Ice Fishing Report Jumbo Perch Walleye Northern Pike Devils Lake, North Dakota Perch Train

Saved by the bell! After a pretty darn slow week of fishing on Devils Lake, I was not looking forward to writing this fishing report. But today...well today was just awesome! We had numerous groups experience some pretty good walleye fishing and northern pike as well. Not everybody limited out but some did and the ones that didn't came pretty close to it. They caught some absolutely beautiful walleyes and some trophy's were released as well.

The perch action has been pretty disappointing ever since the last storm. Why? We have no idea, the weather has been absolutely beautiful with bright sun and as stable as can be. We mark a lot of fish in that 38 to 45 foot depths but getting them to bite has been a huge challenge.

The ice conditions are still very good and we still have plenty of snow covering it but the trails and accesses are definitely taking a beating. We are using extensions on our augers now and probably will continue to use them until all the snow is gone.

The weather forecast sounds a bit interesting, as we are supposed to get up to 50 degrees by the weekend and some rain next Sunday into Monday so, that may create some new challenges for our accesses on the lake. Stay tuned.

Our last scheduled clients are on March 29th and we have decided to call that our last day for guiding for the Perch Patrol for this season. We have had quite a run as we are approaching 100 consecutive days of guiding clients. It is a tough sell to get our guides to climb back on those ATV's after going through such a busy season. If you are still thinking about a last minute trip we don't have a lot of room but there is a few scattered openings between March 22 - 29th.

The fishing on Devils Lake has either boom or bust as I write this report. The first 6 days of March were very good as you can see in the pictures that are posted below. The past 5 days however have not been so good and it is mainly due to weather. The past three days we fell victim to that major storm that swept across the midwest and the bite was pretty much nonexistent. We did get pretty lucky however instead of the forecasted 12 to 20 inches of snow we only received an inch or two. Today it was still windy but also very cold. So we did experience a major cold front. We appreciate the understanding customers (especially Steve and Lucy that rode the train all the way from Rochester, New York), that fished with us the past three days and we were lucky to have true fishermen that understand what cold fronts due for fishing.

We are starting to see a hint of the March pattern as some of the schools of fish we are finding are getting bigger. It still feels like January weather to me however. The walleye fishing is still the most consistent and pike fishing is still pretty much a slam dunk, and perch fishing the best is still yet to come. Although it may be hard to top the perch action we experienced in our last fishing report.

Travel on Devils Lake is pretty decent. We can drive most anywhere as long as we stay away from old trails. The snow is very hard due to all the cold weather. It is very rough and bumpy as we drive over the drifts. If anyone is looking to buy a crew cab truck I know of a few guys who might be eager to sell!!!

The Perch Patrol Schedule for the rest of March is soon full. We do have some scattered openings the last 9 days of March so if you are planning to come and fish with us, you might want to get that finalized very soon.

Fishing this past week has been incredible!!! Where do I start? The perch fishing has been awesome for both numbers and size. We are catching a lot of small perch with the jumbos but there has been no shortage of jumbo perch either. The action has been incredible. It is so fun to watch and catch a school of perch that is so thick it fills the auto zoom on the Vexilar, all day long!

We even had a great day of fishing through last Thursday's storm and the cold front that followed it. Roger Cormier and Midwest Outdoors was here to both film and experience some pretty incredible fishing. In two days, we filmed a perch show, a walleye show and a northern pike segment.

Walleye fishing has been just as incredible. A lot of nice eater walleyes mixed with some 3 to 4 pound walleyes and there has been some trophies that were released as well. The northern pike fishing has been red hot as well.

This has been a very successful week of fishing for the Perch Patrol and we can give most of the credit to our drastically improved ability to get around on Devils Lake. We still have the snow, but the cold temperatures have refroze the slush and made our snow rock hard. So hard our trucks are able to stay on top of the snow.

March Madness starts tomorrow and if you are at all interested in coming to Devils Lake and experience the fun and fantabulous fishing we are currently enjoying - call in sick, lie to the wife, do whatever it takes - just get here!

Ice Fishing on Devils Lake continues to dramatically improve. The walleye fishing has been incredible all season long, the northern pike fishing is some of the best on the planet and lately perch fishing has been very good as well. Both numbers and the size of these perch are incredible. I hate to brag too much as I write this report because I don't want to jinx it! That is the way the perch fishing is for us this year either boom or bust and everyday is different.

Travel on Devils Lake has also gotten a lot better. The snow is now rock hard and we are able to pretty much stay on top of it, even over the drifts. There is some slush and you never really are able to tell where it is until you crash through it and you are so stuck you have to exit the truck through the window. We are ready for the next condition, we may as well, we have been through all of them so far this season.

Some of the best fishing is still yet to come and we are very confident we can achieve success on one of the species pretty much daily. In other words, everyday we can make something happen. Our schedule is extremely packed and it is getting more difficult to find room for reservations. So, if you are planning a trip yet this season and want to experience the fun we are having, do not wait too long to reserve your dates.


Jeff Stanway from Somerset, WI and Brian Troska from Baldwin, WI limited out on Jumbos today along with a few walleyes and an 8 lb northern pike - all in the same spot.	Rich Jelen from Tauton, MN and Doug Steffan from Canby, MN also limited out on Jumbo perch, mixed in with 7 walleyes and a white bass. THUMBS UP GUYS!

she decided to show some pity for us and took half of it away from us. This is great news folks, and it has already made our season do 180. The warm weather and rain the last three days have not only softened the snow but it as shrunk it down to about half of what we had only 5 short days ago.

The fishing has done a complete 180 as well. Because of our renewed ability to get around, we are finally able to fish places that have not seen a lure all winter. The perch and walleye fishing has improved dramatically. As I write this report, I can honestly think of 5 different perch bites going on various parts of Devils Lake. The walleye fishing was very good today. Along with this rain, we have had a lot of foggy conditions and the walleyes bit nearly all day long. The northern pike fishing was good over the weekend but since our conditions have improved we have not been doing any northern pike fishing.

So the good times are here again, and the best is still yet to come. The month of January and all the snow is now just a memory or perhaps a bad dream. The Perch Patrol is rigged and ready with snobears and fully equipped with Mattracks and even if we do get bombarded with heavy snow we are now equipped to handle every condition.

Wow! This fishing report is a little over do. Sorry for the huge gap between fishing reports. Overall, this ice fishing season has been a huge disappointment. The fishing has been good at times and not so good at times as well. It is hard to blame the fish gods for our disappointing season thus far when in reality most of the blame should be laid at the door step of good old mother nature. For it is her that has blessed us with all this wonderful snow. The ability to get around on Devils Lake is some of the worst we have ever experienced. There is a handful of places we can perch fish, there is more opportunity for walleye and northern pike fishing as these two species are closer to shore and easier to get to. But all things considered, most places on Devils Lake that we have enjoyed success in the past, have not yet seen a lure as of yet and we are already into the month of February.

Now for some good news! Help is on the way! Jason Mitchell of the Perch Patrol has been guiding out of a SnoBear most of this winter. Steve "Zippy" Dahl just purchased a suburban and mattracks. Members of the Perch Patrol are gearing up to conquer this never ending battle of too much snow that we seem to experience year after year. True there are a number of trails on Devils Lake and yes we do appreciate them but it is time to get off the trails and go where we need to go to make things happen. January was a bummer but the best is yet to come and we are committed to making this another banner year of ice fishing on Devils Lake.

Sorry for the delayed report, things have been a little crazy around here. First off some very sad news to report as the Perch Patrol Guide Service lost one of its founding members when Dave Tronson passed away on December 26, 2008. Dave was a true legend on Devils Lake and was a big part of the heart and soul of the Perch Patrol for many years. We continue to carry heavy heart with the loss of Dave and will always miss him but all of us feel very fortunate to have had him in our lives for so very long.

The fishing overall has been very good. This past week it has slowed up a bit with all the cold fronts moving through. The big story here is all of the snow we have now accumulated. Our abilities to get around have been extremely altered and we do wind up getting stuck a lot. There are a number of trails however and we have been able to get off the trails and explore. The walleye and pike fishing has been very good but the perch fishing has been pretty tough mainly because they are the hardest species for us to get to. The perch are in deep water and they are the furthest from shore.

The depressing part is that we have all this snow and it is only January 9th. God only knows what mother nature has in store for us the rest of the winter. The Perch Patrol members are considering a number of options to combat this snow and are currently in negotiations with the Snow Bear Company from Fargo, North Dakota. The history of the Perch Patrol Guide Service has always been "The show must go on" no matter what the conditions and we will stop at nothing to continue to provide quality trips for our customers.

Good morning Zippy,

I want to thank you, your team & all of the folks at Woodland for a
great experience Melanie & I had at Devils Lake 12/27/08 to 12/30/08.
The day after we got back, I wished we were still up in North Dakota
fishing with you & your Team.

Thank you for making one of my dreams come true to fish with the Famous
Perch Patrol!

I had always wanted to fish Devils Lake with you & the Perch Patrol.
From seeing you guys on TV to hearing about memorable experiences from
others I knew I had to book a trip. I think it was destiny in a way
that I had told my girlfriend a week before the St. Paul Ice Fishing
Show that I wanted to fish Devils Lake with the Perch Patrol. Then the
night before the Ice Fishing Show I run into you at my Local Gas Station
in Bloomington, MN! You had just went to Vexilar to gear up for your
season. The next morning Melanie & I were 1'st in line to book a trip at
the Ice Fishing Show!

Devils Lake is known for the Jumbo Perch, but I would like to say the
walleye fishing is world class!

Again this was a dream come true trip to fish along side some of the
greatest anglers in the world.

I never would have thought I would be catching walleye's in 5 feet of
water through 18 inches of ice.

Melanie & I are both sorry for the loss of your friend Dave Tronson. I
never had the chance to meet Dave, but I do believe he lives on in you
& all others who experience Devils Lake & the Perch Patrol.

Zippy thank you for a wonderful adventure & many lasting memories.

Your Friend,

Chris Lambert.

Merry Christmas Everybody! The fishing on Devils Lake is in full swing and has been pretty darn hot out of the gate. Numerous reports of excellent perch fishing, walleye fishing and northern pike fishing are going on on many parts of Devils Lake. Our ice conditions have improved and we are finding 12 to 16 inches of ice everywhere we have been so far. We do have snow on Devils Lake and you can get stuck if visibility is poor and you cannot see the drifts.

We do have customers arriving on December 27th and from then on the Perch Patrol will be in full swing. We will be ringing in the new year as we are guiding right through the holiday. We still have room to accommodate you group and if you are planning a trip to Devils Lake, we would love to take you fishing! The last two seasons the month of January was one of our better months. Yes, it is traditionally a cold time of year here but keep in mind the snow hasn't had that long to accumulate and our ability to get around and fish all the places and opportunities Devils Lake has to offer has not been hampered yet. The key to our success is mobility, multi-species, and being able to get on and around on Devils Lake. Right now we are able to accomplish all of them.

BRRR!!! She's cold outside! We are making lots of ice and the even better news is the first Alberta Clipper that swept through our area came and went and forgot to dump much snow. The lake currently has patches of snow and ice so this is perfect ice making conditions.

There is not a lot of anglers that have been out with the obvious snow storm that happened over this past weekend but the fishing before this storm produced some very encouraging results. Lots of good reports on all species of fish being caught.

The best perch fishing has been in 24 to 36 feet of water on the old shorelines just outside the trees. There is also some good reports of perch in shallow water in the flooded timber. Minnow heads and maggots tipped on a gold Genz worm or the small forage minnow spoons, and halis are still working very good as well.

Walleye fishing has been very good especially on some flooded points, humps and sunken islands. Rapala Rap Shads, Rattle spoons, and the old Swedish Vingala tipped with a minnow head have been very successful.

Northern Pike have been biting on anything from hot dogs to hearing to frozen smelt. Some of the best bike fishing has been happening on shallow water back bays, shorelines along weed beds, and shallow areas with flooded brush piles.

Winter is here and it's time to celebrate! Our first clients arrive right after Christmas and we have a busy season ahead of us. We still have plenty of room to book your group and we certainly want to invite you to come and fish with us. We'd love to have you! (701) 351-3474

Hello Everybody, First off, we would like to thank everybody who stopped by our booth at the St. Paul Ice Fishing Show. A special thank you for all of you who booked a trip with us this winter. Thanks to you, it sure looks like another busy winter for us on Devils Lake again! That was one of the best sport shows we have ever attended.

Currently 80 percent of Devils Lake has 6 to 9 inches of ice. From Rocky Point to the towers and to the casino there is only 2 to 3 inches as this was the last to freeze. So, be careful. It is cold here and we are making more ice as we speak.

Things are just getting started here and there are some people fishing. We have heard some pretty good reports of some good perch, walleye, and northern pike fishing already. We will start fishing by the end of the week.

Reservation for this coming season are booming! Now is the time to get some buddies organized and get some dates locked in. This looks to be another great year and we want you to experience it!

Hello Everybody! We have ice on Devils Lake!!! The ice around the lake does vary quite a bit depending on when it froze over. We have heard some reports of up to 8 inches already. There are places that probably have 1 to 3 inches also - mostly on the main lake.

We have not been fishing yet. We have been scrambling to get ready for the St. Paul Ice Fishing Show this upcoming weekend. Hope to see you there! It is the largest sport show in the world dedicated to ice fishing. We will have our new brochures ready to hand out and we will also be selling last season's Vexilar FL-18's and FL-20 pro packs.

We will also be picking up our brand new Fish Trap Thermo X shelters and Vexilar Pro Packs as well. So it will be like an early Christmas until we get home and have to assemble everything.

As usual the Perch Patrol will be sharing a booth with Woodland Resort. Zippy and Kyle look forward to visiting with fishermen from through out the land. Our booth is also fairly close to the Ice Fishing Bikini Team as well, so if you don't see us we will know why?

I apologize, we will not be able to respond to email until we return to Devils Lake on December 8th. So if you don't hear back from us right away, this is why. You can still call the Perch Patrol Hotline (701) 351-3474. We will be taking reservations at the show, so if you have some dates in mind and you want to make a reservation, do not hesitate to call. We do book a lot of dates at this show and as always the reservations are a first come first serve basis.

Hello Everybody! We are very excited as a new ice fishing season is upon us. We are up and running and getting ready for the 2008-09 Ice fishing season. We are busy getting our fish traps assembled, Vexilars charged, re spooling rods and reels and tip ups, and getting our crew cab trucks rigged and ready. It sure was a great open water season and things look good for this winter. No ice to report yet on Devils Lake, but a lot of the sloughs and smaller lakes have capped over and are building ice .

We have been taking quite a few reservations up to now and although there is plenty of room to fit your group into our schedule, we want to encourage you to get your trip booked early especially if you have a large group of more than 4 people. Another reason to book now is Sue, down at AAA Travel tells me that Amtrak has gotten extremely popular throughout the midwest. With the summer long gas crisis, more and more people have been in the habit of using Amtrak and because of this, it is more challenging to get tickets. The good news is that our Perch Express fares on Amtrak did not go up very much, in fact hardly any. The new rates are posted on the Perch Express page towards the bottom on this website.

I would like to also tell you about our fishing videos page. This is brand new and we would like to invite you to visit this page. These are most of the outdoor fishing shows that the Perch Patrol has done over the years and they are pretty entertaining to watch. There is 13 of them as of right now with more to come as I receive them from the different outdoor media's we have worked with.

We do have some of last years equipment for sale. The Perch Patrol does get new equipment each year and in order to keep this going we have to get rid of the old before we get the new.

Fish Trap Thermo X - insulated tarp, 1" conduit poles - $500.00 must pick up.

All of this equipment is in very good or excellent condition and is offered to you at quite a discount. The Vexilars are $100.00 below what they would be new and The fish trap thermo X is about 1/2 price of what they sell for new and you don't have to assemble them!!!

Some of the outdoor televisions show we shot last season will soon be airing on Fox Sports North. So look for these shows in the next few Saturdays and Sundays.

So, that is kind of a summary of what's going on with the Perch Patrol. If you want to book a trip or buy some equipment, now is the time. Feel free to give me a call. I will be reporting in when we have some ice and of course weekly once the ice fishing season begins.

Another great week of fishing! The weather was warm enough to melt just enough snow to improve our travel conditions and then it cooled off just enough to freeze everything solid. Just what the doctor ordered. We are starting to get some random slush pockets and it is difficult to know just where they are as we still currently have 10 to 12 inches of snow cover on the ice. We have yet to lose an inch of ice and because of our improved conditions we are enjoying some of the best fishing of the year.

The walleye bite has been phenominal and so has the northern pike. These are some of the nicest walleyes we have caught in years and again we would like to thank our guests for releasing some of the trophies that were caught this past week.

The perch fishing has been very good as well. We have located a number of schools of perch in many different parts of the lake. The perch bite treated us very well for a couple of days early in the week and again towards the end of the week. With so much good fishing going on at once it has been a little challenging trying to decide what species to go for each day.

March Madness is definately here and in full swing and so is the fishing! Warmer temperatures have shrunk the snow enough so we can now go anywhere on Devils Lake. We still have enough snow cover to protect the ice from the warm sun and we have not yet begun to lose any ice.

This past week the Perch Patrol and our guests have enjoyed some phenominal fishing and we are hitting on all cylinders! We have enjoyed some outstanding walleye fishing, perch fishing, and pike fishing. For both numbers and size this past week has been a lot of fun. On behalf of the Perch Patrol, I would like to personally Thank all of our guests for putting back some of the trophy walleyes that were caught. These truly are Devils Lake's number one reproducers and the future of our great fishery depends on these fish for reproduction.

This has been by far the best walleye fishing we have had in quite some time. Group after group have come and gone and limits have been caught. It has been a lot of fun catching pike along with them as well. The perch fishing has been decents as well, but I have to admit, with the walleye fishing being so good, nobody has really cared! Every group has been given the options and so far everyone has wanted to fish walleyes and pike.

This past week we were again hampered in our ability to get around with all the snow but you know what I am sick of talking about all the snow! We had a very successful week all in all. On Thursday and Friday we were finally able to put together two good days in a row on perch. These were some of the nicest perch of the year with several in that 13 to 14 inch range. This is a huge school of fish. On Saturday and Sunday, the perch slowed down with Sunday's storm and really have been tough to get to bite ever since.

Walleye fishing has been pretty decent as well. We had a group from southern Minnesota do pretty good this morning. No trophies but a lot of nice eaters in that 14 to 17 inch range.

Pike fishing remains incredible. This is by far the best pike fishing year we have ever seen and we have had some pretty awesome pike fishing in years past.

The good news is that it was 46 degrees today. It was very noticable in our abilities to get around. It did shrink some but just that fact that it got soft and sticky provided us the ability to plow right through it. I don't want to say that we can drive anywhere yet, but if we can get two or three more days like today, our ability to go most places should happen very soon.

Herald Howard of Taunton, MN and Bernie DeCock of Ghent, MN proudly display
some of their jumbos from earlier today. Nice job fellas!

Some say a picture is worth a thousand words, in our case we say a thousand scoops! This is what life is like for the Perch Patrol on Devils Lake these days. Day after day our spots keep getting eliminated by snow and wind. The trails fill in, the accesses are plugged, and on cloudy days travel is near impossible. The problem is 3 foot drifts are as hard as concrete. So hard we can't even plow them with our Bombadier. But March is here and things can only get better. Warm temperatures means softer drifts and shrinking snow. The best is yet to come!

The show must go on! Every day we are swamped with customers and we somehow manage to make something happen every day. This past week our walleye and pike fishing continued to hog the headlines. Limits of pike and near limits of some of the most beautiful walleyes of this season continued to produce for our guests. The perch fishing is improving as well. Our ability to affectively hunt for new schools of perch has been hampered more than any of the species but we did do fairly well on perch over the weekend and today Mr. Dave Tronson of the Perch Patrol showed the rest of us what we can do with our walleyes and pike. His group of two caught their limit of perch today. I am sorry I wasn't able to get to them and get a picture but they were some pretty happy people with a 5 gallon pale full of Jumbos.

For those of you thinking of a late March trip, I believe you will be hitting it just right. Hopefully by then most of our snow will be diminished and we can drive anywhere and everywhere. We will have plenty of ice.

This Weeks Perch Patrol Honor Roll

Ron, Dan, and Mike Eaton of Milwaukee, Wisconsin displayed some of their larger walleyes.
This trio had a great time catching walleyes and pike on March 1st.

The weather stabilizes and so does the fishing! This past week our rollercoaster weather pattern came to an end by the weekend and magically the fish started biting all over the lake. The Perch Patrol experienced some very impressive catches of perch, walleye, and northern pike throughout the weekend and we have heard several reports of other very good bites as well.

The jumbo perch have still been coming very deep 42 to 48 feet. The perch that we are catching have been very impressive in that 10 to 13 inch range. The number 8 Genz worm, silver halis, and forage minnow spoons tipped with a small minnow head seems to work best.

The northern pike fishing is still very good. We have had group after group catch their limit of pike at least one day of their 3 day trip. These pike range anywhere from 3 to 6 pounds with a few in that 7 to 10 pound range. Larger spoons tipped with 2 or 3 minnows have been working very good as is the immitation rubber blue gills, crappies, and perch.

The walleye fishing has really picked up. For both numbers and size. We would like to thank our guests for turning the trophies back to help preserve the Devils Lake fishery. We have had numerous walleyes caught from 15 to 20 inches and there was quite a few trophies caught between 24 to 29 inches as well.

Travel on the lake is still challenging but as long as the sun is shining and we can see the drifts, we can pretty much pick our way around and get most places. There have also been quite a few new trails plowed on the main lake and east bay as well.

Despite over sleeping Saturday morning, (sorry fellas, I couldn't resist) Jeremy Wagner, Brian Klimek, Jamie Suchy and Bill Koep of Brandon, Minnesota had an awesome day of walleye and pike fishing. These walleyes were caught in anywhere from 7 feet to 23 feet of water and all came on the buckshot rattle spoons with a minnow head.

Old mother nature has been relentless this past week, providing us with three cold fronts including one storm. Added snow early in the week and bitterly cold temperatures have made our travels around the lake very difficult. We broke out the bombadier trail groomer yesterday and tried plowing trails only to find out that the drifts are so hard it is impossible to plow. Needless to say we have become very limited to a handfull of perch spots, a few walleye spots and a few pike spots. The sunny days we can see the drifts and can distinguish between them and the low spots but cloudy days we spend most of our day either shoveling or pulling each other out. Not a lot of fun.

The fishing however has been great for morning walleyes and pike but perch right now are not coming easy. With all the fronts, we have been concetrating more on walleyes and pike. Nice limits of each have been caught this past week. On the bright side, our best fishing is yet to come. As cold as it has been, Devils Lake is now approaching 30 plus inches of ice. Most of us have put the extensions on our augers. We are going to have ice for a long time. Infact, we have started to take reservations into April. Our March Schedule is really filling fast with only a handfull of openings before March 17. After that we still have room but if you are still thinking about a trip with the Perch Patrol and want to get in on some of the potentially best fishing of the year, March 17 through the 30th looks to be a great time to come. I know our ability to get around and put hooks in front of fish that haven't seen a luhr for soon a month will be hungry!

This past week the Perch Patrol Guide Service experienced some fabulous fishing despite the bitterly cold weather. Granted Monday through Wednesday was pretty slow for perch, but Thursday and Friday the perch bite was on! Of course with the good news we must also give the bad news...Friday night and all day Saturday we had a major Alberta clipper blow through our region and provide us with gail force winds of 40 to 50 mph and bitterly cold temperatures. Needless to say Saturday's bite was completely shut down and Sunday-today we fished mostly pike and walleyes.

Walleye Fishing has been hit and miss but we did get into some nice ones both Thursday and Friday evenings. Pike fishing is still rediculous. We are still catching limits in a very short period of time on jig rods and reels, no tipups. These pike have been ranging from 3 to 10 pounds.

It sounds like our weather is going to start to straighten out. At least we are going to warm up a bit. It is supposed to be highs in the 20s by midweek.

Todd and Al Kuhse from Chicago, Illinois and Edgewood, Iowa nearly limited out as they caught 35 jumbos mixed with some huge white bass. The Jim Curran and Brad Fanello group of 6 from Lake Mills, Wisconsin also kicked some serious tail on Friday they caught their limit of pike in the morning, over 30 perch, and 12 to 15 nice walleyes to boot. Not bad for 8 to 9 hours of fishing!

This past week we have had some very interesting weather. Last Monday we cancelled all of our groups due to 55 mph plus winds combined with about a -60 below wind chill. Another arctic blast, cold front hit us very hard in here in perchville. So you don't have to guess too hard at what the perch bite was like for the remainder of the week. Pretty nil to say the least. We spent most days walleye and pike fishing. We did have some groups do pretty decent on walleyes early in the mornings.

Pike fishing has just been incredible. We have seen some pretty awesome pike fishing over the years, but we have never seen it quite like this. Can you imagine catching 60 to 80 pike a day between 3 and 10 pounds with no tipups! (that would be cheating). Yes, they have all come on a rod and reel. Some of our Perch Patrol guides have really taken this to the next level. From jigging spoons tipped with 3 minnows to the latest craze -- plastic and rubber blue gils, perch, and crappie about 3 inches long. It has just been awesome. Our clients have been limiting out and then of course catch and releasing until their arms are sore. We had the Devon Chupp group of 4 from Shipshewana, Indiana limit out with 20 pike in 46 minutes on Tuesday.

As for the perch, well it can only get better. Our weather needs to stabilize, and it will. We have found so many schools of perch on so many different parts of the lake. We visit them everyday and the results have pretty much stayed the same. We mark all kinds of perch but just can't get them to go. Panfish and weather fronts simply do not mix, never have and probably never will. This is why we are so lucky to have a fishery like Devils Lake that also provides us with some of the best walleye and pike fishing opportunities in the country.

Despite some ever changing weather patterns this past week provided us with some pretty decent fishing. We had 3 or 4 solid days of perch fishing but it was hard to put two good days together. It was either fiest or famine. We would have one day where the perch hit very aggressively and then the next day we couldn't buy a bite. The walleye fishing was kind of the same. We would really nail some 18 to 24 inch walleyes in the morning and then go back to the same holes for the evening bite and we got the old skunk hole. Pike fishing overall has been very good to excellent but we honestly haven't done a whole lot of it with the Perch and Walleye fishing picking up. Without further due it's time for:

The Dan Robinson Group from St. John, Indiana,enjoyed some of Devils Lake's Finest perch fishing with the Perch Patrol this past weekend. The group of 4 nearly limited out their first day of their Perch Express 3 day trip.

9 year old Evan Davis from Sauk City,Wisconsin had a "Big Time!" Not only did he get to drown himself in some pike slime he got to proudly display a true Devils Lake Jumbo.

Rev. David Bibbee and his wife Sue from Elkhart, Indiana show off some jumbos that the pulled out of 48 feet of water.

Our condolences go out to all Green Bay Packer fans through out the land. That one had to hurt. As a Viking fan, I can tell you, we know the feeling.

BRRRRR!!! It's cold out! Every morning the Perch Patrol takes to the ice and its a balmy 20 to 24 degrees below zero. Devils Lake is filled with some of the smartest perch. They seem to know when not to bite. We mark them all day long and to get one to bite these past few days, has been like threading a needle in a hurricane. Major cold fronts and perch simply do not mix. We have had a tough time the past few days and all I can tell you is thank God for northern pike. Our pike fishing is so incredible we are able to bring limits in just by jigging for them. It has been too cold to run tip ups, we put out a few, but it is a dip the whole every 15 minute ordeal. When we did get a flag, we honked the horn and guess what? None of our clients came out of the fish house to get the fish! Now that's COLD! Oh well, I can't say we can blame them. They are more fun on a rod and reel anyway.

Walleye fishing has been inconsistent as well. We have had a hard time getting the big marks to bite. The little ones are sure hungry however.

The good news is the weather is supposed to warm up and stabilize throughout the week. It is supposed to be 18 above by Thursday, so hopefully our next report will be much more encouraging.

Perch fishing has been very inconsistent this past week. We are finding and locating perch in many areas on Devils Lake in a variety of depths. These depths range anywhere from 22 to 48 feet. The problem is they have been extremely hard to catch. Our customers are having the best luck on Genz worms, halis, or small rat finkie jigs below a dropper rig or a pencil weight. We have been tipping these luhres with maggots 2 wax worms or small minnow heads. I don't want to sound completely doom and gloom as we have had groups come in with some decent perch catches, but by no means did we get limits of perch this past week.

The good news is that our walleye fishing has picked up.

Bob Greenfield and Wes Schon from South Dakota had some good luck over the weekend on walleyes. We would like to congradulate Bob on his 8 pound 4 oz walleye and welcome him to the North Dakota Whopper Club!

Pike fishing continues to be very good to excellent on area lakes connected to Devils Lake and we did have a group all the way from Sweden that release a 42 incher by mistake. The big one that got away!

It sounds like our forecast for the next 5 days is going to be quite challenging with temperatures raising and falling 30 to 40 degrees over night.

Happy New Year Everybody! Sorry for the delayed report, things have been busy here in Perchville! Ashley and Drew from Omaha, Nebraska had a very nice bucket of Jumbos between Christmas and New Years.

This brother and sister combination came with their Grandpa Larry Green. What a nice way to spend some Christmas vacation hammering on some of the finest perch we have seen so far this winter. Perch fishing overall has been inconsistent this past week. We have had some groups do very well and others not so well. It has really followed our weather patterns. On days our weather has been stable we the perch fishing was good. On days our weather changed either cold or warm, the perch turned into sniffers instead of biters.

The good news is on the slow perch days our walleye fishing has picked up. We had some real slabs (8 to 10 pounders) that were caught and released by some of our clientele.

Pike fishing has also picked up. We haven't done a lot of it but we did have one group from Chicago, Mike and his son William, who cleaned house on them both yesterday and today.Hope all of you were able to catch the Kent Hrbek Show that aired this past week throughout the midwest. By the number of phone calls and reservations that were booked, I can tell a lot of you did. We will be shooting an Up North Outdoors / Minnesota Bound with Bill Scherck and Ron Sherra on Monday and Tuesday of this week. So we would like to issue a warm "Perch Patrol Welcome" to them.

Things are in full swing for the Perch Patrol. We are guiding clients everyday now and we are happy to announce the ATV season is officially over! We have 12 to 16 inches of ice and we are driving our trucks and we are able to cover the lake to the best of our abilities. We do still have room to take your party fishing and it is not too late to plan a trip. We would love to have you!

Merry Christmas everybody! This past week fishing has improved. We enjoyed beautiful weather for most of the week and the perch bite definitely improved. Saturday and Sunday, however things got tough. 30 to 40 mile per hour winds with frigid 10 below temperatures made things challenging to say the least. Of course we were guiding during these times and we had a group of 5 that still was able to scratch out a 5 gallon pale of perch on Saturday, but did not enjoy much success on Sunday with the bad weather. The perch we caught were in 22 to 30 feet of water. Walleye fishing remains mixed, a few decent ones but also a lot of small ones. Of course pike fishing is very good as always.

The ice conditions are about the same. Mostly 10 to 12 inches. The problem is we have not gained much ice in the last 10 days. We still have 10 inches of snow insulating the ice and our temperatures really have not been that cold. Starting the December 27, the Perch Patrol is in full swing. We have clients to take out nearly every day from now to the end of March. We do still have plenty of room for more and it is not too late to plan a trip for you and your party.

We had our first clients of the year this past weekend and wouldn't you know it we also had our toughest fishing of the year so far. We marked fish all day long and it became rather obvious to us that we were definately fishing sniffers instead of bighters. Some of the guys discovered that putting a minnow head on a Genz worm and holding the rod perfectly still was the only way we could get them to bite. All and all, 8 clients 36 perch. Sunday, we took a group of 6 to a dam 50 miles away, acting on a tip of one of our good fishing friends that after sorting through about 80 perch of various sizes, he bagged a limit of 1 pound perch on Saturday. That sounded pretty to good to us, so off we went. Needless to say way more small ones (6-7inchers) than pounders.

It did feel good to get back in the saddle again, guiding ice fishermen. We are definately already growing tired of using ATVs. Looking forward to guiding out of our pickup trucks. The bad news is that we are not making a lot of ice. We still have ice ranging from 6 inches to 1 foot.

Things are looking like they are picking up right where they left off last season. Good numbers of perch and "Jumbo" size. At Perch Pile

least for today anyway. Three of us from the Perch Patrol hit the ice today for the very first time. We had to do a little drilling but the end result was 46 jumbo perch. Our best holes were in 22 feet of water and the gold Genz worm loaded with maggets and later perch eyes was the hot ticket. We fished from about 9:00 am to about 12:30pm before we eagerly submitted to the cold temperatures and cold perch slime!

Every where we drilled today we found 7 - 8 inches of ice. We do have about 8 inches of snow covering the lake but we were able to baja right through it on our ATV's.

It sure felt good to get out on the ice again and officially get the 2007-08 ice fishing season kicked off with a very successful day of perch fishing.

A huge Thank You for all of you that visited the Perch Patrol Booth at the St. Paul Ice Fishing Show this past weekend. Great show and great turnout despite the weather. It is very exciting to hear so much enthusiasm from all of you for fishing perch on Devils Lake this winter!!!

She's a bit of a winter wonderland here in Devils Lake, North Dakota. Today we are supposed to get up to six inches of new snow here in the Lake Region. We are also supposed to get a lot of wind later, so hopefully that will blow a lot of the snow off the lake. We do still have ice and it has been growing in thickness. The back bays (Creel Bay and Six Mile) and most of East Bay already have 4 to 5 inches of ice and some of the smaller lakes up north already have up to 10 to 12 inches of ice.

Members of the Perch Patrol have not been fishing yet. Most of us are busy getting all of our equipment ready. So far our first clients are scheduled for December 10th. So by this time next week I am sure most of us will have been fishing a couple of times.

Now is the perfect time to organize your group and make some reservations to come and fish Devils Lake with the Perch Patrol. We have taken a lot of reservations already and if you are planning to come with a large group (6 people or more) we need to get this scheduled while there is still room. We do currently have a lot of options for you, but we also have a lot of dates that are already sold out. We just don't want you to be disappointed.

The warm community of Devils Lake, ND woke up to some pretty frigid 9 below zero temperatures this morning and the waters of Devils Lake are providing us with a brand new sheet of ice. Isn't life wonderful? So winter is officially here. It won't be too long and these fishing reports will soon be filled with actual reports on fishing. I would like to remind everyone that by no means is Devils Lake ice safe enough and that everyone should use extreme caution when venturing out onto the ice, no matter where you live. Fishing with a buddy, wearing life jackets, walking with a spud bar, bringing along a long rope with a floatation device, or simply waiting until the ice is a consistent 4 to 6 inches. This is all good advice to anyone venturing out on a newly frozen over lake.

The Perch Patrol and Woodland Resort will be travelling to St. Paul, Minnesota on this Thursday for the 15th annual St. Paul Ice Fishing Show. It is my first year that nor myself or Kyle Blanchfield will be there. I have a niece getting married this weekend and Kyle's kids have a hockey tournament. But never fear Bubba is near! Perch Patrol Guide Jason "Bubba" Hodous, Ron Ellis, and Glenn Kurtz from Woodland Resort will be manning the Woodland Resort/Perch Patrol booth. Stop by and say "hi" They will handing out our latest brochure and answering any questions you may have about Woodland Resort, the Perch Patrol and the World Famous Perch Express.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Sorry to report no ice as of yet, although I did hear a rumor that Lake Irvin was completely froze over. The water temperatures must be getting close. Last year was pretty similar to this fall. It stayed nice for a long time and then boom the cold hit and we got some snow and it was heaven until late April. I have been taking quite a few reservations lately and one question that I keep getting asked is when is the best time to come and fish Devils Lake? I have trouble answering this question. As a guide on the Perch Patrol, we fish this lake every day and honestly the bite changes from hour to hour. There is no magic time that I can tell anyone that "Hey, drop what you are doing cause you need to be here Feb. 4 - 14th." All I can do is remember patterns from previous years. Some years early ice was awesome, some years late ice was best, some years it was the whole month of January. But every year is honestly very different. The best advice I can tell anyone is to come with an open mind. True, our perch are back! But, it is also true they are not going to commit suicide everyday. If you keep an open mind, no matter when you schedule your trip, if the perch aren't hitting, we can put you on some of the best walleye and pike fishing on the continent. This is what makes Devils Lake such an awesome fishery and it is also the reason we have such a high number of repeat guests. I will say this, and I can speak for all the guides on the Perch Patrol. I do not remember a year that we have been so fired up to get out on the ice and prove that last season's perch fishing was not a fluke. Hopefully our temperature will continue to fall and next time I give a fishing report I can report on some hard water! Have a great week!

Just want to announce that neither myself or any other representative from the Perch Patrol Guide Service will be attending the Ice Fishing Frenzy Show at the Minneapolis Convention Center this weekend as previously reported. Devils Lake Tourism, whom I was going to represent has decided to pull out of the show due to lack of vendors signed up for the sport show. If you are planning on going to this show, I apologize and regret that I will not be there to visit with you.

Well no ice as of yet. In fact, weather here is still pretty balmy for November. With the deer season in full swing and the waterfowl season still in progress, not many fishing on Devils Lake these days. We are kind of in that in-between season with temperatures a bit chilly for open water fishing but not cold enough to make ice. I am heading to the Ice Fishing Frenzy sport show at the Minneapolis Convention Center this weekend (November 16, 17, 18). Since we cannot yet ice fish, I figure I may as well talk about ice fishing with those who share the same passion. I will be promoting Devils Lake in the Devils Lake Tourism Booth. If you get a chance, stop by and say "Hi." If you are considering putting a trip with the Perch Patrol together for this winter, now would be a great time to do that. We are just entering our promotional season and right now is a great opportunity to have that first chance of all the available dates for this winter before we do any sport shows or the outdoor television segments filmed last season hit the air waves. Hope to see you at the Ice Fishing Frenzy!

November is here and everyone's thoughts are turning towards ice fishing. Summer fishing on Devils Lake was outstanding through July and then the nice walleyes became more scarce. It seems that the Devils Lake fishery is booming so much with reproduction, we seem to have to sort through the smaller walleyes much more than we are used to doing. Not that any of this is bad news, it certainly bodes well for the future. The good news is THE PERCH ARE BACK!!! We had an unexpected Outstanding winter last year, and so far this fall, there were quite a few fisherman bringing in some limits of really nice perch. The following article appeared in the Grand Forks Herald on 10/14/07:

Devils Lake: Survey shows abundant young fish
By Brad Dokken , Herald Staff Writer

It's too early to guarantee good fishing, but populations of young walleyes, yellow perch and white bass in Devils Lake are at their highest levels in several years, results from a fall Game and Fish Department survey show.

According to Randy Hiltner, northeastern district fisheries supervisor for Game and Fish in Devils Lake, the annual young-of-the-year fall gillnetting survey produced a stunning 101 fish per net.

That's the highest cumulative catch since 1991, Hiltner said, and considerably higher than the 16-year average of 38 fish per net.

Game and Fish conducts the survey by setting gill nets at 37 sites from east to west. The nets are set in the same locations every year, Hiltner said, and left in the water overnight.

This year's survey started Sept. 10 and took about a week and a half to complete, he said.

The catch was evenly distributed between the three main species, Hiltner said, along with a small percentage of crappies. The survey produced an average of 37 yellow perch per net, Hiltner said, the highest since 2001 and up from 19 last year and less than two in 2004.

The walleye catch also was the highest since 2001, while numbers of young white bass were at their highest levels since 1991, he said.

Despite the results, Hiltner said it's too early to say the banner numbers will mean high populations of catchable-size fish in a few years.

“It doesn't translate directly to a strong age-class, but if I had my druthers, I'd start out with a lot of little fish rather than a few little fish,” he said. “The potential is there down the road.”

Game and Fish stocked Devils Lake with 1.7 million walleye fingerlings and 931,000 perch fingerlings this year, Hiltner said. Stocked fish were “marked” with oxytetracycline, a chemical that shows up in the ear bone when viewed under a microscope. Hiltner said 130 baby walleyes and 130 baby perch were sent to a lab Tuesday for analysis to determine the percentage of stocked vs. natural fish.

“If it's like several of our other samples in years when we have good young-of-the-year catch rates, the majority typically is from natural reproduction,” he said. “We certainly know that's true for white bass, and we didn't stock those.”

Hiltner said the high water levels in Devils Lake have flooded areas of sand and gravel, creating better spawning conditions than the mud that dominated shorelines when the lake was low.

The fall assessment doesn't sample young northern pike, which by September are too large for the half-inch mesh fisheries crews use in the survey, Hiltner said. Other surveys and spring egg-taking efforts continue to show strong pike populations, he said.

“We have a pretty good idea that northern pike are thriving out here,” Hiltner said.

Game and Fish also sampled Stump Lake for young-of-the-year fish. That survey produced only five walleyes per net, despite a spring stocking of 790,000 fingerlings.

The nets did produce 40 perch per lift, however, and Game and Fish didn't stock any perch in Stump Lake this year, Hiltner said.