Devils Lake trip

[lmt out]

  Have any of you guys ever been to Devils Lake North Dakota?  Wife and sister and I have a trip planned there this summer.  I have been doing a lot of research and it looks like it should be about the same pattern in July as we will have here.  Most of their  info says that 7 to 12 ft of water.  We r hoping to catch a few bigger fish.

[Walnofer]

If your going that far up should stop at  Pierre South Dakota for some great fishing. They have some great walleye there 

[Walleyedmike]

I've fished Devil's Lake five or six times. Awesome fishery. The walleye in my avatar is from there. When are you going and where are you staying? Heck, you'll practically drive by my house on your way up there, I should just hop in and guide you guys for free!

WM

[lmt out]

Going in July. Staying at Woodland  resort.   Any tips would definitely be appreciated.  Do u seem to catch a few larger ones there?

[Walleyedmike]

Devils Lake is a HUGE body of water compared to Stockton. It's been a couple of years since I've been there. The area around the lake is pretty wide open so the wind can really get the lake rocking and rolling at times, so be careful!. The latest trips I took, we fished Pelican Bay on the north west side of the lake a lot. There is a submerged railroad track on the north end of Pelican that is a great area to troll. It goes for miles and runs east and west. On the west side of Pelican is a submerged highway, believe it was Hwy 281, It's a good troll too, it runs north and south. They are both easy to find as you will see the weed lines along the shallow water, and if you have even basic maps on your graphs they should be on the maps. We caught most of our biggest fish casting the weed edges while also trolling bouncers. The rip rap on highway 19 on Pelican or on the main lake side are worth looking at too. Some guys from Omaha won a big tournament there casting Flicker Shads on the Main lake side of the Highway a few years ago. There is a huge flat north and west of the power lines on the main lake where we've trolled and caught decent fish. Howard's Bay and Haley's Hump on the main lake are worth trying (south of Graham's  Island). We've caught a lot of Pike in Six Mile bay with some walleye mixed in. On windy days, Graham's Island is your friend, can usually get out of the wind there and cast cranks or slip bobber in the trees. The possibilities there are endless, you can catch fish so many different ways. you'll have to filter through many, many small walleye to get some big one's, but the girls should have a blast catching huge numbers. Try crawlers and leeches on your harnesses to see what the fish want. There is no length limit on DL, so it's nearly impossible to go hungry! You'll catch a bunch of pike too. They are good eating but you need to cut out the Y-bones. Their is all kinds of videos that show how to do that, or you can bring some filets to Stockton and I'll show you how. The meat on the Northern's in DL is a weird shade of yellow from the alkaloids in the water. They taste fine, though. Try not to let the slime on the skin touch the meat, it taste's bad. Woodland has a good ramp on the main lake, but I don't think you can get under any of the bridges from there to get to Pelican. I think the ramp for Pelican is on Highway 19, but they can set you up with that info from your lodge. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the huge white bass up there! They are a handful! Also...for crank baits blue tiger flicker shads and hot steel rapala shad raps seemed to be the best producers for big fish.

WM 

[lmt out]

WM. Thanks for a lot of good info.  Will definitely be putting that to good use.  We r hoping to catch some Fish with some size. What do your larger fish usually run up there.

[eyeman]

If you want a fish for the wall it's hard to beat lake erie

[Walleyedmike]

10 hours ago, lmt out said:

WM. Thanks for a lot of good info.  Will definitely be putting that to good use.  We r hoping to catch some Fish with some size. What do your larger fish usually run up there.

Usually the big fish of the trip is in the 5-7 pound range. My best up there was around 7.5 caught on a blue tiger flicker shad in Howard's Bay casting weed edges. My next best was just over 7 south east side of Graham's Island casting in the trees, same crank. Put my buddy on a 7+ fish bouncing along the submerged railroad tracks in Pelican and I had a 5 pounder immediately after that 7, was a pretty nice double. You'll catch lots and lots of 12"-14" fish too. They get to be almost as much of a nuisance as the late summer small bass at Stockton. LOL! I'd loan you my lake map, but I already loaned it out last year and it hasn't returned yet!

Eyeman, Erie is on my bucket list!...and the Bay of Quinte, Fort Peck, Red River for the fall/winter walleye run (been there cat fishing in the summer), Oahe, Mille Lacs, and on, and on, and on. LOL! Heck, I've yet to fish walleye on Bull Shoals!

WM

[dan hufferd]

I think we should get together for a couple "search and destroy" walleye trips. Bullshoals would be a good one to do that on. We could learn a lot in one day if we could spread out to find productive areas. 

Devils lake is out of my budget, but good luck. Can't wait for the pic's  

[lmt out]

6 minutes ago, dan hufferd said:

I think we should get together for a couple "search and destroy" walleye trips. Bullshoals would be a good one to do that on. We could learn a lot in one day if we could spread out to find productive areas. 

Devils lake is out of my budget, but good luck. Can't wait for the pic's  

I've fished Bill Shoals a couple times. We may go in June sometime for a couple days.  We don't catch nearly as many as we do at Stockton. But catch a little better average. It kinda funny my best walleye 29.5 inches can from Tom Steed lake in Oklahoma. About 30 years ago when I was in the Army. Lol.