A Great Time to Be A Devils Lake Fisherman!!
Time Of Day!
The early bite seems to be the best bite window at this time but fish are coming out of the water at all hours of the day. We didn’t launch today until 10 so being out there at dawn isn’t necessary. I am a morning person and getting out there early isn’t imperative but you will probably see a bit of a more intensive bite from 6-9 than you are going to see at say 2-5.
Technique Choice!
We often get dialed in to the spinner bite this time of year. One of the reasons is because we are after a specific quality of fish, those 14-20 inchers that fill the box and are the best table fare. If we were after a little bigger fish, like the 27-incher in the cover photo for this post, pitching crank baits or trolling with cranks is going to get you there.
Also, as we start working deeper and deeper, lead core rods and line counters will be added to our repertoire.
Slip bobbers?
Yes, they are still working. Here’s the thing about bobbers right now. If you see the fish being brought in by bobber guys and see the fish being brought in by trolling guys right now, I guarantee you would select the fish being brought in by the trollers. Just so many more small fish on bobbers and too many being foul hooked and small fish having to be kept. Sure, you will catch a few bigger ones with them, but on average, the trolling fish are going to be more consistent.
Depth, So Important!
20!!
Kind of a magic number. Maybe not all of our fish are being brought in at exactly 20-feet. Within 5 feet on each side of that magic number and you will be in the keeper zone. We start on that old shoreline and zig zag around that depth line. Today was 17-21, two days ago was 15ish. Last week we got some in 22-23.
If you want a BIG ONE, get up against that weed edge in 8-10 feet of water and pitch a SSR crank bait in #7 or #9, pull it right over the top or through the pockets. That is how we hooked into that 27-inch PIG!!
Major Bite Factors – Structurally!
- Weeds
- Rocks
- Point edges
- Timber Edges
- Steep Cuts
These are the areas and the structures in which we are getting all of our fish right now. The only thing for this time of year that is really missing is mud flats. The reason is we just haven’t really hit them yet. We will, we are just having too much success on these other areas to venture out into those featureless areas yet…
Maybe tomorrow!!
Our Spinner Colors!!
Good Starting Colors!
I suppose we can read through article after article about what colors Walleyes can and can’t see in this depth and that depth -or- we can put down 4-6 different colors and through observation and about 15-20 minutes determine which hue is hot that day.
I’ll choose the latter!!
If you notice, couple of colors seem to be involved in all of the spinners that we have found successes with. Silver and Gold seem to be apart of all of them. Coincidence that White bass fry and perch fry also take on those same colors? I think not.
Silver stripes and Gold stripes, Hammered Silver, Hammered Gold; good places to start. Take it from a former Teacher, use your eyes to observe and you will gain so much more information in the field than in the classroom.
Bait Choice!
For us and our spinners? One word…
Worms!!
Good Luck out there!
I plan on coming to Devils Lake this winter and getting different information about the lake in very interesting. Hopefully we can make a couple of trips up there.