After many months of waiting for my first Devils Lake trip,we finally arrived on Wenesday morning the 12 at 4:00 a.m.We checked into our lodge at Rush Valley,which was a great place to stay.After everything was put away we hit Ed’s bait shop to get the fishing part started.
It is hard to believe how big this lake is until you see it.There is so much water it is very hard to pick where to start.We picked a area of 18-22′ on the outside of some trees on the North side of the lake.It wasn’t long and Brian M had a few eyes on the ice.We were using jigging spoons tipped with minnow heads to get our fish.Cole(Kid Hale)got his first walleye through the ice and was very happy.It was a blast to see how excited he was to finally get a eye on the ice.
The bite was average for us during Wenesday.This was the only day we had to actually fish with any real effort.A huge cold front hit us Wenesday afternoon and we were left scrambling to get off the ice.We did end up with 15 eyes and 5 nice perch for a great meal cooked by our camp cook,thanks Brian M!.It was blizzard like conditions on the ice and we could not even get out on the ice Thursday.Here is me with my first Devils Lake perch.
We had a guide trip lined up for Friday morning but there were still -50 below wind chills.The guide had a permanent shack set up in 28′ of water that we could fish from.His first pull from his Jiffy did nothing as it would not recoil back to pull again.Brain M and the guide worked on the auger and got it going.The next problem we had was we couldn’t get the propane to burn for us in 2 heaters.After some cold fingers the propane fianlly burned and we got warmed up and started to fish.It was very slow,Brian iced one eye and lost another good fish.We cut the trip short as there was nothing going for us.
Although it was cold we all had a fun trip.It was great to see some old friends and meet some new ones.
Sorry the report is a little short but we couldn’t get alot of fishing in with the cold temps.
We did manage to see the Devils Lake high school hockey team play Bismark.Those kids had alot of talent.
Ryan Hale
One good thing Ryan a least when you come home 10 below probaly feels warm. Good report I hope to make that trip someday
The trip and company were great but ma nature decided to throw a bit of cold at us. The fishing could have been better. It was so cold the windows in my XL twin split from top to bottom. It was a learning experience to say the least.(hard to fish when it’s -50)
sounds like ya’ll had a good time.to bad the weather was bad.
Ryan, thanks for the post. Too bad we cannot control the weather. Remember that sometimes the fishing isn’t great, but the fishing trip is always good.
Hope Cole had a great time, that trip probably made his excited about another fishing trip! Is Cole going to give us his report on the trip?
The next fishing trip will be better!
The trip at Devils Lake was fun but the bad thing was the weather. We arrived there on wednesday and that was the best day as fishing goes. Right after we got there we started fishing. That was the day I caught my first eye through the ice. It was fun fighting the eye. It was about twelve and a half inches long.I had fun with eveybody there they were all very cool and very nice guys. Panfish is very naughty though
. I also saw my first hockey game also it was fun and exciting.
This is my first big fishing trip and I hope to take many more with my dad and his friends.
Cole Hale
Nice report Ryan.
Too bad the timing was off with the nasty front coming through. Sounds like you guys got a taste of what the bite can be like!
Thanks for the update Ryan.
I had an excellent time as well, even though the bite was off, and so was my luck. Counting the days for next year, Todd sugested maybe waiting til the end of February?
I am still jealous……
goody
That was a fun trip. All the guys were great. And Cole is pretty cool to hang with too.