The Attack of the Mid-Season Yo-Yo’s
As is the case many years when we have a lot of snow on top of the ice and cloudy day after cloudy day, the Perch bite has been VERY sporadic. One can find a school of Perch, work them into a bee’s nest frenzy, and never actually get them to turn on and they proceed to be Devil’s Lake Yo-Yo’s for the duration of the day.
Don’t get me wrong, those schools will go off from time to time for 20 minutes, half hour, 45 minutes; and you can pick off as many as you can during that window. This can make for a frustrating day on Devils Lake. Our recommendations vary for combating these conditions, but they can be summed up as:
- Be patient
- Chase an alternative species, like Walleyes or Crappies or White Bass
- Move shallower
1. Be Patient
This can be a frustrating one and we are searchers, we don’t sit on a dormant school very long. There have been many times where this has worked in our favor and there have been times where we moved and guys that stayed told us that an hour after we left, they just turned on. This happens, it is tough to make this call. However, if you decide to sit on a dormant school of Yo-Yo’s and they suddenly turn on, the results can be very gratifying.
2. Chase An Alternative Species
Devils Lake has 5 main species of fish: Walleye, Perch, White Bass, Pike, and Crappie. The Yellow Perch are probably the most sensitive to the light conditions.
Yes, Walleyes seem to bite best in the early and late ‘Golden Hours’, but they will bite at these times whether it is sunny or cloudy. It seems during February and into early March, those Perch NEED sunlight to really get the feed on. Compound that problem with the diminished light that can penetrate our snow pack and it makes for a frustrating day on the ice.
Sunday, we made the decision to go after some Devil’s Lake Diamonds, and though we didn’t find a Diamond Mine, we did land 2 Slabs tipping the scales at 1.5 and 1.75 pounds. If patiently sitting on a slow school of Perch is not up your alley, fish one of the other 4 species for a few weeks.
3. Move Shallower
Those mega schools of Perch are deeper, and they are probably gonna stay deeper for the time being. There are Perch to be had up shallow though, too. While the big numbers might not be there, the quality will be, and a creel of 8 pound-and-a-half to pound-and-three-quarter Devils Lake jumbos is nothing to scoff at.
Where To Focus The Search
Deep and off the ledge is the best description that we can give right now if you want to try to land on one of those Devils Lake Jumbo Perch Gold Mines. If you have a sunny day, you have a chance at a glorious day. The White Bass and Crappies are also mixing in with those Perch schools and a mixed bag is entirely possible.
Two depth windows seem to be working the best right now. That 30-33/34 foot, off the old shoreline ledge and then DEEP, 42+ feet off the end of points and in the basins.
Change In Layout
Things were getting a little crowded around here and jumbled together. We changed the homepage left had menu a little so that you are able to find what you are looking for a little better.
The Weekly waypoint reports that a lot of people have their eyes out for can be found under the “Ice Waypoints“, Start Points for the visitor from our of town that needs pointed in the right direction for various locales around the lake is under “Start Points“. For the ambitious hole driller and the person that has knowledge of the lake “Sunken Farmsteads/Fringe Points” is probably what you are looking for.
Along with our Monday Weekly fishing report we also have available for you, our “Elite Weekly Report” that goes into more in-depth locations of where we know and have experienced current Perch, Crappie, and Walleye bites. We have don this all to make things a little less confusing and for you to be able to utilize your time better when you are on the site.
Good Luck out there…
HOLD ON TO YOUR ROD…
and
CATCH MORE FISH!!
