Too Much Snow!!

And it is causing a 2-fold problem.

• A.  You can’t get around very easily with out tracks
• B.  Not enough light is reaching the bottom in deep water.

So, if you plan on chasing Perch on Devils Lake right now, you will have to consider a few things:

If you are going deep (30+), hope that it is a sunny day.  If it isn’t sunny, attempt to locate some active Perch that are in shallower water.  We have one such location from last week where we marked a ton of fish:

Also, expect to fish small.  What I mean by that is to downsize your lure selection.  Instead of the more obnoxious lures like Gold Varmints and Buck Shots, think more Tungstens and Small PK Spoons or Forage Minnows.  Less noise and something more subtle.  Also, Spikes, Wax Worms, and whole minnows are beginning to out fish the minnow head.

During a normal year, we target Perch at this time, in 30-45 feet of water out in the basins and we are still doing that.  Mixed results, as some days they really go off and then some days they just yo-yo.  The ‘dog days’ of winter bite can get tough and that is presenting itself to us now.  We are going to continue to hit those deep mud basins and continue to search.  It does eventually pay off, like today, with some really nice Jumbo Perch and some good cleaners.

Walleyes A Different Story!

Things aren’t all doom and gloom.  When we get into these situations, the Perch bite often gets real tough but the Walleye bite, especially in the middle of the day really picks up.  Walleyes, in the very shallow water (less than 8 feet) still have an advantage at noon when it is cloudy and there is a ton of snow on the ice.  

Pike Numbers Are Down!

We knew this going in when we got the results from our ‘State of the Lake’ questions back.  We aren’t seeing a whole lot of them and for this fisherman, it doesn’t really hurt my feelings too much.

Need A Thaw!!

One thing that would really help the Perch bite would be a little thaw.  A few days of above freezing temperatures to cut down the snow a little.  It is January in North Dakota so I am not expecting that anytime soon but it sure would be nice.  

Pray that we don’t get any more snow, that would really be a detriment to the bite in my opinion.

Good Luck out there!

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