To say it was an abbreviated Chamber Tourney would be putting it mildly. A six o’clock launch and 1 p.m. weigh in time Friday and no go’s on Saturday and Sunday made for a kind of anti climactic 2016 edition of the Devils Lake Chamber Walleye Fishing Tournament.
We had many friends in the field and a number of them were within’ striking distance of the title and were on big fish. For this reason I was kind of sad to hear that Saturday was cancelled, Sunday was a no brainer, no way you send boats out in that wind.
That brings us to the story of the year so far on Devils Lake, weather! So many different fronts have come through and so many of them have had the one thing that gives us “the Big Devil”, WIND. The bright side of things is that even with all of these fronts and winds, Devils Lake is still producing a lot of good fishing.
The Northern Pike bite has slowed, as it does every year at about this time. Don’t get me wrong, if you are a Pike enthusiast there are still plenty to be had, however, the 100+ Pike days will be little tougher to come by.
The Walleyes on the other hand are picking up if you can believe a Walleye bite can get better than what it was, because it was awesome, it is entering that Spectacular range. We are finding fish in 3-5 feet pitching cranks, 6-8 feet pitching cranks and pulling spinners with leeches, and now finding a lot of 14-16 inch eater size eyes in that 12 to 18 foot range.
I love this time on Devils Lake. The Leech is king right now, but starting to experience some bites on worms, and when that starts to happen, we start to encounter some schools of Perch along with the eyes. Truly entering the golden days of fishing on Devils Lake.
Buy the waypoints from this Report
SPECIFIC BAYS and LOCALES: Mike’s Lake, North end of Creel in 12 to 18 feet of water for lots of eaters, north end of 6 mile also for a lot of 14 to 16 inch eater Walleyes along the weed shelves and old shoreline shelves, Pelican’s Back Bays (of course), Howard’s Bay all over.
