devils lake

[stackenem]

Looking for some info on devils lake down by hillman. I have our club classic there the 17th and have never fished there. Any help would be great.

Thanks Bill

[bosshawg]

bill, i'll have to look at my map & i'll get back w/ya....fished it couple of years ago for an MBI event.
help you as much as i can......and thanks for tips on nepessing, thou club went an changed lakes on us (thought parking would be to small for all of us) did fairly well the sunday of labor day weekend.

[rufus]

The only Devils Lake I know of is by the Michigan Speedway. If this is the one let me know, I have been on it a half dozen times and have done very well.

[stackenem]

That is the one I'm going to. All help would be great.

[rufus]

Devil's Lake is a great lake. I stop there a few times a year on the way back from Erie. I live about 50 minutes from it. I do not have a lot of vast knowledge of it, but will help you with all I know. On the southern part of the lake on the west side is ususally where I launch from. The lake has good populations of both smallmouth and largemouth, but I would say there are more greens than browns and for the most part the largemouth are bigger. If I were fishing a tourney on it on the 17th of September I would stay shallow virtually all day. It is an awesome dock lake, but not all docks are good. My favorite ones are halfway up the lake on the east side. I like fishing the shallow docks that are nowhere close to the break. Many times the docks with absolutely no weed growth around will hold the bigger fish, but this is not always true. I like using watermelon/gold tubes and wacky rigged Senkos in the same color. The secret is to skip as far back as possible and deadstick it a few seconds til a fish starts swimming off with it. Skip under everything with shade including pontoons, under aluminum boats, paddle boats, and wide ended docks. Make sure you fish several different types of docks before you give up on them. If you find one ususally the next several docks will have fish under them. The last time I was out there I caught 4 straight fish off of 4 straight docks that were each over 4 pounds and I then caught 5 other solid keepers in the next 15 or so. I did not get bit for an hour on docks and was about to give up when I found the sweet ones. My father-in-law is ususally with me and he always catches several nice smallies while throwing out the other side of the boat while I am fishing them. He usually catches them on tubes or pop-r's (actually splash-it's ). You may also see a lot of cruising fish, just make sure you see them before they see you and make a long cast ahead of them to where you think they may stop. If that is the way they go give a little twitch and 90% othe time you will get one of them. If the shallow bite is non-existent work the southern basin with a jerkbait, I like a Lucky Craft Pointer 100 in chartreuse shad, in 6-10 feet of water. I have caught them around the entire southern basin doing this. The sand bar that sticks out in the middle between the southern and middle basins is very good for this. Fish the same areas with tubes and Senkos. The weedbed directly in front of the boat ramp always has a few good fish in it also. Do not easily give up on the shallow fish, I guarantee that somewhere there is a stack of good fish in shallow water. It is an awesome break lake if you are not a shallow fishermen. I am definitely not a Devil's Lake expert, but have done well every time I have been there. I hope this helps!
God Bless and Good Fishin'!
Rufus

[bshaner]

I'll echo Rufus.

East shorline midway is definately a good area.  I think the key to those docks is the drop is very close to them nearly a straight drop to 30ish ft.  Good weedlines between the drop and the docks as well.  Hula grubs in greens are a good weedline pattern T rigged light weight.  If you dont have the shallow bite going then do some drop shotting the deep edge of the weedlines in 20ish ft.  There are some really nice points on that east shorline that hold fish.   If the shallow bite is on then I'd definately skip senkos weightless or skip some type of shakey head with a grub on it back up under those docks.  As always in the mornings run a pop r or sammy over the 7 to 14 weeds.  I've caught smallies and largies out there on that pattern.  Especially off those points.

If you like pads in the fall, the northern most shoreline is stacked with pads and shallow water butted up against a nice 35 ft hole.

Hope this helps,

B

[stackenem]

Sounds like you guys have been there and done well I will try to get the shallow bite going I like that type of fishing. Thanks for all the info will keep you updated as to how I do .

[Dan]

Those detailed reports get so vivid it makes me want to leave the west side Sounds like a great lake. I also love to fish shallow. Skipping tubes is a ton of fun. Been trying out the horny toads and they really skip well and if you get some overhanging trees you can skip the heavier toads way up under and then work them out. Even have caught some skipping under pontoons with the toads.

[stackenem]

I now know why they call it Devils lake. You have a devil of a time catching fish. I had a terrible day on this lake. Started out with 20mph winds from the SW so that made it very hard to fish the east side of the lake It kept blowing me right into the docks. As it ended up I blanked for the day. The guys that won only had 4 fish and they weren't very big. Oh well there's always next year.