It’s funny how I was a little reluctant to leave Devils Lake in my last report. Like all the previous ones, I’m here to tell everyone once again we are definitely spoiled here in North Dakota! Thank you ND Game and Fish for doing a wonderful job of keeping these systems firing like they are.

I arrived here back at Sakakawea thinking the bite may be a little tricky. I have been pleasantly surprised. In fact, I feel as if the fishing is better now than it was before I left.

Deep and deeper fish are still the trend. I keep hearing folks saying they can’t believe how deep the fish went. Actually, they didn’t really move a whole lot. Remember, we gained almost 20 foot of water on top of where they were these past couple of months.

The smelt are plentiful and these walleyes and other fish are on the chow. A person has to dig them out of the livewell after a day of fishing. Another, thing I continue to talk about is barotrauma. These fish will not survive coming out of 25 plus foot of water. Keep what the good lord gives you in the order in which he does, and move off and give those fish a break.

For me I’m running a heavier bouncer with a shorter leader and slow death with a crawler. I am keying on deeper water 25 to 50 foot and moving slower on those fish to keep the bait in front of them longer.

Jig raps, spoons, creek chubs and crank baits in that deeper water will produce good results also.

I’m here until August 9th and then I will be back over to Devils Lake until the 24th. I don’t have any more days left in August but I do have a few in September left on both lakes. I’m also keeping my fingers crossed we can get a good river bite near Bismarck going by the end of October. If so, I will be booking trips for there until freeze up. Get ahold of me.