Devils Lake ND suggestions

[CoachWalleye74]

The greater family and I have taken an ice fishing vacation the last few years between Christmas and New Years at Lake of the Woods. We are changing things up and would like to go to Devils Lake.  Typically we have 6 of us that fish all we can, and 3-4 that come out to the shanty for an hour a day, total group of 8 adults and 6 children). We have portables and wheelers, and all Of our own gear (augers, poles tackle, etc).

I am looking for guidance to a resort/outfitter that has some accommodations for us to hole hop in the day, and permanents for the evening bite, while having "resort style" accommodations for the wives/children that don't enjoy fishing.

Guidance or recommendations?

[Unclegillhunter]

Did you scroll down to the North Dakota forum? There are several threads about what your are looking for.
Keep it safe! JDL

[Dakota-Lew]

I have fished devils lake more then a few times haha...

I have been to several out fitters over the years on devils lake. The main area for lodging and general knowledge is probably woodland resorts... i wasn't all that impressed but the lodge is nice and has a good restaurant and bar. They have permanents to rent too, but we didn't fair to well both times we went that route. Its famous because thats where Jason Mitchel is out of. I did the "perch patrol" out of there once too, but i thought the guy was too intense and kind of took the fun out of it for us since we are there to catch fish AND have a good time.     

A couple of years ago I i went with some clients out on trips to devils, and we went with Brys guide service off a recommendation from another guy and it was awesome (http://www.brysguideservice.com) they have lodging and all sorts of different packages too with lodging. We have did the sno bear option and had an absolute blast, and i had a buddy  do the spear shack option too and said it was a riot. Devils lake is a unique beast, you really need local knowledge to be successful for perch. I got a couple of buddy's up there and every year we go on out our own and we almost always go to stump lake, (off shoot of devils) catch eyes in the morning and then go after perch during the day and back to eyes at dusk. If your serious about catching fish you need a guide for that lake, you need that local knowledge of where the fish are at, its just to damn big and perch just move to much.

[Eyes R Bitin]

X2^^^

Or you may want to look into John Adams.  He's a one man shop but I always hear good reports on his service.  It sounds like you are set up for run and gun so John would lead you to fish.  Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000563588773  and site at   http://fishingguidedevilslake.com/ice_fishing.html  .  I would think he'd work out whatever type of agreement you'd like. 

He doesn't offer lodging, dining, or permanents to rent but Woodland would be the obvious stop with all that in one place.

Good luck!

[gsppointer]

I'll second the rec on John Adams. Our group has used him the last four years. He is very accommodating and the lunches he serves are spot on. He is very flexible you just need to communicate it to him. He haas always put us on fish when other groups using other guides have struggled. I can't really say enough. You can't go wrong with big John.

[bigstorm]

My wife and I went out there over New Years of 2016. We went thru Woodland Resort, getting one of the smaller cabins rather then one of the lodge rooms or the motel there as we like to have our own space and cook our own meals. The cabin worked out great for us. Regarding the fishing, we did the first day with the Perch Patrol, there was us and another husband/wife couple with the guide (each couple had their own portable). The fishing was great, we ended up just shy of our limit on perch (between 10" and 13+") with a few bonus walleye. The second day we rented one of the hard houses thru Woodland. We were at the house at 7AM (sunrise wasnt until 8:30ish), the bite was consistent until 10:30 then it slowed down until close to 3PM when it picked back up thru sunset. We ended with 9 walleyes and a couple bonus perch.

Overall, we had a great trip and we will definitely be going back there

While planning for this trip, I did call some of the other guides in the area and 2 of them were book solid 9 months in advance