Here For Now. Devils Lake’s perch have been very mobile this winter, and their transient nature has made them tough to track under the ice, with fast-moving schools providing intermittent action for anglers. DEO Photo by Mike Peluso.

By Mike Peluso

The ice fishing season is winding down for me up here on Devils Lake and  I’ll be doing my last ice fishing guide trip on Mar. 20.  As soon as I’m done here, I’ll be switching gears for openwater spring walleye fishing back on the Missouri River near Bismarck.  

The end of our ice fishing season continues to be very up and down up here for Devils Lake’s walleyes and perch.  We are seeing lots of fish; some days they bite other days they don’t.  It’s crazy because nothing will change to the naked eye, and it’s been a bit mystifying at times. 

The walleyes have come around a bit better than the perch, in terms of their willingness to bite  Early morning and late evening is best for them.  The perch remain all over the map in terms of biting and all over the place in location.  They never clumped up this year.  We see small groups traveling together and it’s extremely difficult to get them to stop long enough to capitalize. 

I’m hoping it gets better before I’m done up here.  It sure would be nice to have a couple easier days before I put the ice cleats away. 

I’m super excited to get back to Bismarck and begin the open water season.  Keep an eye on the reports and again if you are looking to book a trip things are starting to fill up.  I still have some spots but I don’t anticipate them staying open long, so get ahold of me! 

Mike Peluso is a Dakota Edge Outdoors contributing writer and a licensed ND fishing guide specializing in walleyes on the state’s premier waters.