From Golden Hour To Basin Search

Walleye Golden Hour

When we originally target a new area to originate our search we are going to get out early, at least an hour before sunrise.  We will have done our homework and identified structure, usually a point or some humps, in this case both.  We will spend the first 2 hours of the day set up on the structure to target those early morning walleyes.  We aren’t going to drill a large amount of holes initially, instead relying on our homework and our Lowrance GPS with Legend Cartography chip.  We keep the wind at our backs and have our diamond formation in place to both actively jig in one hole and have minnows on plain hooks in 3 other holes under Ice Buster slip bobbers.  Depending on the weather, barometer, and solunar forecast; the Walleyes may be super active and hit the jig or they may be a little more docile and go for the alluring, struggling minnow. Either way, we have the presentation in their faces.

The Gold/Diamond Mine Search Begins

As we hit full daylight and the Walleye action wanes, we begin our search of the predetermined targeted area.  The real work is getting the hole sets drilled.  We ideally want to start off with 40-50 holes, 20 paces apart in lines of ten; each line of ten being spaced 30 paces apart.  This allows us to target a very large area, very quickly.  Some call it ice trolling.  This follows along the lines of a strategy made famous by Dave Genz with a little added twist here and there.

The weather is going to determine how many holes we drill right away.  In balmy temperatures we will go ahead and drill all 40-50 holes right away.  If it is really cold or really windy we will do 1-2 sets, or 10-20 holes at a time.  Extreme cold or extreme wind will just ice up the further out holes requiring us to re-drill and that just takes time.

Time is key in this endeavor!

Whether on foot, on UTV, or in the Dodge Ram Truck; we are going to use our Vexilar FL-28 and large JB Lures Gold Varmint to fish each hole quickly.  We are only going to fish each hole for 1-2 minutes.  Obviously, if we have lucked out and drill onto a Gold Mine we are going to stay on that hole, more often than not we are just initially identifying areas in our drill zone where we mark fish.  We will note those holes to come back to grind on later.

Targeted Holes

Once we have identified a few holes and a few areas where fish presence has been discovered, we begin to plan out our secondary hole sets.  These holes are going to be in localized areas around the original holes where we marked fish.

They are also closer together.  We are going to pound those spots where we know there are fish.  We may have only hit on the edge of the spindle with our initial holes so we want to make sure we aren’t missing the Gold Mine by 10 feet.

In most situations, by the time we have gone through a 50-hole, initial drill and carried it out through a few tennis court/basketball court sized secondary hole sets, we will have gotten into some Perch and/or Crappies.

You will notice we targeted the White Bass hole.  Often times on Devils Lake, the Perch and Crappies are mixed right in with some Whitey’s.  Some of our biggest Perch days have begun fending off the pesky White Bass only to have the docile Perch underneath the active White Bass click on and join in the feeding frenzy.

Good Luck Out There!

Hold On To Your Rod!!

And…

Turn Fishing Into Catching

With…

DevilsLakeFishingReport!!