Why Devils Lake? Why This Summer?
So many lakes, so little time. One day I would like to tackle Lake Erie, spend a couple weeks out there fishing for big Walleyes. I have a friend out in Seattle that highly recommends the Columbia River (one day Adam, one day!). Lake of the Woods for the scenic beauty and chance at some Sauger along with the Walleyes. The South Dakota Glacial Lake area for midsummer Walleyes and their Jumbo Perch. Any one of the many reservoirs on the Missouri River, Fort Peck, Sakakawea, Oahe, Francis Case. There are too many more to even mention in one posting.
I’ll bet you all the money in my pocket that I don’t leave Devils Lake this summer though!
Why?
Cause Devils Lake is where it is at, RIGHT NOW!
Indicators
What makes me say that you may ask. There are a variety of factors:
- Information that comes from the biologists
- Information that comes from our ice fishing experiences
- Information that comes from our early spring successes
1. Fisheries Biologists and the Like
The biologists are telling us that the lake is healthy. Really healthy in fact. Strong year classes of keeper Walleyes and a couple of up and coming year classes of Perch make for good fishing. Can’t forget the Pike either, oh the Pike, millions of em. Too many if you ask me but for just the opportunity to catch fish, any fish, you can easily boat 100 Pike in a day without even trying.
2. Our Ice Fishing Season
Not all of the information collected during our ice fishing season was eye popping, wonderful news. In fact, some was downright troubling. Why weren’t the Dry Lake Walleyes biting. Dry Lake was pretty dismal this Hardwater season. Heard a few stories of guys with cameras seeing 100’s of eyes that would just swim by lures without even a recognition. There were a lot of mid sized Perch, not the Super Mega Jumbo kind.
There was good news too, lots of Crappies came through the ice this year. Lots of deep, big Walleyes, and for just sheer numbers, lots of Perch.
We will talk about those non biting eyes in a second. The Crappie and Perch NUMBERS is encouraging even if the Perch size wasn’t there this past winter. The time for them to grow to Super Mega Jumbos is in the summer time, and to do that they gotta feed and if they are feeding they will be biting. Those deep Walleyes were also deep for a reason, that is where their prey was, those same Jumbo Perch. Those same big Walleyes that were DEEP in February are going to be in shallow and in the weeds, chasing those same Perch in Late May and June.
All indicators from our Ice Fishing season point to a banner year for Open Water 2017.
3. Early Spring Success
So far so good, in fact, better than good. Almost to the point of weirdly good. Last weekends Crank Bait smackdown was an early event for that kind of fishing and is also an early indicator that those non-biting Dry Lake eyes are now hungry. Real hungry! We have even heard of a few Perch being caught in the channels and have witnessed some Crappies on the cleaning table.
And the Pike, oh those over populated Pike. They are everywhere if you want to chase them.
Plan That Trip
I am a terrible gambler and never bet on sports except for the occasional NCAA pool. However, if I were a betting man, I would be dishing out a few dollars wagering on this summer going down as a Summer for the record books for Walleye and Perch fishing on Devils Lake, North Dakota.
If you have plans to take a summer trip and that summer trip has fishing involved, we strongly recommend considering the Big Devil.
She is going to be, or should I say, she is ON FIRE!!
Good Luck Out There!
I fish dry lake a lot in the summer and winter. Last winter we seen plenty of eyes on most days. Camera was down most of the time. About one in twenty would bite they were in the 16-21 inch range. The 23-27 inch fish just weren’t interested, they swam by without even a look. My question is how often does a 26 inch eye eat? They are fat fish so we know they were eating some days. We were out on Dry on Saturday, north end. Hit five or six f our usual spots, lots of pike one eye. We were casting cranks. Talked to a couple guys catching eyes with bobbers and leeches. Water was still cool. They should start biting soon. Would like to fish with you sometime early in June. I can go any day (retired). As you get closer to June and have an open day we can talk.
Are you able to fine perch now?