Perch Bonanza
My oh my, what a weekend. With temperatures in the 40’s and the snow dwindling by the day, the Perch and Crappie got super active over this President’s Day weekend.
One day we had our 40 Perch by 9:30 a.m. and left a Christmas Tree on the bottom. We moved to look for Crappies and continued to catch Perch after Perch.
Not saying we were able to sit in one hole and pop them, we still had to drill, and drill, and drill, but we marked a lot of fish in that 30-35 foot range and had a lot of biters.
The Crappie came alive too and reports of Crappie limits coming off of the lake were even reported. We are seeing more and more Crappies coming out of Devils Lake this year and we really hope their population is picking up.
How We Did It
Well, we did not drill one hole and then sit on it for hours. We have given many posts about our system and it worked to a ‘T’ all weekend. The schools were roaming schools and only one day were we able to sit in two holes and grind.
The other days we would pick off 2 or 3 and then have to hole hop to find the next Christmas Tree of active fish. Active they were though, and it made for a very enjoyable weekend.
Lure selection
To be 100% honest with you, I never took my Gold Varmint off, it was “GOLDEN” all weekend. If the sun was shining, the minnow head was on fire. If it clouded up, I just downsized and went waxies.
Current Target Depth Range
We cannot stress enough that if you are in 28-35 feet you are going to be marking and catching a lot of fish. Shallower and deeper and its a crap shoot. Get in 28-35 feet and work those contour ranges and you will, if you are willing to drill some holes, find active Perch schools.
Friends of DLFR
We are always glad to field messages and calls about putting friends on fish and it was a pleasure to receive some pics back from both friends and customers that we helped. Keep the pics coming and keep the questions coming.
The Time Is NOW!!!
I can not stress to you that the time to plan your trip to Devils Lake, if you want to cash in on a Devils Lake Gold Mine of Super Mega Jumbo Perch, is NOW!
From here on out until the ice is no longer stable, there will be A LOT of Perch coming through the ice.
Changing Weather, Changing Season
We saw our first Canada geese of the season and this is EARLY for this event. It signals a change of seasons here on the Northern Tier.
The snow is melting quickly and vehicle travel on most parts of the lake is now possible. The run-off is going to be pretty impressive and this means Coulee fishing north of the main basin should be phenomenal this spring.
Our North Dakota Walleye Fishing Season, and all species for that matter, does not close on the Big Devil and across most bodies of water in the state.
We are coming out with some help for that.
Be on the lookout in coming weeks for our Devils Lake Basin Spring/Shore Fishing Pocket Guide! It will help you eliminate hours of trying to find those spots that have fish as they wander North to spawn.
Coming up on Thursday for perch what map set should I buy? Should I wait a few days to get the most up to date spots? Sorry for all the questions thank you!
The waypoints from this weekend are going to be your best bet for real time information. If you are adventurous and want to be a Perch Searcher, select the area of the lake you want to target and go to the start points and get the start points for that area. It is the exact locations that WE use to start our own Perch searches on Devils Lake.
What is the difference between your DLFR start points and the fringe point waypoints. I will definitely be getting your most recent waypoints, but also would like to fish Alice and the East end of the lake over to Stump. What is my best options. Keep the good reports coming
The Start Points are spots that year after year we have started our searches, they may not be right on the button but they are likely perch habitat and chances are, with a minimal amount of effort, you will find fish in a short period of time.
Fringe points are a little more, well, on the fringe. They could almost be start points but not quite, they look real good on paper or on the gps but just haven’t quite produced enough fish for us to list them as ‘go to’ spots. If you really want to get after it though, they are good spots to begin a search.