Devils Lake, ND
Feb 7,8&9 2008
It was a pleasant(?) 7 hour drive from Minneapolis to Devils Lake, ND on February 7th with Jerry, my fishing partner who has just returned from the 140 degree temps of the Persian Gulf. Now he was about to become reacquainted with winter and ice fishing ala Devils Lake.
We arrived at Woodland Resort around 1:00 pm, checked in, moved in and after getting some bait and local info, headed across Creel Bay and set up our portables in front of the golf course. Not much activity that afternoon as I caught a large White Bass and Jerry got (rarely) skunked.
After cleaning up we dined that evening at the Cove restaurant then went to the bait shop to see if there was any news of the day. The days catch reports had not been very good but we gathered a lot of info and made plans for the next day on the ice.
By first light, we were setup in about 18 feet in the trees off Military Point. Not much activity that morning either. Jerry caught a couple small non-keeper Walleye and I got skunked (more normal).
Our plans had been to fish Devils Lake in the morning then move to Lake Irvine to try for Northerns. So we packed up our gear and headed to Lake Irvine. We arrived on the lake around 11:00 am and punched 4 holes with the old 10 inch Eskimo auger. I was cleaning out the holes while Jerry got a line ready and before I finished with the last hole, Jerry was yelling “fish-on” and that was just the beginning.
We set two tip-ups with Fathead Minnows and jigged on two holes. The depth from the top of the ice to the bottom of the lake was around 6 feet, so with 2 feet of ice, there was only 4 feet of water to entice and battle the Pike. Jerry was using plastics while I was using a vertical jig tipped with a Fathead and we caught Pike after Pike after Pike.
We were only about 150 feet from the shore and as far as we could see in any direction, there wasn’t another angler on the lake. Except for the nearby highway, we could have been alone on the face of the earth. Alone that is, except for the Northerns.
We fished the same 4 holes for three hours and during that time caught and released around 25 Pike ranging from a cute little 1-1/2 pounder to 3 and up to 5 pounds. Only one tip-up flag went up and the rest of them were caught by jigging with even numbers caught on Fathead and plastic.
The sun was shining bright and the wind was almost non-existent as we stood over the holes working against the bent rods. The lulls in the action were short and when a Pike hit in one hole, there would soon be one hitting in the other. These guys were like traveling wolf packs, passing form one food source to the next.
At one point, I set my rod down on the ice and went back to the truck for something. While I was there, I heard the sound of a fishing rod skidding across the ice followed by a “ka-ploop”. I turned to look and my fishing rod was already gone. When I finished kicking myself in the butt, Jerry reminded me that the second fastest thing in the world is the fisherman reacting to the fishing rod going down the hole. The first fastest thing is the fishing rod disappearing down the hole.
So if anyone catches a Northern on Lake Irvine and it has a fishing rod attached to it, it might be mine. It’s a custom made Gary Wicks “WICKSTIX” (763-427-0631) 24” medium action rod with a Shakespeare rear drag reel attached. If you find it, just keep it and continue to put it to good use. I’ve already written it off as another one of those ‘don’t do that again stupid’ quality moves.
We got back to Devils Lake around 3:00 and set up our portables in the woods around Rocky Point. We fished until it was dark and only caught one Jumbo Perch and some more non-keeper Walleyes so we packed up our gear and headed back to Woodland Resort.
We went back to our room and cleaned up then went to the Cove for dinner. We feasted that evening on their Walleye dinner (since we didn’t have any of our own) and had a couple cold ones to finish off the evening. We wanted to get plenty of rest that night cause we were going to have to travel all the way back to Minneapolis through the blizzard (now that was a 9-hour trip from hell).
We would like to thank all of the fine people at Woodland Resort. They are a knowledgeable group of guys and gals who were always ready to help out. And special thanks to Jennifer our waitress in the Cove restaurant who doesn’t know much about fishing, but is pleasant to talk to and provided excellent table service (hope you got the camera Jen).
Until we do it again,
Fish to Live
Live to Fish