Got out to Devils Lake this saturday. We got to the lake at about 6:15am and were graphing fish instantly but didn’t get our first walleye till almost 7am. By the time we left to go perch fishing at 9:30 we had 3 keepers and a couple smaller ones that we put back.
Most of the good perch fishing reports have been coming from the Swanson’s Point area by the Spirit Lake Casino so we headed out there for the afternoon. We fished in water from 35ft deep to 44ft. We got 7 perch a half pound or larger and one keeper walleye. The walleye surprised us since we usually only catch smaller ones out in the deep water. This was the first time this year that I used an underwater camera on Devils Lake and saw quite a few perch and a number of small walleyes in the deep water.
In the evening we headed to our normal spot to fish for walleyes. At a little after 6 pm we got our 10th walleye and headed back to Grand Forks. My partner also caught and released a 22″ walleye and a northern that we estimated at about 12 lbs.
In the evening it seemed like you had to find the spot on the spot. We were only fishing about 50 feet apart and my partner would constantly be graphing fish and i would only graph them occasionally. Then I moved to a hole that we drilled in the morning that was about 20 feet from him and started to graph fish.
The lures we used for perch were buckshot rattle spoons and smaller spoons tipped with a minnow head. We used waxworms but didn’t get any fish on them. For walleyes we used buckshot rattle spoons with a minnow head and small jigs with a whole minnow.
Unfortunately this will probably be my last trip out to Devils Lake, but hopefully I’ll be able to make it out once or twice next winter.
Josh Hukriede
