Packing Light Can Bring Success On Devils Lake!
I love peering into the boat or garage of a tournament fisherman. It’s like a ‘fisherman’s porn shop’!
They have everything!
Duffle bags full of every lure and contraption known to have ever been produced to catch fish. Next time you see or run into one, ask politely if you can look in their boat compartments. Do this for 2 reasons:
- Just for the awe factor
- It will make you a better fisherman in the gear department, pros use things that catch fish
They have all of that stuff because their ability to catch fish on a variety of waters, with a wide variety of conditions, determines their income.
YOU DO NOT NEED ALL OF THAT STUFF!
Especially on Devils Lake.
In fact, here are the things you need to be successful on The Big Devil:
Crankbaits
You gotta have em. If you have only these 5 colors, you WILL catch fish on Devils Lake, all summer long in fact.
Perch in #5 Scatter Rap, Hot Steel in #7 Scatter Rap, Bleak in #7 Scatter Rap, Bleak in #5 Shad Rap, and Dalmatian in #5 Salmo Hornet.
The 3rd and 4th are the superstars and are Scheel’s Allsports specialty items. When I go to Scheel’s I load up on em. They were discontinued for a time and you never know when that will happen again. They are GOLDEN on Devils Lake in the early season Pitching period
Crank Bait Condition is Vital
One of the things we make sure of is that we check the conditions of our cranks during our preparation time. Sure, we buy new every year but we also reuse previous years lures. The most common affliction is the trebles.
Make sure that you replace ALL rusty ones. This can be the difference between hooking up and missing a lot of hits.
Jig Heads
Whenever I crack the Jig box I think back to an amusing story about a tournament fisherman, coincidentally. It was back in the early 2000’s, The PWT was still around and the circuit was swinging through for a Devils Lake event. I was working a lot at The Cove on Woodland Resort at the time and had the pleasure of serving and talking with A LOT of fishermen.
One gentleman from the east coast was making his first trip to Devils Lake and had never fished its waters but was entering the PWT as a pro. Through a lot of discussion and back and forth with locals and myself and other fishermen at the Bar, it was becoming extremely apparent that this guy was starting to realize that he was VERY unprepared to fish Devils Lake in its current trend
At that particular time, there was still a lot of standing trees and flooded timber. The rise of the 90’s hadn’t toppled them all yet and to catch big fish you had to slip bobber the timber, HAD TO!
Almost every tournament winner in those years was pulling at least some of their fish out of the timber with bobbers.
This guy didn’t have a jig head or a bobber in his possession.
A lot of that flooded timber is gone now, or at least laying at the bottom of the lake, and slip bobbering the flooded timber has taken a back seat to Pitching and Snap Jigging, but there are days when it is still effective in putting Walleyes in the boat.
If you are pitching and having lots of follow ups but can’t seem to hook up, slow it down and deploy the jigs with leeches underneath a slip bobber, the results will astound you.
Spinners and Bottom Bouncers
Yeah, it’s pitching season. Most of our fish caught right now will come pitching. One can only pitch with one rod at a time, though and 2 rods are legal to fish with in the summer in North Dakota. We always want to optimize our time on the water so when pitching a shoreline we are always going to drag a bottom bouncer with a spinner tipped with a leech on the outside edge.
Many days I have found the fish were just a little bit deeper than previously thought.
Also, as the summer gets longer in the tooth and the water warms, we are going to be using a TON of these looking for Walleyes and Perch along weed beds and on structure.
You Gotta Check This Out: Lone Tree Designs
When we began this endeavor, I was focused on it being all about fishing.
Oh boy!
How wrong was I?
It has been a blast but a lot of work, albeit fun work.
In doing some of the things we do, we are always on the lookout for ways to expand our viewership and market what we have to offer.
One of those ways is with visuals.
Lone Tree Designs was just what we needed.
Eric and Corrine Aasmunstad farm in the Devils Lake Region and I have known them for quite a few years. Great people and I really enjoy talking to them when I get the opportunity. One of our talks wandered into the area of something I had seen them selling at a Devils Lake Fall Function at the Memorial Building.
Their work was awesome and craftsmanship was extraordinary AND the subject matter just happened to be something we were a little bit interested in: Ducks, Pheasants, and Fish. I wanted to bring up an idea for a sign that we could use for fish pictures and some promotional stuff and they were more than willing to experiment with what we had in mind.
Got the call from them on Monday and was able to pick the sign up last night.
I am sure the beaming smile on my face was indication to Eric that I liked it, liked it A LOT!
The finishing touch to rust it up is still ahead of us but man, what a job!
A huge Thank You to both of them!
If you have sign idea or want to see some of their other work, look them up. I asked Eric if he used a stencil on the fish, answer:
No, I drew that!
We will definitely be return customers.
All of their stuff is very affordable and pleasing to the eye. We guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
Lawn and Yard Outdoors Ornaments
Antique Motor Coffee Tables
Good Luck Out There!
Hold On To Your Rod…
And…
CATCH MORE FISH!!
