Ice Fishing North Dakota

Another winter and another fishing trip to North Dakota. Earlier in the year I was planning on hitting the same spot on Devils Lake as I did the year before. In-Depth Outdoors had released a video just 2 weeks before my trip and made me consider going to a new body of water. I also talked talked to the workers at Pete’s Bait Shop in Devils Lake and heard that Six Mile Bay just recently got ice and there were some spots with only 2 inches of ice. So this year I tried Lake Ervine. A smaller lake north of Devils Lake. I was traveling light and didn’t bring my heater, shelter, or other ice fishing comforts. Just the necessities - rods, lures, tip-ups, auger, and Marcum.

My first trip out I pulled my gear out on the ice looking for a good spot. I veered away from the larger groups to find my own spot. I drilled my first hole to check the depth and as soon as I put the transducer in the water I saw a mark a foot off the bottom. I quickly grabbed my ice rod and minnows. I tipped a VMC Tingler spoon with a minnow head and dropped it down the hole. As soon as I got close to the mark, it came up and hammered my lure. This was the first time using my Black Betty inline reel by 13 Fishing and when frantically dropping my lure down, the line had gotten came off the reel and got tangled. I threw the rod to the side and started to pull the fish in by hand. I was shocked as I got it up to the hole. It was a North Dakota Jumbo! I had never caught or even seen a perch this big. I just barely got it through the 6 inch hole and up on the ice.