One Day at a Time.  The way walleyes and perch are separating on Devils Lake, it’s important to focus on one or the other for your best chance at faster action and success. DEO Photo by Mike Peluso. 

By Mike Peluso

Things are getting better in terms of weather, but they’re also getting worse as far as the ice, slush and snow on Devils Lake is concerned. The warmer weather has settled the snow down, however it has also created the slush pockets that will eat up your side by side if you are not careful. My recommendation is to take your time and travel in pairs. Forecasts are a bit uncertain right now regarding the snow we could receive this week. My hopes is that it stays south.

The fishing on Devils Lake remains good if you time things right. We are still picking one species at a time and per day. What I mean by this is if you choose walleyes we will target those for the day. If your choice is perch. We have to concentrate on those.

It’s extremely hard to do both right now in an 8-hour guide day. Logistics don’t favor it at all, especially this winter, with the way the fish are set up. It’s continues to be nothing fancy for walleyes, fish the old shoreline structure in the morning and evening.

The perch are definitely headed for the deeper basin as mid-winter sets in. If you catch perch in the basin you have to keep them! They will not survive with barotrauma, being brought up from those depths.

I’m lining up trips for the Missouri River this spring near Bismarck. April is booked for the most part. May – which is my favorite month on the river – still has some prime dates left! 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.