A group of us usually do a Lake of the Woods trip every year around the first week of January (have gone through Ballards, Sportsmens, Wigwam). Thinking about switching it up and trying Devils this year instead. I know Woodland resort has a similar setup to LOTW with day houses and the like (they have morning/evening houses for walleyes and day houses for perch). Do you think this would be a good alternative for a group of around 6 guys? Thoughts?
I do. LOTW has been getting pounded on that end of the lake relentlessly. I’d go to Devils just for a different experience. You can always go back to Lotw the following year.
I’d go to Devils for a change of pace. LOTW is getting beat to hell. Caught more 12-13″ fish the past two years than I care to count.
I’d suggest Devils. I did the annual LOTW trip for about 6 or 7 years and switched to Devils a few years back. Same basic set up out of Woodlands as the resorts I used out of LOTW. I can’t claim a lot better success, but last couple years I had the bad luck of fishing during coldest days of the year, so that didn’t help. All this being said, you’ll always have better success if you’re mobile on Devils. Though I haven’t done it, a lot of guys swear by Perch Patrol/guides to get them on top of fish.
I’d recommend Devils Lake too. The last few trips to LOTW we got mostly very small fish. I’ve been to Devils lake 3 times now. First time we planned to be mobile. Sounded like a good plan until the weather dropped the night we got there to -15 and wind was blowing 40 mph. It was too much for our portables. We were able to get permanent shacks from Woodlands. We didn’t catch much but we could fish. Had to do the same thing the second day. The 3rd day we could finally get mobile and fish our portables. We did much better. You can use 4 lines. You can catch nice pike almost anywhere on the lake. My buddy caught 3 jumbo perch that I would have mounted all of them had I caught them.
The last time I went out there was 2 years ago. We went through Perch Eyes Guide service. They get mobile and can go all over the lake. The weather was horrible. Can you say blizzard? The first day we had a bad guide. He had a new/used POS suburban with tracks on its maiden voyage (like 280K miles on it). What could possibly go wrong? Oil light came on 1 mile into the morning. We got to shack and it was slow. He didn’t want to move. He only drilled us 3 holes all the way through the ice. Problem was we had 4 guys fishing. Needless to say, we got a different guide the second day. Weather was still horrible but at least he tried getting us on fish. We got some perch but not what we hoped for. I don’t think you could have fished out of portables this trip either. I would recommend Perch Eyes. They have houses on shore to stay in and will try and find you fish. I have other buddies that have always had good luck going through them. We just had 1 bad guide.
Wasn’t all that impressed with Woodland’s day house operation when we were up there Feb ’20. All of their houses were limited to Creel Bay and Creel gets a ton of pressure. I wasn’t a fan of reeling in dozens of 6″ perch and 9″ walleyes out of 40′ of water throughout the day either. To me, Devils is best fished either fully guided/tag along, or DIY with portables, a lake map, and a livescope setup.
To be fair, everything else about woodland was as advertised. Helpful baitshop staff, the guides were out trying to find fish; clean rooms, good food in the bar, fun atmosphere.
Give Jason Feldner a call at Percheyes Guide Service. Fully guided and worth every penny. Lodging is great as well. They will work as hard as you want to stay on active quality fish and keep you on the move
The NW Angle on Lake of the Woods would be a good option as well.
After years of March trips to LOW a buddy and I went to Devils Lake the last week of February 2020, right before everything shut down. We stayed at Woodland, went with Perch Patrol in portables. We fished walleyes in the morning on Pelican Lake and pounded 17-22 inch fish. We fished perch on the main basin of Devils in the afternoons. Perch were spotty but had one great afternoon when a school of big perch (10-14 inch) camped under us. It was a ball.
Woodland has good facilities, Perch Patrol treated us well. I recommend the trip.
I hear good things about A. McQoid outdoors for guiding summer and winter on Devils. Has lodging/fishing packages also.
I’ve been having that debate with my fishing buddies as well. We’ve decided to go to devils this year. Right after new year. Thinking Woodlands due to plowed roads, I’ll be bringing the castle so hopefully we can get on a good spot for walleyes and wander for perch during the day. Any other resorts on devils cater to wheel houses that should be considered?
Speaking of which Devils Lake a group of us was thinking about going but heard the snow can get too deep in the later season.
We would be bringing our own 17′ shack.
So, is anytime after February normally too deep?
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