anyone been to Devils Lake?

[Dahitman44]

Going to fish with my Dad for a couple of days at Devils Lake. We fish out of Minnewauken. We went there last year too and had a great time.

Anyone been there lately?

How about the Minnewauken area specifically?

The weather looks like it is going to settle down and it should be a lot of fun.

[Bison9]

Hitman, you are in luck my firend. My Dad, his/my buddy, and I hit up the ol' Big Water this past Sunday - Tuesday. We limited out 2 of the three days there. OK, two spots I would highly recommend if you can find them (these should be pretty easy to find if you are putting out from Minnewaken) :

Spot 1 : If you get a map and trace along the North shoreline of the Minnewaken flats there and then go East as you are doing that, right before it goes to go north to the Mauvais Coulee bridge, we fished that shoreline. So, as you are tracing on that North shoreline, right as you get to that last point on the right before it then goes north to the Mauvais Coulee bridge (I think that shoreline is on the edge of what they are calling the Mauvais Flats if I'm not mistaken - It's pretty much at the very most East side of that Minnewaken Flats north shore before it ends and then goes north to the bridge). This was a pretty particular spot, so I hope you can find it. We were casting #5 deep diving shads into the shoreline - white pearl, blue and silver, and crawdad were the best colors (but we had to switch up a lot). Also, the wind has to be right for that one. The third day we tried it again after limiting out there on the first day and we only got one northern. And so we tried spot 2 (below). If you get a South wind, hold onto your you know what! The fish should be there!

Spot 2 : Ok, just to the left of that spot I got done explaining (about 200 yards left of that shoreline we were casting into) there are some underwater humps that jut out from the shoreline (last hump is, I'd say, 3/4 mile out from shore - a Lowrance topo map should put you right on them). There was a line of boats (one on each hump) when we were out there this past Tuesday so you shouldn't miss it. Cast slip bobs with leeches and red hooks (set anywhere from 4 - 7 ft down) and we were also using the Lindy no snag jigs with leeches. That was Tuesday and it was a crazy good day!

Hope this helps. Good luck and let us know how you did! Oh yeah, the pic below is of the first day casting the cranks into that NorthEast shore of Minnewauken flats - Don't go past that last point there (the one before it turns to go north to the Mauvais Coulee bridge) on that Northeast side or you have gone too far. Enjoy!

[Bison9]

Man Hitman, you got me excited thinking about fishing the Big Water again! Ok, one other thing I would recommend doing if all else fails is wait till about 9:00 PM and then go the Hwy 20 bridge on the north side of it and cast/pull Lindy rigs with red hooks and leeches. You can also do this with mixing in jigs and leeches as well. We got there this past Saturday night and put in at 9:45 PM and motored to the Hwy 20 bridge and tried this. 30 secs in I got a 24 incher, no joke. It's a weird year in Devils this year in that fish are biting after sundown. If you struggle, hope for a nice evening / night and hit this bridge up with that presentation. Use this presentation right in the bridge's current flow, and also try it on the edge of the current flow as well. The fish like to hover on the edges of this current flow. If you get a map and look down by the lower south east side (before East Bay) by the Casino, you should be able to find it. If you put out from the Casino in this area, the first bridge you come to is the Hwy 57 bridge. If you go under that bridge going East, you will see the Hwy 20 bridge. That's the one I would fish, but I also saw a good couple of boats trying the 57 bridge as well during the 9:00 PM and on time of the day. Good Luck!

[Dahitman44]

Bison --

Thanks, my Brother for the awesome info.

I will post our results!!!

Hitman

[Tadpoletodd]

Thanks for the great tips Bison9. I don't get to the lake more a couple times a decade and I just happen to be participating in the 1st Annual AYA tournament up there this July. (I probably won't even recognize the lake anymore.) It's a youth tournament and I'll be doing it with my 14 and 11 year old boys - they're pumped! Your tips will help tremendously as a place to try out. Does anyone have creek chubs or redtails up there that you know of???

I'd love to hear how you did as well Hit!

[Bison9]

Tadpole, up in July eh..? These spots may not be worth a hill a beans then! They go in patterns - early in the year like this they stay up shallow in the wood. As the water temp goes up, they move out deeper and then pulling cranks along the golden hwy and some other underwater hump areas become good. Also, since everything is incredibly behind this year (water temp is usually almost 70 by this time but it's 58 right now), I would suggest finding some trees to anchor to and slip bobber the you know what out of them (use leeches and red hooks below those bobs). I would suggest getting a map, find hog bay, and get in those trees down there. I've had some crazy good outings in those trees. Also, if you do bobber the trees, make sure you only set about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way down to the bottom. Any further than that and you get snag city! It took somebody else to enlighten me on this and fishing in the trees got a lot more funner (sp..?) for me. Well, good luck!