By Mike Peluso

I spent most of this week guiding on Devils Lake. I know Devils has gotten a bad rap as of late, but I do think it is a tad unfair to categorize it  this way.  I touched on it a bit in last week’s report, but I’ll touch on it again. 

The fish you catch on Devils right now have two things in common.  One, the keeper size fish are bigger than in years past.  Second, they are extremely well fed!  Most of these fish are stuffed with leeches, shrimp, baby white bass, bugs, and some mystery fish that I’m assuming are either baby perch or walleyes. 

Combine an overabundance of food and weed growth, and you have a recipe of tougher fishing.  I think the same thing will start to happen up here on Sakakawea any day now also.  

Especially now on Sakakawea, when the smelt move deeper, so do the walleyes.  This creates a tougher catching scenario.  I say it all the time to clients this time of year.  The walleyes are eating prime rib and we are offering hot dogs. 

Devils Lake fishing has changed a ton.  The normal structure like humps, roads, and old shoreline just seems devoid of fish.  If you find a stretch with heavy weed growth nearby, your chances at catching fish go way up. Devils Lake walleyes right now are buried in the weeds and these weeds are not the fishermen friendly kind.  

As soon as those weeds begin to die off this fall the bite will be insane! 

I’m back up on Sakakawea to close out my lake guiding for the 26th season.  I’ll be here until the end of August.  I shouldn’t say I’m completely done because I have a couple trips on each lake in September, but September for me is a turnaround time.  

I’ll be gearing up for the late season push on the Missouri River near Bismarck.  I’ll start guiding the river Oct. 1, so if you want to still get out this fall please get ahold of me to book a trip.  It’s a great way to spend a day in between hunting trips!

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

Featured Photo: Working the Weeds for Walleyes.  Devils Lake’s walleyes are shifting in their preferred cover, and areas of structure along weedy stretches are where the fish seem to be. DEO Photo by Mike Peluso.