Devils Lake Trip

[BowHunter1527]

Hey guys just got back from fishing DL last week. I met a buddy from Idaho and we fished Mon-Fri. We had variable weather with temps ranging from below 0 all the way up into the higher 20s. Wind was almost constantly blowing and the pressure was higher in the early week dropping towards the end. There does seem to be some big pressure cracks which did hinder on us hitting a few spots we really wanted to try, most spots you can get  to though. We found 20+ inches of ice everywhere we went. Now on to the fishing.

1st day we hit different spots on the N end of 6 mile. We marked a decent amount of fish and found a few eyes in the morning but overall we found the fish to be very finicky. That night we moved to the west end of Grams Island where the big group was and caught a few nice perch among the walleyes.

2nd day we headed over to Stump lake, which is around 45 min E of the main lake. We were able to get 15 keeper perch and had a steady bite throughout the day. Perch ranged in size from the football size DL perch we were after all the way till the little dinky ones we through back. That night we did headed back to Grams and got back into some eye.

3rd day was the day we tried to get to a spot down in Doc Hagons and ended up not being able to get to it because of the pressure crack. So we decided to run back to Grams and boy did it pay off. It was one of those DL mornings you come for. We caught some perch that were over 1.25lbs and could not keep the eyes off. We moved to there around 9 and by 12 had a nice limit and some great perch. That night we headed back over to Stump and found a few nice eyes (which we threw back) and a couple of perch.

4th and last day we hit up Grams once again and found the fishing had slowed, (lots of guys in the area with the weekend coming). Still managed to get into some nice eyes and threw some back. Had to go in around noon to look at a sled so we packed up then. We had intentions of heading back out but got word of freezing rain was coming in. So we both decided it was time to get packed up and head out.

The fishing overall was on the slow side but did manage some nice fish and had a great time. Now I would like to shared some of the things that really made the trip worth it. For starters we stayed at Lake View Lodge which was great. The room was clean and big enough to sleep 6 guys with plenty of room for everyone (there was just 2 of us though). Rooms have a nice living area and come with a full kitchen and 2 bathrooms. I mentioned 2 of us because we were supposed to have 4-6 guys but had a some cancellations right at the last minute. LV was great about it, they said thats fine and adjusted our rate based on 2 guys. Again the place it great and also features a nice heated cleaning station and a place to get tackle, bait and munchies for the day. Im sure there is some other nice places to stay in DL but this place has it all with the room and great staff. Here is a link:http://lakeviewlodgedl.com/home.html

Next I want to give props to the guide we used. Last year we just started to get into ice fishing and used John Adams. He took us out supplied all the gear and drilled the holes for us. He then showed us how to use the Vexilars and what bait to use. He uses top of the line equipment and would help up in any way he could. Even fed us a hot lunch which was very good. The thing I liked the most is John dropped us off and stayed out fishing finding us new places to fish. I believe he moved us 4 times that day keeping us on the fish.  Now that trip last year really got us hooked into a sport I had gotten out of a long time ago. This year we also had booked John for the 1st day even know we had our own stuff now. This to me is a must because DL is a very big unforgiving body of water during the ice fishing season. It pays to know the where the fish have been biting and whats working when you drive over a 1000 miles and have limited days to fish. John met us the 1st morning with a big smile on his face and took us all over 6 mile looking for the fish. Again we moved 4 times to try and get some. Towards the evening he made the decision to head to Grams where we would do our best fishing. John helped us out throughout the week and always tried to make sure we were in the loop, to me this is a guy who puts his clients before anything. I have used him now a few times and will say his customer service is top notch and we always have a good time, even if the fishing is slow. Another thing we like about John is he is a guy that we would like to just go fishing with. What I mean is he is not like other guides ive used, he is down to earth and is always trying to make sure everyone has the best time they can. Here is a link to his website. http://www.fishingguidedevilslake.com/ice_fishing.html

Again we did not get into the fish as much as we would have liked but we tried moving and everything we had at them. Looking at reports and talking with other guys at the cleaning station it was a slow week. It actually sounds like the whole season has been on the slow side as well.  Again we had a blast and if anyone wants any other info please pm me.

[Cotacatchers]

Sounds like you had a great guide , wish I could the same about PP.  Went up three weeks ago
We had a Grwat time at Woodland resort awesome place but will not ever use same guide service .
Will be looking at your guy when we go back.

Thanks.  Great read.  Be safe. 

[Whopper Stopper]

Very nice write up BowHunter1527!

Thanks for taking the time

           WS

[Bucket Brigade]

Just drove by an hour ago and there is still ice!!! I wanna drill and fish SO BAD!

[Chris338378]

BowHunter1527, thanks for posting the info about your guides. 

[happyheber]

hey BowHunter1527 where is Grams 

[Eyes R Bitin]

Probably referring to Graham's Island.  Access at Grahams Island State park about 10 miles west of DL on Hwy 19 then south.  Can't miss it.

[happyheber]

I thought he was talking about the guide was taking them on dl ?

[Eyes R Bitin]

The guides name is John Adams.  Check the link in the OP. 

[BowHunter1527]

Sorry this is my first time logging on to this website for this season. (Not much ice here in MI yet) Yes I was referring to Grams Island but that was last season Im willing to bet the best fishing is going on some place else this yr. I could be wrong but the fish in this lake seem to change up alot. Ill be heading there in a couple of weeks for my no annual trip to the lake. Wish I still live close to fish it regularly. Also my guide was John Adams and I look forward to fishing with him once again this yr. The guy truly is top notch.

[BowHunter1527]

Devils Lake Trip Jan 2016.

Well just got back late last night from the lake. Its amazing how the lake has change in the last 4 years. Some years its been way up and a year like this one its down. We could even see one of the old sunken rds sticking up that we hit with a boat a few years ago. I was told the lake is down 3-4 ft this year with water being let out. There is a little bit more snow and a ton more slush this year compared to last. We got stuck once, which was pretty good bc we did lent out our tow rope and pulled people out multiple times. Being in the U.P. ive got good tires for the snow though. Now for the slush, you will find it on  some parts of the lake. Pockets you didn't know were there until you were right in middle of them. At one time we found ourselves surrounded on 3 sides by it and some shady looking ice with it as well. BUT for the most part there is plenty of good fish-able ice. We found there to be anywhere from 10-20in of solid ice. I would not hesitate to take my truck on JUST about anywhere bc of ice conditions. No ice is ever safe right? Now onto the fishing.

Day 1---Weather was in the teens with a slight wind. Pressure was up above 30. We were told to try East Devils and so we did. Well we got there to see a few shacks and trucks so we gave it a good try. Apparently we weren't the only ones given the same tip bc in about an hr the crowd had doubled. Im not really sure why though bc we only managed to pick up 3 fish. So around noon we decided to try out another spot across E Lake. We marked a bunch of fish but only managed to pick up a couple more. They would come up to it then swim back down. This would go on for hours. We tried many different set ups and styles of jigging.  Well by this time it was getting late so we stayed and fished until dark. Nothing, it was pretty discouraging and not the best way to start the trip. I will say though  in the last 4 years we've come to  learn the most famous DL saying: "Should have been here yesterday/last weekend/last week."

Day 2---Weather was nice, in the high teens low 20s with little to no wind for most of the day. Pressure still up over 30. We decided to take the morning and look for some eyes in the spot we did so well in last year. We didn't get out till after 8 and found that last years spot was only about 8ft deep now. Didn't mark a thing and bounced around a bit. Only one other truck out on the ice in that area. We talked a bit with him and he said the same. Told us to try a spot to the south for perch. Well we pulled it up on the Lowrance and choose a spot between 20-25ft that looked good. So went over and started our search. After about 20+ holes we were marking fish. We picked up a few and then the school was gone. We proceeded to head another 20 yards S from the last hole with fish and sure enough marked fish again. We eventually moved down far enough to get just ahead of them and put out 8 pulls. (The weather was nice enough to run and gun from the truck).  Once they came through again we did pretty good. Through back some small ones but ended up with 13 nice perch for the early-late afternoon. We also had 3 over 13in 1.4kbs and one over 14 which went over 1.5lbs.  We were happy with that and has it got later we decided to head to a new spot across that part of the lake. Well the spot looked great on the map but this is where we found the 3 sides of slush, needless to say we didnt stay long. But this made us really late for setting up in the other spot  where we had caught the eyes in the past. We picked up 2 smaller ones and missed a couple that night.

Day 3---Weather was warm upper 20s-mid 30s by the afternoon. Pressure had dropped. This would have been great except for that famous ND wind. 25mph with 40+mph gust. My tent took a beating on this day, but it was worth it. On this day we called a buddy who fishes the lake a good amount and were told about a different kind of secret lake. It was a good drive to this lake and again it was worth it. We got set up and it took about 10 mins but we started to slam the perch. Size was anywhere from 8in-14 with a 10 11 average, so good eaters. (We pulled 1-13 and 1-14 out of this lake). At around 2 we were pretty close to our limit and through plenty back. We wanted to make the run for some eyes again and headed back to the area we were in the day before. Again marked a few but only  picked up 2-3 smaller ones.

Day 4---Weather was nice, upper 20s with little to no wind. Pressure had dropped and we got to see a nice sun rise till it hit the clouds. Since we hadnt had very good luck with the eyes and did well the day before on perch we decided to try the eye spot in the morn. We were on the lake and set up by 7. This move to go back and be there early paid off. By 8 we had 4 nice eyes in the bucket and marked fish up until after 10. Ended the morning with 8 nice eyes and lost a 25+ at the hole.  . We had to run in and throw the dinner in the crock pot. (pulled pork) So we cleaned the fish as well and got word from some of the guys at the lodge E Lake was going again. So we headed down that way and we knew the fish had to be biting bc everyone and there brother were there. Crowd was pretty big and were not really into fishing that way. We figured if the fish were biting there than they should be everywhere else in the lake. So we hit up the Lowrance again and found a nice little pt about a mile from the crowd. We started in about 40ft+ of water and worked our way into about 25-30ft. This is where we started marking the fish. Once we found the mark we drilled in an X and would find the next hole that had fish and went on from there. Found a good pattern to the way the fish were moving and set up. Drilled 40-50 holes again but this time much tighter area than before. Again put out all 8 of our rods and just waited. We did this until dark and ended up not doing that bad, caught 20+ fish and kept 14 nice ones with 1 eye.   It doesn't sound all that great but we didn't get there until after 2, plus  again found 1 more fish that was 1.5lbs on the scale as well. That night at the station everyone staying had done well. Most were part of that big crowd and were able to pick up their limits of perch. Not many eyes the whole week were taken by the groups staying were we did though.

Now the logistics of this trip. We stayed at Lake View Lodge again. This was our 4th time staying and we will be there many more. Place is great with great people. The cleaning station right outside is so nice to have. We chose to get back drink a few beers and eat dinner before we cleaned fish. It gave the other groups time to get out. They have bait and some tackle there as well.  http://lakeviewlodgedl.com/home.html

This year we did not hire John to guide for us. He was booked for this time and we felt it was time to go off on our own a little more.  He did however give us some recommendations and let us know how his groups were doing. They had a couple of rough days as well but managed to get his guys on some limits of both perch and eyes during this time. (It pays to hire a guy that knows what hes doing.) Without hiring John in the past these trips wouldn't be impossible but I feel our success would have been way limited. He is a top notch guide and a great guy. I would recommend him to anyone looking to come fish this lake. Heres his link again: http://www.fishingguidedevilslake.com/ice_fishing.html

This year I have to give one last shout out to another guy who helped us. It seems with all the holes I we was drilling I wore my clutch spring out.  It was later in the evening and I got word that on the rd to Lake View a guy runs a small engine shop. This guy took my auger looked at it right away. I had done some research on what it was doing and thought it was the clutch spring, well I turned out to be right. In 10 mins he had it tore apart and the old spring out. We had just 1 issue though he had just used the last one he had the other day but he did let us know that it would not hurt the auger to use it. We were pumped about this bc we still had it for the last day. He put it back together and away we went. The guy was very nice and like I said got on it right away. It doesn't seem like there is a lot of pple/shops in the area that works on this stuff, (we tried the shop in town but there guy was gone on vaca), so I thought it was a useful bit of info. Plus hes on the rd to the lodge, open after 5-8, so it worked out great. Heres the link I believe to his info:http://www.yellowpages.com/devils-lake-nd/mip/sharbono-repair-llp-1489572?lid=1489572

We used the Buck shot for most of our jigging. We also tried plastics this yr, the impulse and clams as well. We did not manage alot of fish on either of these set ups. Which was strange bc the BShot is our go to for fish here. Not this yr, most fish came off a dead stick tipped with a T jig or some little glow jigs I had with a full minnow. We think this also helped with more eyes, the day we got into them every fish but 1 was on the dead-stick.   

Well I  hope this helps all of the guys that were looking for some info on DL or just a good read. (hope not to long or boring.) If anyone has questions that I can answer I would be happy to try. Were already looking forward to next years trip, something about this lake just kind of sucks you in.  Good luck.

[happyheber]

thanks for sharing 

[Bryan in iowa]

Great report ! We are headed up Monday for a week . Going with guide and lodging out of Minniwaukon. Two days guided and on our own rest of week .  spending couple days on Stump lake , Maybe day on Irvine .

[mdrobny]

thanks to those very detailed reports. the links and guide info will definiatly be a good starting place when I finally pull the trigger on a trip there. THANKS AGAIN for taking the time to share

[rippinlips0414]

Great read BowHunter1527. We'll be heading up there the weekend of the 25th-28th for our second annual trip. Like you said in your post there's just something about this lake that just sucks you in Sure hoping the bite keeps up as much as it has in the last few weeks.

[Bryan in iowa]

We fished our butts off last week . Tough bite! Went with McQuoids for guide and lodging . House we stayed at was outstanding .  dave was our guide . He did his best to put us on fish but it was tough. Talked to him monday when we checked in . He mentioned it being slow. I told him I had no problem going to Lake Irvine and catching Northerns. His face kinda lite up and said he be happy to try there . We wondered over to "Gils "  bar  for some food .  New owner , trying to work out the bugs. Overcooked burger , gave it a shot .  Dave picked up up at 6:30 am .  He had a few spots marked to try . Irvine is pretty much a big slough that has flooded . Four to sixteen ft at max.  We were into the northerns right off the bat, which is the norm for there. All about the same size ,3-5 lbs , once in awhile a bigger 7 lber.  the thre of us had our limit , moved couple times , did catch 2 real nice walleye there. Headed back to Minnewaukon at 4pm . Dave cleaned the fish , we checked out the other guides haul, not any better than us .  Next day  we hit  over by Grams island. moved a lot , got 6-7 nice walleye, 20 or so perch . I hooked a pike that gave me a workout . Fought it for 15 min finally got it up the hole , went to gaf it and he broke off. THING WAS HUGE!  Dave kept scouting and would move us if he found something worthwhile.  He served us hot homemade soup for lunch . We fishing out of a DAK SHACK . They are really the cats ass. Light weight , fast set up and tear down .  Lodging ,guide, tax etc, for three of us was $487 a piece . Would have liked to caught more fish but not for lack of trying . Wed Night we decided to try the buffet at the Casino . It was a big letdown . Last year we ate at the Ranch supper club , lil spendy but good .  We hit Proz Caboose sports bar one night , damn good pizza .  Thursday and Friday we fished Stump lake , did pretty good on perch and few smaller walleyes.  There was a truck there all wrapped with "Berkley Fishing "  next to us for a bit . Not sure who it was .  Looking forward to next year . I guess if you want to catch  a limit of pike I 'd hit Irvine for a day , maybe pick up a few nice eyes also .

[The Doob]

BowHunter,
Fellow Michiganian here.  We are headed to Devils Lake to fish with John the first week of March - your reports have my partner and I pretty stoked.  Never been there before so we have hired John and his associate Wade for all three days of our trip and we are staying at the Fireside Inn.

Hope to have a nice trip like you guys enjoyed.  Thanks again for posting your results

[The Doob]

Someone sent me a private message but I cannot open it. 

If it is related to this thread, sorry for no reply