The 2023 tournament season is here and it’s off to a fast start! The season began for Mason Propst and Nick Harrington Sunday, April 23 with the first event of the Nebraska Walleye Trail on Sherman Reservoir. Upon returning to Pierre, it was the first night of Pierre’s Tuesday Night Walleye Fishing League. Now, the attention turns to the Lake Sharpe Showdown, which will be April 29-30. We’ve got all of this highlighted in this week’s multifaceted fishing report!
Sherman Reservoir
The first event of the Nebraska Walleye Trail was the Ice Out at Sherman. Sherman Reservoir is an interesting waterbody in that it allows harvest of two fish between 15-20 inches per angler, 20-28 inch fish must be released, and anglers are allowed one fish over 28 inches should they catch one. These unique regulations make anglers be particular about the “unders” they keep and also prevent 20-27 15/16-inch fish from reaching the scales.
The biggest takeaway was the number of slot fish in the system. There was a significant number of fish between 24-27 caught by numerous boats that were unable to be weighed because of the protected slot. The big fish of the tournament showed up in the box score as 3.04 pounds, but there were plenty of fish caught throughout the event that had they been caught outside of the tournament setting could be enjoyed by anglers, they just weren’t quite big enough to hit the scales for this event!
Mason and Nick took a gamble, fishing in an area away from the field pitching jigs. Sitting in about 20 feet of water casting into a creek mouth, Mason hooked up with a 17 incher instantly and Nick followed up shortly after with a 16 incher. After this, the bite turned off as fast as it turned off. Marking lots of fish was not the problem but getting fish to bite proved to be a challenge.
Trolling was the most popular tactic among anglers, focusing on large flats with leadcore line. However, other anglers also did well bottom bouncing with live bait adjacent to deep water. Jigging did produce fish right away, but overall these were the two most effective techniques. The best depths were between 22-30 feet.
Check out the full results below or visit the Nebraska Walleye Trail Facebook page!
Lake Sharpe
Tuesday, April 25, kicked off the first week of the Tuesday Night Walleye Fishing League in Pierre. The bite was very tough, seeing 12 out of the 19 teams bring in zero fish. Four teams caught more than one fish, highlighted by a winning weight of 7.85 pounds. Second place was 6.70 pounds, and third place was 5.95 pounds.
The fishing is still very tough, in large part due to the dirty water conditions in the reservoir below the Bad River and the lack of flows from the dam. Overall, the best fishing has been in the clearest water above the Bad River. Anglers looking to embrace the mud and focus on Hipple Lake have also been unsuccessful, resulting primarily in bites from gizzard shad. (Yes seriously!)
Attention now turns to the Lake Sharpe Showdown hosted by The Fishing Crew. This event will be a two-day tournament, Saturday April 29 and Sunday April 30. The weights will likely not be what is normally expected of a Lake Sharpe tournament, due to the dirty water and low flows. Anglers who are able to best grind out fish and put together two solid bags are going to find themselves high up the leaderboard.
Overall, the spring bite continues to be tough and changing weather and water conditions continue to add complexity to the bite. Increased flows and stable weather conditions should make a much better bite in the coming weeks, but for right now anglers should expect to encounter tough fishing conditions and focus on grinding out fish.
News and Notes
Docks continue to be placed for the season! Docks placed in the water from the past week include:
- West Bend Recreation Area on Lake Sharpe
- Joe Creek on Lake Sharpe
- Minneconjou Lakeside Use Area on Lake Oahe
- West Shore on Lake Oahe
- East Shore/Corp Bay on Lake Oahe
- Ketterling’s Point on Shadehill Lake
- Swim Beach on Shadehill Lake
- Hugh Glass on Shadehill Lake
Ice is also receding from Lake Oahe in the Mobridge area. There are still some large ice sheets present, but the majority of the lake should be open by late this week.
Rainbow trout stockings are also underway in eastern South Dakota. Redlin Ponds were stocked today with rainbow trout and trout stockings are continuing in other urban fisheries as well. Complete stocking reports can be found on the GFP website.
Be sure to stay up to date on all updates by following Lip Ripper Fishing on Facebook!
