bouncers in the back. I feel this creates good separation and gives the fish two different angles and variety in bait appearance. It works for us.
For a reference as to what I am talking about when it comes to shoreline ledges, the above image is one of my favorite parallel shoreline ledge in north 6 Mile for this time of year, the historical data I have collected from this area is vital in going back year after year to boat eater sized Walleyes, it is also often loaded with schools of Devils Lake’s world famous Jumbo Perch.
There are still fish up in the weeds and many of these are you tournament kicker fish. The crank bite usually slows a little this time of year and so far that has seemed to remain the rule. However, if you have almost finished you limit and want to go hunt for that Devils Lake Whopper, hit the shallow weed edges and weed pockets. You won’t catch the volume of Walleyes that you would pulling live bait right now, but that is probably your best chance at a bruiser.
Buy the waypoints from this Report
SPECIFIC BAYS and LOCALES: North Six Mile and North Creel are loaded with eater size eyes, Cactus Point, the opening of new mil, Ft. Totten bay, Any parallel to shore old shoreline in 6-8 feet and 12-18 feet. Pelican weed beds for bruisers, Howard’s Bay weed bed edges are picking up, The flats are heating up as well. Out east, the South End of Black Tiger, Cox’s Flat has lots of eater eyes on it, the weed edges behind Pop’s in the shallower Stromme Addition area, and the shoreline ledges along highway 20 and 57, just play the wind and hit the wind blown sides.
