Change is constant and Devils Lake is changing. While some wonder what’s happened to the jumbo perch that made it famous, it has quietly become one of the finest walleye fisheries on Earth, while still offering superb angling for northern pike and white bass.
However, the habitat is changing, and the large population of predator fish could be the factors responsible for the decline of perch.
When I began fishing Devils Lake in the early 1980s, it covered about 39,000 acres, a big lake by any standards. But during the wet 1990s, the lake nearly quadrupled in size.
Today it seems to be following a pattern that all of the “new” lakes formed during the 1990s have. The early high runoff flooding prairie vegetation created superb spawning conditions for pike and perch, but since wind is also a constant here, wave action soon eroded shorelines, exposing rock and gravel, which created great spawning conditions for walleyes.
Early on, stocking was required to provide a walleye fishery, though today, the lake offers a naturally reproducing walleye population, one that by any measure is huge, with large populations of other predators, including pike and white bass.
But it is interesting to hear the theories. Fishermen like simple answers, even though problems are sometimes complex.
We hear about high limits, nonresident anglers fishing out the lake, and of course, cormorants. Yet, I think it’s reasonable to conclude that two things are likely most responsible for declining perch numbers: changing habitat and lots of predators.
I love this lake as well as the community and the people of the area. While the city paid a big price, it also benefited from the construction boom and the new infrastructure that is in place. And though some would like to see the lake brought back to what they consider a “normal” level, few we talk with want to see that happen.
You can imagine what it would look like – a graveyard with a million or so dead trees, decaying vegetation, and land that won’t likely ever be farmed, at least in our lifetime.
The wonderful fishing has brought new dollars into the area, as has the hunting. But problems remain. Contrary to the opinions of some, wetland drainage is not good business.
So it’s reasonable to assume that if the water flowing into the big lake were to first pass through myriad purifying wetland basins, as it once did, the water quality would be higher. These days, water in the big basin runs through drainage ditches and into coulees, which run high in even dry winters.
And as it does, it carries high amounts of dissolved solids. Why should we be surprised? As always, one man’s drainage project becomes water in another’s basement. You can move water but you cannot defeat the rule of gravity, and to suggest otherwise is engineer-speak. Water should be managed where it collects.
So treasure the fishing while you can, because change is constant. But remember that while drainage continues, it will also take a toll on ducks, and when we are down to a few, as is the case in Minnesota, our cash cow will only provide milk during the summer season, instead of year-round as it does now.
