There are not many things on the water that scare me, Big waves? Just take a careful hand and take your time. Rain? We have wet suits. Cold? Bundle up.
Lightning on the other hand, I want no part of on the water. It is not something that I will play with. First sign of a flash or thunder and I am off the water. I don’t care if it is 20 miles away, if I can see it or hear it and there are clouds above me, I’m off the water, right now.
This episode transpired Wednesday evening. We were doing a little ledge exploration and trying to fight off the mini-White Bass assault on our worms. We managed to boat three dandy eyes early and had just pulled onto another ledge where there were some good eater “sandwich” eyes when BANG!! Chased off the water into the bar for supper, oh well, the Philly Sandwich was AWESOME!
My desire to fill our limit was overcome by my desire to continue to breath. We were still able to get a couple spots where there were good fish and I still sit here today, it was a good night.
Stuck in Neutral, But Man There’s Gold Here
When is the right time to say, “let’s go”? The old saying of “Never leave fish to find fish” has resonated in my mind many times. That first pass rewards 2 or 3 keepers and we continue to pound the area to no avail.
Other times we are on a gold mine and decide we want bigger fish or we had planned to hit more spots and just decide to move and never boat another fish. When is the right time to stay and when is the right time to go searching? I wish I had the answer.
That first pass is usually the most fruitful as you are picking off the most active and hungry fish or you are hitting the solunar major at the right time and then it slowly wanes. I have had days where I stayed too long, the active fish were gone and the rest was an exercise in futility.
Saturday and Sunday both showed us instances where, in hindsight, we should have moved sooner. Two walleye limits and 5 and 10 perch days are nothing to turn our noses at, but I think we could have doubled those perch numbers if we had pulled the plug on our initial spots.
Basically, I don’t know if there is a standard answer to when to stay and when to move. What do you think? Give us your golden rule in the comments section, When to move, when to stay?
In the end, we attacked both 12-15 foot and 16-20 foot ledges with worms on spinners with bottom bouncers. I know I sound like a broken record on that, but gosh darn it, it works. Green and Chartreuse was the color and is the color that is ruling the day. Until something changes, it is the color I’m sticking with.
A side note, we found a lot of our more active schools at hourglasses and pinch points on the ledge. The flats had fish, but as we neared a spot where the ledge hour glassed or came to a contour line pinch, look out, it was game on. Something to think about when you are out there, concentrate on those pinch points.
Why We Fish, ‘Man –vs- Self, Man –vs- Nature
I love fishing, but I am a waterfowl hunter at heart. I love the chess game, I love the scouting, the set up, the approach, and ultimately the ‘Take Em’ call and bang bang.
This last fall I had the opportunity to go on a northern Minnesota Black Bear hunt. I was out of my element in all senses of what we were asked to do. Sit still? HA! For those of you that know me, it was not an easy task. I had to conquer, not nature or my surroundings, or even my quarry. I had to conquer myself.
I took it on as a mission to conquer my shortcomings. In the end I was successful. I will never miss a Black Bear lottery draw in Minnesota again. I’m hooked. You can read the full story here.
Fishing is kind of the same. Sure, there is the man –vs- nature part. We are trying to get a simple minded animal to bite on something that it may or may not know doesn’t belong down there.
My biggest challenge on the water is, well, ME! Why aren’t they biting? What are we doing wrong? Is someone somewhere else crushing em and we should be there? Should we change presentation? Should we slow down? Should we speed up?
Through much trial and error I have found that usually, if we stay the course; have confidence in what we are doing, eventually we will be successful. It’s a constant battle with me though. If it wasn’t they would call it Catching not Fishing and where is the fun in that.
Tournaments, What They Mean For You and Me
I have never fished a fishing tournament!
That may surprise some of you. It’s not that I hate tournaments, actually boosts my income when the big ones are in town. Not afraid of them either, if I didn’t do well there are 100’s of variables to blame my lack of success on, including myself.
I just don’t enter them. The risk/reward ratio is just too uneven and I am not independently wealthy. I follow them, I cheer for buddies that fish them and often share as much information as I can with a few. I just don’t enter them myself.
With that being said, there are many negatives and positives to Fishing Tournaments on the Big Devil. We here at Devils Lake Fishing Report realize that they are NEVER going to be outlawed so why grouse about it. Embrace them and benefit if we can.
Watch tournament boats both when they are pre-fishing and while fishing the tournament. I don’t mean pirate their spots; I mean watch WHAT they are doing. Most of the time these are some of the best fishermen in the Lake Region, in the State, and in the upper Midwest. If they are using that technique to ply their trade, chances are there is a reason.
The Pumps
This topic has been of much debate, both last winter, last spring, and early this summer. It hits real close to home as part of our family farm is still under the waters of Lake Alice and Lake Irvine.
At the onset of summer, many were calling for the pumps to be shut down. The water was getting too low some said. It is going to hurt our fishing industry.
Then June and July hit. Rain and Thunderstorm after rain and thunderstorm have shown us that maybe it is a little early to say the wet cycle is over.
What is the right level to shut down the pumps? That is the million dollar question. If I knew the answer I could make a lot of money. For now though, I think they should stay on. Just my opinion.
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SPECIFIC BAYS and LOCALES:
The finger bays are still the best bet for that Bottom Bouncer/Spinner troll combination. Black Tiger Bay, Creel Bay, and Six Mile Bay are prime easitly accessible areas. The rocks, oh those wonderful rocks. Rip rap areas and sunken rock piles are holding and will hold fish, probably for the duration of the open water season. Lost Jig, Byrd Island, Military Main Bay side, Golden Highway, Rocky Point and Highways 57, 20, and 19 rip rap are all destinations for this. The bridges are also starting to produce fish, and lots of them. Granted many will be small, there are bruisers mixed in, especially in the Golden Hour period. Early Morning and Late Evening.
We are breaking out the lead core and are starting to explore some of those deeper ledges, will get back to you on how it goes.
