As far as the size of fish goes, Devils Lake is no lunker walleye hotspot. Instead, it's going to provide top-quality fish, and a lot of them. The average fish is going to be in the 18- to 23-inch range, with only a few fish in the 10-pound range being caught a summer. It's one of the area's best lakes for catching a large number of excellent fish in a day, and with the amount of variety that it offers, it's also a lake that can fish as if it were several different lakes during a single year.

Another hot lake in North Dakota, Sakakawea, seems to be the polar opposite of Devils Lake. Sakakawea, a reservoir on the Missouri River system, is facing record-low water levels. But in a way, that situation has helped the lake. The fish are more concentrated on conventional holding structure, as opposed to being spread throughout the various sections as are the walleyes at Devils Lake.

During the spring, spawning occurs toward the extreme upstream end of the reservoir and at the backs of the bays on that end of the lake. With the fish also come many anglers taking advantage of this spring bite in the most productive areas such as the Van Hook arm. Usually by the middle of June, however, the fish have moved out into parts of the main lake.

"What I've seen in the last couple of years since the water has been so down," said Candle, "is that the fish leave the bays sooner into the main lake, because it warms up much quicker now."

On the main lake, use bottom-bouncers and spinners on key points and sharp dropoffs, and work on the rocky bottom as opposed to some of the areas that have muddy bottoms. This lake's forage fish are smelt, so in the heat of the summer look for clouds of baitfish on your depthfinder. If you're proficient with a depthfinder, the balls of fish should be easy to find. The walleyes won't be far from the baitfish. When the water begins to rise, pay attention to the major creek arms. Fish the shallow-water areas with live bait.

As for which lake to fish right now, Candle chooses Devils Lake. "It just offers so many more challenges to fish," he says. "There are so many walleye-catching opportunities it has."

If you're looking for the same trip (and some of us are!), look to Sakakawea. Contact Candle's Guide Service at (701) 371-9431 for additional information regarding planning a walleye trip on either of these two North Dakota honeyholes.

SOUTH DAKOTA
Want to catch walleyes in South Dakota? Be aware that there's no letup. Switch gears from high numbers to high concentrations of good average-sized fish. A very good walleye lake, Francis Case, offers anglers a number of fine choices during the year. During April, anglers use jig-and-minnow and Lindy rigs, switching from these to bottom-bouncers and spinners along with night crawlers in May. With gizzard shad and smelt as forage fish, anglers have a couple of different "hatches" to match.