What follows might be one of the craziest things I’ve heard in a fishing boat in some time…. "I think the walleyes are hanging in the shade of that old chicken coop.”
But it all makes sense if you’re fishing Devils Lake in North Dakota where the lake continues to gain ground on the fields, roads and farm yards. On one hand it is a little hard to see all the hardship the rising water is causing. Everywhere you look you see fertile ground being reclaimed by the lake at a rate of thousands of acres each year. Machinery that used to till the soil is now partially submerged by the slow yet consistent rise in lake levels. The shoreline that was once 8 MILES from Minnewaukan is now within a stones throw of main street.
As is often the case in life, one must look for the positives on all situations and that silver lining comes in the form of the world class walleye fishery that has come to life as the shorelines of Devils Lake continue to march outward. And I got to experience this fishery in all its glory over the last two days while fishing with Jason Feldner of PerchEyes Guide Service.
The day prior to our arrival the winds bucked upwards of 50+ MPH and the heavy rains dropped water temps from where they had peaked in the mid-60’s earlier in the week down to a low of 57 degrees on Wednesday AM. Before the big blow Jason reported an incredible crankbait casting bite but when we met on wednesday morning one of his first statements was that were would likely need to adjust to a slower presentation, like pitching plastics, to compensate for the lower water clarity and decrease in temps caused by the high winds and cold rains.
I believe someone telling me “we’ll likely need to pitch jig and plastics” qualifies as music to my ears!
The plan was to start at 8 AM. Rods were rigged and plastics inventoried prior to launching the boat. Jason pointed out that because the water temps had dropped the best bite would take place later in the day… starting around 1 PM as the sun had a chance to replace some of those degrees lost earlier in the week.
And he couldn’t have been more right on with his assessment. The bite started slowly during those first couple hours of the day. One walleye here. 2 white bass, a small pike and another walleye there. As the day rolled on the size of the fish kept increasing and so did the frequency of the bites. By noon the jackets were put away in storage and the intensity of the sunshine sent each of us digging for sunscreen.
And what happened next was almost as if the fish had heard an inaudible dinner bell. Cast after cast… equalled fish after fish. Mostly walleyes mixed with a few HUGE whitebass and smaller pike. By this time the water temps had climbed back on the plus side of 60 degrees and the fish responded with a flurry of activity that lasted from 1 PM (yeah, Jason called that one) until we pulled the plug on the day around 7 PM. During that time we boated dozens of nice walleyes in the 17” – 24” range with all fish coming on white or chartreuse pepper plastics. The prototype BFT plastics I was fishing produced the biggest fish of the trip (photo #1) and Great White Paddletails also were a huge hit.
We spent most of our time fishing the west and north side of Devils Lake with a focus placed on fishing the wind blown shorelines. If you had wind blowing into a group of flooded trees or a cabbage edge, you’d have active fish working. When the wind did blow we held the boat in 6’ of water and put our baits right up in the skinny water. When the lake laid flat all we needed to do to stay on fish was to pull out a little deeper holding the boat in 8’ – 10’ of water and working the same areas that had been hit with wind earlier in the day. Jig color didn’t matter but the color of the plastics sure did. We joked with Jason after fishing with him for half of the day that we noticed he had 4 favorite plastics colors… and three of them were white! I did also catch fish on chartreuse pepper with that color working very well in areas that had reduced water clarity from the hard blow the previous day.
For those heading out this week… if the weather cooperates you’re in for a treat. The walleyes are on the weed edges and up in the flooded timber and really on the feed. Jason gave us two tips regarding finding fish on Devils that we put into practice during our brief stay that never let us down. First, fish the wind. Second, watch your water temp gauge. Even a few degrees of increase in water temps will concentrate active fish. Find a combination of the two and you’re in for some fast action.
We stayed in Minnewaukan during this trip and found JJ’s Bait Shop to be a great bait shop stocked with all the necessities and Jerry was always willing to bend your ear with the latest fishing information. If you’re planning a trip to Devils I wouldn’t hesitate to give them a call for the latest Devils Lake information.
Ph.701-473-5440
Email: [email protected]
NICE FISH! and great new technology!
Nice report James, Sounds like Fun!
Sounds like a blast…. Won’t be long and Devils Lake will take over all of North Dakota. Can’t wait for the new plastics!
Layne Monroe
Super report!
Great report
Great Report James, we went to Pool 4 today and used draggin’ jigs the whole day and caught 70 walleyes and 15 keepers in 5-10 fow.
Great report James. Sounds like so great fishing. Did they hit those plastics as hard up there as they do on the river. What is up with white this year? I have about 2 more trips to go on the river and Ill be restocking those white paddle tails again.
They absolutely crunched them! Devils is one of my top 5 bodies of water to fish after this last trip. Lots of super fat fish that stay shallow all year. And the dominant presentations for big fish are casting plastics and cranks. Sounds like something a river guy could get into, eh?!
You fishing up in the river or down in Pepin? I know Dustin Stewart has been reporting a great dragging bite this year too. Lots of big fish. So many places to fish, so little time.
We fished the river and caught a lot of those 14 inchers but those will be good fish next year and we tried a couple different spots but we only caught fish consistantly in the one spot all day.
Awesome report James! I’m headed there the week after next. Last year was my first trip there and will continue to be a yearly thing. Devils Lake is in my top 3 favorite destinations.
Thanks for the update James, leaving early tomorrow, will be on the water late in the day and evening. I will update this post when I get back for all that are going in the next couple weeks. I get back next Sunday.
Looks like a Hoot James!
When’s the new plastics going to hit the store shelves?
Late summer – early fall.
Just in time for the Rainy Lake Houseboat GTG
Great report James and excellent advice in regard to paying attention to wind and water temps!
You must have felt right at home pitching plastics James. You spent many a day on Pool 4 working over the walleye with your pitching skills. We sure miss ya down this way buddy but the boy and I try to stick a walleye once in a while just to keep them on their toes
Well its great to be “home”! Bite was a bit slow the couple hours we got out this evening but we were checking out some new areas since we only had a couple hours to fish. All fish came on slip bobbers and leeches after we had worked through good looking spots casting with no action. Fish seemed a bit off. Tomorrow we are heading to my proven fish and big fish spots for this time of the year. The weather is looking good for tomorrow, hopefully I will have a good report for everyone.
I’m looking forward to you report, Scott.
James,
What is the crappie population like in Devils lake?
Funny you bring it up as we had quite the conversation about crappies while fishing walleyes. Jason mentioned that the ND DNR reports a large population and the fish are huge but they’re very difficult to pin down and catch due to the overwhelming presence of freshwater shrimp.
Great report! That tail has me drooling already! It has a spot or two on Pool 2 screaming for it now!!
To give you an idea of why the crappies and the jumbo perch can be very difficult to catch in numbers out there now here’s some screen shots from a MarCum 825c. This is a 3 shot series of photos turning the camera head left to right about 30 degrees. Basically every log, rock, weed or hard object is covered in 1/2” – 3/4” long shrimp.
But when you do catch a crappie or perch, they’re gigantic.
I hear ya’. Bob has had me working with a very limited number of hand pour samples for the last year and they’re more valuable than hen’s teeth right now. as I’ve chewed through all but the last few in each available color. My understanding is the molds will be done in a couple weeks then I get to do final testing. Once that is done… we’ll all have some cool new toys to put to use.
Well by Devils Lake standards I would classify todays action as fair. By many other places it was a good day. If I was in a tournament today we would have been up in the top twenty by past experience so I guess I would qualify that as pretty good. We found the fish to be a bit slow this morning but as James said as the day went along the bite got better. I have had great luck in the past bobber fishing in the mornings and working casting spots in the afternoon. The casting spots did not dissappoint but my usual big fish bobber spots did not click today.
Bobbers only accounted for a couple small fish this morning after a bunch of jumping around. Once we started casting cranks and hitting a milk run of spots we started to see a bunch of fish and also hook into a fair amount. We had more follows than catches today but the quality of fish seen and caught were pretty good.
Our biggest fish went 25″ today with a handfull of others that were over 20″ and we had a great meal of under fish tonight for supper so I guess I can’t complain!
I expected our morning bobber bite to be better but my favorite way to fish walleyes is casting cranks and that was a lot of fun this afternoon. There is nothing like seeing +20″ walleyes chasing a crankbait to the boat like a musky and hammering in as you are about to pull it out of the water!
High surface temp today was 67 degrees. Shallow running #7 shapraps took the best fish today with hot steel being the best color. In deeper casting areas that dropped to about 8′, shadrap RS’s in natural colors seemed to work best.
Plastics casted back to following fish areas did not work to well today only accounting for a few northern pike.
All in all, not a bad day but look forward to a better day tomorrow. Should be a good morning with storms possible in the afternoon. Good luck to all coming up this week and next!
Thanks for the update, Scott. I hope the storms miss you out there.
That view of the underwater shrimp is UNREAL!! There is little doubt those slabs are going to be HUGE!! My guess would be some of the biggest ANYWHERE!! Freshwater shrimp in mass flat out equals big panfish. Now catching them….Yep I bet it is a bit difficult. The immense size of that fishery is mind blowing. My guess the utilization of a fishing guide is crucial to get an angler on the right pattern. Lots of Barns to knock lower units off too I’m sure!!
I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for ND fisheries. My dads family is from the Far NW of North Dakota. Cool Piece Boys!! I’ve got to believe
the perch pattern is lethal for monster pike and walleyes considering the forage base. James….Do you think the eyes will gulp up the Freshwater shrimp as well??
Absolutely they do. We kept 7 walleyes for dinner while fishing with Jason and the livewell was littered with the outer shell from the shrimp that the walleyes “burped” up. These freshwater shrimp are a food source for everything that swims in Devils.
Nice Report! I have had the pleasure of Fishing with “Uncle Feldner” on more than one occasion and on different bodies of water. I would highly recommend to anyone if you need a guide on DL to give him a call!!!!
He works hard and he’s a hoot to fish with. I couldn’t agree more.