LOTW Bite?

My friend and I have been talking about a trip up there in February. It’s always been on my list.
But I’ve been hearing mixed reports about the bite this year. Just wondering if anyone here has good info/advice for us?
Also considering Devil’s Lake if LOTW is not worth the effort.
Thanks!

Any lake is going to have it’s ups and downs throughout a fishing season. The reality is the few reports anyone can find are so small compared to the thousands of people on these lakes every day. Most reports are bad reports because people like to complain if something is bad. It’s the same with everything, read google reviews for almost anything and you’ll probably get more negative then positive reviews. Plus if they give a positive, they might have people on “their” spot.
But if you’re looking for options, I’d also say Big Stone Lake in Western Minnesota could be a compromise instead of all the way to Devils. Big perch and if you’re in Minnesota you don’t have to buy another license, and it could save a big drive.

What Al said.
31lifer was up 2 weeks ago and it was the slowest he’s seen in years. Yesterday I was talking to a guy at HD who had some friends up last weekend and absolutely had a career day. 49 fish with 30 in the slot or over. I didn’t believe him until he showed the pics. I was amazed!!! fyi – they were out of Rocky.

I was up there last weekend, going out of Zippel Bay. We were out at 30 fow and did okay, 20-25 fish per day between 2 guys (2 weeks before it was 40 fish a day). We heard from a lot of guys in shallower that it was really slow and heard from guys going out of another resort that it was great. That lake is so big and there are so many people out there, I would guess every weekend you will get poor reports and good reports. you also have the guys that throw a rattle reel down and drink all day and the ones that work two lines hard all day. I have never been up there and not had a good time if that helps.

I have not been to Devils Lake, but that lake is supposed to be amazing, so you probably can’t go wrong there either.

I was at Arnesens Rocky Point two weeks ago and had a top 10 trip for fish quality & quantity; only two slot fish, but more than enough to keep a guy busy.

On a body of water that big there are always swings in fish behavior, but in general, I’ve had good success there in the 19 or so years I’ve been going up there.

My advice would be to play it by ear, the few bad trips I’ve had have been when the bottom fell out of the thermometer to -30 or a blizzard came in and shut down the roads. If you see some steady 2-3+ days of weather, should be a good trip in my experience.

One of my favorite lakes to fish in the winter is LOTW. Devils is a great lake for running and gunning, but the no night-bite combined with the constant moving during the day has me leaning towards LOTW. Both are great fisheries and the type of fishing is completely different between the two, in my mind. The night bite on LOTW is nothing spectacular either, but it’s kind of there. Travel can become an issue on Devils without a sled as the resort road systems are not as good and they tend to get quite a bit of snow.

Both have a shot at some serious trophy fish. First time on Devils we got multiple Perch in the 14″ range. The last 3 times on LOTW, I have gotten a 29-29 3/4″ Walleye also. Nothing over 30″ in the last probably 10 years, but it can happen pretty easily!

Thanks for all the good advice. I have always wanted to go to LOTW and that’s likely where we will go. Like any fishing it’s not always great, but that’s also part of the fun of it.