Fighting Slush for Walleyes and The Winter Doldrums for Perch
Saturday greeted us with warm temperatures but pea soup fog and we got stuck in huge drifts twice just trying to get onto the ice. Once on the lake itself, it became apparent that there are slush pockets all over Lake Alice and Lake Irvine. Navigation was manageable by gps and we got to our pre-selected destination to find even more slush.
We drilled in and thank the Ice Fishing gods that our boots were waterproof. If you don’t possess a pair of these, I wouldn’t even suggest going out onto either of these two northern feeder lake. The trip would have been miserable without them.
We were in 8 feet of water on the outside rim of one of the islands and it wasn’t fast and furious, but steady. Actually, full minnows on slip bobbers 3 inches off of the bottom out fished my jigging rod this time.
I did lose one pig Walleye right at the bottom of the hole and kick myself for not being more patient as I tried to horse him through.
There is still a lot of good fishing to be had up on those northern feeder lakes, I do think, however, one needs to have knowledge of the islands and ANY structure, as that is where the majority of the fish are being caught. If you are not familiar with these lakes, we can help you out as our ‘Keys to Lake Alice’ package will point you in all the right directions.
My kids love to see the fish when I get back and we had originally planned on bringing them out later in the day, the pea soup fog and slush conditions had us rethinking that with their safety in mind. They do love guessing: male or female as I clean the fish and I still get a kick out of it. Thankfully all but one of these were males.
Sunday: Overcast and Sluggish Perch
We had originally planned on attacking Lake Alice both days but after experiencing the slush conditions and getting stuck, we decided to relocate to North Six Mile Bay for Sunday. I love the opportunity to catch a DL Crappie and North Six Mile offers one the best chance at that.
Even though we didn’t land any Crappies, we did mark a number of them. Had we had sun, we probably could have enticed a couple of them to bite.
We marked almost all of the fish we found Sunday in 30-32 feet of water on sloped ledges off of two sharp inclines or cuts as we refer to them.
That intermediate level ledge is still holding a lot of fish and is where we are starting our Perch Searches and believe you should too.
As it was we found a good Perch school and marked a lot of fish, they were just ‘cloudy day sluggish’.
With the amount of Pike we found swimming amongst them, we probably would have been glued to the bottom too. We were able to eliminate two Predator Pike from the gene pool.
We had to vacate the ice by noon for pre-existing responsibilities and of course 2 hours after we were off, the sun came out. We will talk about why this is prime time for Perch in tomorrow’s Fish Activity.
I am an avid proponent of the “Devils Lake Pike Eradication Project”:
Save a Perch, Kill a Pike!
Plus, they make a wonderful smoked pike cracker dip.
More Start Points for the Ambitious Perch Searchers Out There
What kind of vehicle were you getting stuck with?
Stuck with a sled in the snow banks accessing the ice, the fog had an adverse affect on our visibility.
What did you use for transportation in Alice?
Sleds and tracked vehicles are a must up there.
Just curious if you guys have been to the west landing on stump lake, The one that goes by the farm place on 34th street. If you have been there, is there any possible way to get an ice castle off that access? We will have a ranger with tracks, but looking for a decent place to drop a fish house for the weekend. Or besides Creel bay, is there any other decent spots to set up a wheel house for a weekend on the big lake. Thanks
you shouldn’t have any difficulty getting on at the point you are talking about, there is some slush spots on stump but overall is much more accessible than the rest of Devils Lake.