perch patrol

Zippy Dahl is the head of the Perch Patrol Guide service from Devils Lake, ND. You may not go fishing with Zippy when you book the Perch Patrol but he is the man behind the P.P. that makes things happen. For starters, when you sign up for a guide service, that is indeed what you are signing up for, guided fishing, not guaranteed fishing. It doesn't matter how far you come or how long you fish, fishing is fishing, that's it. In our groups experience with Zippy, he did everything to put us on the fish. Some of the guys in our group caught more than others, but this wasn't Zippy's fault. I also have found Zippy to be approachable and open to questions and feedback. If you ever have a concern or question, Zippy takes care of everything right away. We were also very happy with our lodging and meals at the Woodland. Our Grand Cabin was comfortable and our breakfast and dinner included in our meal plans were also very good. I wouldn't go to Devils Lake any other way.

Having heard excellent reports about the perch fishing on Devils Lake, I booked a two day ice fishing trip with the Perch Patrol. To sum it up, we fished for two days (approximately 32 man hours) and caught 10 perch total.First the positives: Perch patrol has excellent marketing. Their website is nice and shows availability. When we checked into our hotel, an information packet was waiting for us with our food vouchers. Our guide was a new guide and was friendly and hard working. I think he genuinely wanted us to catch fish. The ice shelters were in good shape and were warm.Now for the negatives: The fishing was incredibly slow. In the Perch Patrol's defense, most other people on the lake were not catching fish either. I assume this had something to do with the incredible number of fish that were taken out of the lake the year before, leaving a dearth for future winters. Like I said before, we caught 10 keepers in 2 days of fishing. The quality of these fish was mediocre at best, too.I expected the "Perch Patrol" to go out and actually "Patrol" the lake. Instead, about 5 guides with 4 clients each set off together and fished the same 100 yard stretch of lake. This would have been acceptable if everyone was catching fish, but we were all grouped up in a small area, and no shelter was doing well. When we asked to move on the second day, we were obliged and our shelter was moved 30 yards. To no one's surprise, there were no fish there either. I understand fishing being slow, but unfortunately, staying in one area with nothing happening is not what I was hoping for out of a company that bills themselves as experts on the lake.Each guide is an independent contractor for the Perch Patrol, and Zippy handles all the bookings. All equipment is provided by the individual guide, so there is some variability in quality as some guides will have enclosed cabs on a Polaris Ranger utility vehicle and others will just have an ATV, and you'll ride out on the back of a trailer. That's a cold ride. We had four Vexilar sonar units come through our shelter over the course of two days. One of them worked. The other three had seen many seasons and were pretty much useless. The fourth Vexilar was pretty new and it worked well. We remedied the lack of working sonars by drilling a third hole between our fishing holes and turned the gain up to see both of our lures.Our guide was new to the service, and he was taking orders from one of the older guides, Tom. I never met Tom, but it was clear that he didn't respect our guide or us for that matter. Before our guide could do anything, he had to "check with Tom." After our first day of fishing, our guide said he had to meet up with Tom for a bit. This turned into us waiting 45 minutes at a gas station while our guide conferred with Tom and settled accounts with some other fisherman. This was infuriating after a long, painfully slow day of fishing. Why we were not taken back to our hotel first is a mystery. The next morning, our guide had to drive out to Woodland and meet up with Tom. The exchange took 30 seconds and ended with Tom saying, "well, I guess I could have just called you." All told, we spent 30 minutes driving to handle something that could have been resolved with a 30 second phone call. I understand that new guides require mentoring, but this was absolute disrespect. I liked our guide, but I really felt bad that he was placed into these situations. It speaks volumes about he culture of the service.Unlike every other guide service I have ever hired, you have to clean your own fish with Perch Patrol. I knew this going in, but it is still something to factor in when choosing your guide. Now for the food: The packed lunches on the ice were substantial. They consisted of a large ham and turkey sub, a bag of chips, an apple, a couple cookies, a water, a Coke, and macaroni salad. It wasn't great, but it fit the need. I can't speak for the packages with meals at Woodland Resort, but our package from the Sleep Inn included $90 to be spent at either the Cedar Inn Family Restaurant or Proz Sports Bar. We didn't go to the Cedar Inn because we wanted a couple beers after fishing. Proz' food can be described as bad bar food. We tried a substantial number of items on the menu. All of which were straight from a food supply company and were of gas station quality. We didn't try the pizza, but we saw a few examples. They looked under cooked and soggy. Judging by the dissatisfaction that my party felt and what I witnessed with other groups, it would be advisable to reconsider your winter trip to Devils Lake. If you have booked a trip more than 30 days away, I would highly recommend canceling. This was the most pitiful fishing trip I have ever been a part of. We would have cancelled our second day if we could have.