White bass are said to be fairly common down there. They are related to the striped bass, a fish that is one of the more commonly sought fish that does well in both salt and freshwater. They get to be huge; white bass get to about four pounds. I'll tell you that a three pounder is like catching an anvil-they fight like hell and taste pretty good. They aren't great but they're a good fish for battering and frying; the texture is not flaky enough for broiling, in my opinion.
In Devils Lake, these fish run up the adjacent coulees and streams to spawn. During that time, huge numbers of people fish these channels and stock their freezers, because there's no limit on them. They travel in large schools of good-sized fish. You should look into them.
Lots of people use crawlers or minnows under floats in slow-moving coulees. If the fish are there, you can hang the bait at just about any depth and one will find it.
I have had great luck with 1/4 oz chartreuse/lime round jigheads with a 3-4" green/yellow twister tail. I cast, let it sink for a second, then rip it through the water. That fast bait pisses them off and they hit like a ton of bricks. I've had good luck with fast retrieves on smaller Rapalas, especially obnoxious colors, like a Crawdad Shallow Shad Rap. Spinnerbaits and inline spinners probably work too, but I haven't tried them. I don't think spoons would work: their mouths are not that big, and I've never caught one on a spoon (despite fishing white bass waters extensively with a spoon for pike).
I always fish one bridge over a spawning channel. In lakes, I sometimes see schools of them boiling down the shoreline in the evening. If you can throw a bait into one of those foraging schools, you'll catch fish, but you won't have a great deal of time. As with most fish, try channel edges in lakes, like under bridges, or old stream channels in reservoirs.
In moving water, bridges are good spots, and the edges of dropoffs. Usually if you catch one you'll get dozens, but not always.
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