Devils Lake (Overview) - Friday, July 3, 2009

Mitchell's Guide Service/ Woodland Resort Fishing Report

Another banner week of fishing!  The smaller walleyes have definitely made us feel their presence this week.  We are definitely having to sort through a lot of 13 to 14 inchers but every so often we are rewarded with a nice 17 to 23 inch walleye.  With the calm conditions, we have spent most of our time slip bobbering along weed beds in 6 to 10 feet of water.  Of course a little wind, chop, or even ripples from a breeze dramatically improve the action.  The fish are definitely more schooled than they have been so far this summer.  Add all this up and it makes for a lot of fun.  The bait vendors are grinning from ear to ear as most of us are going through a pound of leeches in a single day.  Check out pictures from this past week at www.fishdevilslake.net/reports.http.

The extended spring has made our shallow water fishing remain very strong.  It is hard to believe we are catching the numbers of fish that we are this shallow especially considering that July 1st is tomorrow.  We have also had some success trolling live bait rigs tipped with either a leech or a crawler in 8 to 12 feet of water.  Some of us have tried trolling crankbaits but none of us have had much success yet, perhaps do to the calm conditions.

The white bass fishing is incredible.  Infact, they have become a major nuisance when trying to catch walleyes casting crank baits.  The northern pike fishing still remains very strong as well.  We are still catching most of them by either casting along the weedbeds or trolling crank baits along them as well.  We did pick up some nice northern pike trolling crank baits on the flooded roadbeds.

We have lost touch with shore fishing because none of us are fishing from shore anymore.  We do hear reports still of a lot of fishing being caught from shore during the early morning hours and in the evenings especially right before dark.

We still have a lot of summer left and we want to include you in on some of the best summer fishing you will find anywhere.  We do have some room available and as these fish start heading for deeper water the trolling crank bait season is right around the corner.  Last year we had some of our best days of the season trolling Salmo Hornets in 10 to 20 feet of water.  This is a definite "must" for those who want to real in a lot of fish in a day's time.

Good Luck fishing this week and have a safe and Happy 4th of July!

Steve "Zippy" Dahl

Mitchell's Guide Service 701-662-6560 www.fishdevilslake.net
Woodland Resort 701-662-5996 www.woodlandresort.com