Jason Mitchell shares four things that you need to know for fishing Devils Lake right now.
1. Fish From Shore
Obviously, ice fishing is coming to an end and it’s time to move onto the next thing, and on Devils Lake right now that is shore fishing.
To be successful make sure you have some chest waiters or least knee boots at the bare minimum so that way you can access these areas. You are going to be targeting bridge locations or some type of an obstacle for these fish or some type of a neck down.
You can go on OnX Maps, or Google Earth and see where a lot of these areas are. Whether you go up the Channel A system, or you go out east, you know the water that’s moving between East Devil’s Lake and Stump Lake. You can go out on the west end of the lake where you’ve got the Mauve Coulee system that basically winds all the way up into Irving and Alice and then further north up past Cando.
2. Have a Variety of Jigs and Plastics
Besides needing chest waiters, you will also need an assortment of jigs and plastics. One to have on hand is a Mimic Minnow. These come pre-packaged and catch a lot of fish. It is just an MVP jig with a paddle tail smelt minnow behind it. But paddle tails, and sometimes twister tails can work as well, particularly paddle tails anywhere from three to five inches long.
White, chartreuse, bright colors tend to be preferred in the sense that lot of times there is dirty water. The other thing is don’t be afraid to mix up your retrieve speeds and your jig weight in the sense that a lot of times the currents can be surprisingly strong and you’re gonna need a heavier jig to swim down. However, if that current lightens up, don’t be afraid to lighten up just so you can keep that speed slower. You just want that jig just gliding and that paddle tail fluttering.
3. Look for Rock
Another thing to remember is to look for current and look for rocks.
A lot of times you’re gonna find both around some of these bridges. So wherever there’s a hard bottom, whether it’s rock, gravel, rip rap, and wherever you find some current where you can actually see some current seams and see some eddies from the current, fish will lay up on those spots.
4. Move Around
Another thing is don’t be afraid to cover some ground in the sense that give a spot an hour, if nothing’s happening, go to another bridge, and give it an hour. You do have to move around sometimes to get on these fish because what’s happening on the east end of the lake will be completely different than what’s happening on the west end, because you’re trying to time around the spawn in the sense that when you get right into the spawn, those fish can be pretty difficult.
So you wanna be right before it, or a little ways after it to really maximize your catch. However, don’t be afraid to move around. Don’t be afraid to look for bridges in current and then cast paddle tails. Those are the things that you need to catch fish on Devils Lake right now.
