We Love TOADS!!
What A Week!
What we can tell you is that it was under 20 feet of water and the fish weren’t stacked but they would come through in batches of 3-4, early on usually we would get 1 or 2 to bite, after 10 a.m. it got pretty tough.
Both bobbers and Coffin Spoons were effective.
Under 30 feet of water, when this ice gets thick enough, we will for sure let you know, at present time, it is not safe.
These we can offer up to you, 9 inches as of Saturday so probably 10-11 now. Under 30 feet of water and there were some TOADS!
These were from about the deepest water we have been in as of now. Smaller but more numerous, the ice was just touching 6 inches on Friday so I would guess it is 2-3 inches now, there have been a couple of wheelers near this spot.
Back in that under 30-foot zone and it seems the shallower fish are a little bigger, the Perch anyway!!
Gonna Take Some Time Yet!
Today’s temperatures are going to help, but we still need quite a bit more ice out there to make the entire lake safe. We contemplated suspending operations with the fishing report until the whole lake is travelable but the fact that there is so many varied measurements, we decided against it. The spots we have offered up are all over 4 inches of ice, while no ice is safe ice, as we are getting more and more over that 6-inch mark, we are comfortable continuing.
There is still open water in EDL, East Bay, and the open water on the main bay just iced over. Way west you can find 8-10 inches so that is your range- open to 10 inches. As you can see, drilling as you go is imperative. To go along with that, with the 50mph winds yesterday, there was a lot of shifting of the ice and many cracks were created, started, and expanded. Not the ideal situation out there, so please be careful.
When On ‘Safe’ Ice
Concentrate your searches on 20-30 feet of water for the time being, aside from east of highway 20, most of your fish will be caught in that depth when it comes to Perch, Eyes will be shallower, 5-20 feet.
Lure Selection
It’s early so think big:
- Jigging Raps
- Varmints
- Coffin Spoons
- Buckshots
- Flyers
Early Ice is such a wonderful time on Devils Lake, when you don’t have to worry about ice thickness anyway, and that time is coming, just slow getting here this year.
Good Luck out there!
