The Lake Sharpe Showdown, hosted by The Fishing Crew and Pierre Area Chamber of Commerce was this past weekend, April 29-30 out of Downs Marina on Lake Sharpe. The weather conditions were brutal, with 40 mph winds Saturday and some strong gusts again on Sunday. A drop in water also impacted the bite Saturday, though water levels did raise again Sunday.
Prefish Thursday and Friday, we were focused on finding the right colored water. Essentially the two options were to fish in town above the Bad River or continue driving down river until you found the clearer or at least cleanish water. Having spent the last couple weeks focusing on town, as well as in our first Tuesday Night League, we felt town was going to be tough to put two winning bags together. We felt our best option was to take the run.
We felt that the water between Fort George and the Bad River was too dirty to make any effort and knew we had to continue going down river towards the West Bend area. Ultimately, we found some areas we felt the water color was clear enough we would be able to effectively fish and had the right fish.
Saturday morning the conditions were calm and we made the run with no problems and we were able to effectively fish right away in the morning, putting a 19 1/2, 18 3/4, and 17 inch walleye in the box quickly. As the wind picked up though, the water became more and more dirty and the bite turned off. To compound things, the water also dropped Saturday to the point weigh-ins had to be moved from Steamboat Park back to Downs Marina because there wasn’t enough water where we were supposed to be docking.
Two early lost fish proved to be costly for us as we were only able to bring those three fish to the scales. After Saturday, 11 pounds was leading, and we knew that we did have the potential to hit a 9 or 10-pound bag that would shoot us up the leaderboard. Sunday morning, we made the run again, but the winds of Saturday had been so strong, the water had dirtied to the point we were unable to effectively fish and coax bites. Neither trolling crankbaits nor bottom bouncing were able to coax bites.
Overall, there was no real trend of boats that ran to town or made the long runs. It was all about if they were able to land on the right fish and get the bites in the boat. Community locations, such as the stilling basin and Marions Gardens were the top spots in town. Boats scattered across down river anywhere from Fort George to Iron Nation. There was no right or wrong answer as to where to go and how to fish, but the key was find the right fish and figure out the best way to coax bites. Fortunately, it does seem as though fishing is slowly getting better and better here on Lake Sharpe.
It was unfortunate Lake Sharpe couldn’t truly show off, a normal year it wouldn’t be unexpected to have the winning weight be 25-30 pounds or even more, but the dirty water and low flows have just impacted the bite so much the past few weeks. Fortunately, as fishing progresses, there are a great number of 15-16 inch fish in the system as well as plenty to 13–14-inch fish to keep anglers busy as well. Then of course, those 17-20 inch and some bigger ones too!
News and Notes
Ice continues to recede and Lake Oahe continues to open up. Boat ramps were installed these past few days at:
- West Whitlock,
- East Whitlock,
- Swan Creek,
- Bob’s Landing, and
- Little Bend.
Additionally in central South Dakota, boat ramps were also installed at Lake Hurley, Potts Dam, and Cottonwood Lake.
