Well this week featured a little bit of everything Mother Nature had to throw at us! We had sun and hot, wind, rain and even a little of the spinning action too. Let’s take a look at how the fish feel about that all!
Lake Oahe
The 2019 South Dakota Governor’s Cup took place on Lake Oahe this past weekend and many nice fish were brought to the scale! First place was captured by Duane Hjelm and Tyson Keller with a two day weight of 35.36lbs for 12 fish. Their bag featured a big fish of 7.28lbs helping spring vault them into the lead. Congratulations gentleman!
There were several 5-7lbers caught throughout the field. These past couple fishing reports have been that the fishing on Oahe, particularly down by Pierre in the Spring/Cow Creek area has been really, really good! The Propst Professional Anglers crew has been putting dandy fish in the boat for several weeks, so I no doubt the Gov Cup was going to feature the same fish!
Further upstream, the Mobridge area had some stellar reports come out this week as well! To say I am excited for the South Dakota Elite Walleye Series championship up there in the coming weeks is an understatement!
Lake Sharpe
We hit on this last week, but I want to reiterate it. The presence of zebra mussels was confirmed in Lake Sharpe so please remember to always pull your boat plugs and never transport lake water in your minnow/leech buckets. Whether you are fishing Sharpe, Case or any other lake.
There are of course still fish to be caught in Sharpe and the West Bend and North Shore area has been producing some good fishing.
Iowa Great Lakes
Chris Seylar has our Iowa Great Lakes fishing report. The walleyes are going steady on Spirit Lake with many nice eaters and slot fish still being caught. You can still get them shallow early in and late in the day, but the day bite continues to be out deeper. One could venture to say the walleye fishing is the best it has been for several years!
The smallmouth bass are also going pretty good on Spirit too, while the largemouth bite is decent as well. The perch bite continues to get better as the summer goes on. You can certainly have a good day fishing out there.
On West and East Okoboji the walleye fishing is pretty good too! The smallmouth and largemouth fishing is even better though! Panfish are working deeper weedlines and you can also find a pretty good northern pike bite on the north end of East Okoboji.
The Road Ahead
Well the weather has gotten pretty warm, but it is of course the middle of July. Next week I find myself migrating North for cooler temperatures and those pesky Canadian walleyes. I tied up about 75 fresh snells so I’m all ready to investigate what the Woman River lakes chain has to offer for fishing!
Once I return it will be a few short weeks before we are ready to take on Mobridge and the rest of the South Dakota Elite field for our season championship!
Related Readings
I know it’s that time of year that the fishing boats morph into tubing and skiing boats, but as the Governor’s Cup proved there can still be some good fishing to be had! Wherever you’re fishing, check out these articles below as I talk about how I find ways to put fish in the boat.
In this piece I highlight how you can still have success along the Missouri River system even as we battle those warmer temperatures.
Whether you’re targeting fish on the river or along the lakes, I talk how I approach mid-summer wherever I’m fishing.
In this piece I highlight what I do to make my bait stand out among the rest when the buffet table is set.
Related Videos
I challenge myself to battle July and see how many species I can catch in an 8 hour period. Enjoy some fishing, strategy and comedy.
Looking to learn more about my slipbbober rig? Check it out! I’ll be using this in Canada no doubt!
Think I may be fishing for the wrong species? In this video I talk the difference between a walleye and a sauger.
