Devils Lake Ice Fishing

[H82bogey]

A friend and me are wanting to plan a drip to DL. I haven't fished the lake in years and he has never been. We are looking to go for a weekend in Feb.

I'm not looking for anybody's honey hole, but could anyone with some experience on this lake offer some insight on a general area to fish and a good spot to access the lake with a truck? We will be targeting perch and/or walleye.

 

[SDMF]

A friend and me are wanting to plan a drip to DL. I haven't fished the lake in years and he has never been. We are looking to go for a weekend in Feb.

I'm not looking for anybody's honey hole, but could anyone with some experience on this lake offer some insight on a general area to fish and a good spot to access the lake with a truck? We will be targeting perch and/or walleye.

The difficult part to know 2-6 wks from now is where you'll be able to drive a pickup on the ice. Woodland resort plows a road and charges for access. I'd also call EastBay, WestBay, the casino, and Ackerman's to see if they plow access roads as well. At a minimum, that will gain you access to a good share of the lake.

If there's little or no snow, you can easily change your plan.

 

[3Roosters]

I will answer the easy question. As far as lake access, unless we get a pile of snow, you are pretty much able to get on the lake at any of the boat landings.

 

[deleted member]

rooster is right on regarding access. what you looking to catch?

 

[H82bogey]

rooster is right on regarding access. what you looking to catch?

Will be targeting walleye/perch.

 

[Lungdeflator]

We will be on Mission Bay and Casino area Feb 3-4. Will have a full report when we get back.

 

[deleted member]

perch are a difficult thing to master on this lake. you might get lucky and stumble across a school that will bite. but, generally its really hit and miss. even guides and people who do it EVERY day can't consistently stay on them. having said that, the more guys you have punching holes, the better your odds. walleye are a different story. they can be had morning and evenings most places. where you staying? is there are particular area you want to concentrate on? willing to travel 30 minutes each morning, etc.... ?

 

[H82bogey]

perch are a difficult thing to master on this lake. you might get lucky and stumble across a school that will bite. but, generally its really hit and miss. even guides and people who do it EVERY day can't consistently stay on them. having said that, the more guys you have punching holes, the better your odds. walleye are a different story. they can be had morning and evenings most places. where you staying? is there are particular area you want to concentrate on? willing to travel 30 minutes each morning, etc.... ?

We haven't got anything set in stone yet. Probably just staying at a hotel in DL. Pretty much willing to do whatever we need. Him and I are planning to fish early morning on a Saturday til after dark, and fish a bit sunday before driving back to the Bis.

 

[FishSticks]

If you are going to spend only a weekend there make the most of it and budget a few bucks to hire a guide or buy a way point from Ice Fishing Devils Lake (on Facebook). I fish that lake a few weeks every year and the fishing can change dramatically over short periods of time.

My house is on Devils right now and this weekend we are going to use my buddy's Panoptix to try to locate roaming perch...If we can't get into them we will probably buy a way point the following weekend.

Good luck!

 

[rodcontrol]

Heading there this weekend. Can anyone point me in a general direction for perch? Water depth?

 

[deleted member]

i would go up north and concentrate on eyes and pike. much better odds of success and more meat in the freezer. i live here and i've nearly given up on perch.

 

[shorthairsrus]

what should a guy use for lure ---- gold color - but type?

 

[SDMF]

what should a guy use for lure ---- gold color - but type?

Dirty Mike's Hooker Earrings.

 

[Holmsvc]

buy a way point from Ice Fishing Devils Lake (on Facebook).

Has anyone on this site done this? I wonder when he puts up a good perch picture how many people buy the point and are there the next morning. If a person is coming in with no idea where to start and doesn't want to use a guide I would think this would be a really good idea to at least get a starting point.

 

[Jigaman]

Has anyone on this site done this? I wonder when he puts up a good perch picture how many people buy the point and are there the next morning. If a person is coming in with no idea where to start and doesn't want to use a guide I would think this would be a really good idea to at least get a starting point.

Not sure but my guess is that his main customers are from MN and WI.

 

[FishSticks]

I know a few guys that have bought from him and said they caught fish...from ND

Not sure but my guess is that his main customers are from MN and WI.

 

[Lungdeflator]

Any reports from the weekend? How thick is the ice, extensions needed yet?

 

[deleted member]

ice good. no extensions needed.

 

[Buuur]

i'm heading up first time this weekend with my old man this weekend we are gonna try east bay I think any other information you guys would tell me i thank you in advance it's gonna be COOOLD

 

[Lungdeflator]

If you think this weekend is going to be cold, you should be very happy you were not there last weekend.

We had a terrible trip, maybe the worst ice trip I've ever had. First things first, we did not catch a fish. Not proud of that.

We went on at the Black Tiger bay access. Lake travel is pretty easy, some hard drifts so drive slower if you like your truck. Ice is plenty thick in the spots we tried. We got on at around 5pm Friday, picked a spot to put the house right across the bay from the access, a long narrow point extending out into the lake. Setup in 23fow and threw some tip ups out right away while settting up the house. No fish.
Saturday morning we wanted to try some spots on Mission. Wound up getting stuck in the access to Mission for about an hr before somebody pulled us out (huge thanks to those guys). After that we just went back to Black Tiger Bay and took the wheeler over to a deeper hole. Fished for 1.5hrs and only marked 2 fish. Went to move to a new spot and the ES on the ATV wouldn't work. Had to warm it up before it worked. After that we tucked our tails and went back to the skid house for the evening walleye bite. Marked 3-4 fish but no bites. As soon as the sun went down our propane tanks started to not be able to keep up and regulators were freezing. Swapped regulators and tanks at 10pm right before going to bed. 2am had to switch regs and tanks again, house was cool but not freezing.
Sunday morning we woke up at 730am and it was -43 outside with wind chill. Decided just to pack it up as soon as the sun came out. Luckily trucks started and ATV started after a couple trys.
Seemed that we just couldn't catch a break and chose a bad weekend to get out and try a new spot. A few other guys we talked to said it was really slow for them as well.