While the summertime blues can hit many walleye anglers across the region, one of the best summer walleye fisheries in the region is Lake Oahe. The summer patterns on Lake Oahe can set up to provide some of the best opportunities to catch a trophy walleye all season for many anglers. Fishing can change drastically from the bite in the early summer, but generally speaking there is still great fishing to be had!
Finding Mid-Summer Walleyes on Lake Oahe
The fishing that had been taking place in the early summer in the tributaries and creeks by mid-summer has predominantly transitioned out to the main lake. There are exceptions to this rule, as walleyes may key on bait hatches that take place within these creeks, but as a whole the fishing will now focus nearly exclusively on the main body.
The creeks and tributaries that had previously held fish are still good places to start, but focusing on the main lake points and structure outside and adjacent to these areas is key. The longer the point extends out in the lake, the higher the probability there is to find fish. Additionally, fish will also often be keying on secondary structure from these areas. Underwater points also begin to play a much bigger role in walleye location too.
Deep water is the key to everything in the summer. The depth of the reservoir, combined with the structure available at all of these depths, sets up many mid-summer patterns to take place in relation to depths greater than 30 feet of water. Begin your search in 25-35 feet of water, but there is a very good chance that fish may be focusing more on 40-50 feet of water. In the right circumstance, walleyes may still be shallow in 18-27 feet, but depth will vary much more greatly than it did earlier in the summer.
The most important factor to walleye depth in the mid-summer is forage behavior. The primary forage in Lake Oahe is smelt and lake herring. Generally speaking, smelt are the most important food source, but trophy caliber walleyes will also be keying on lake herring as well. Both of these are cold water species and when water temperatures reach a certain level, they will dive deep to get to temperatures they feel comfortable. When this happens, walleyes are forced to as well.
There are gizzard shad present in the system as well, but overall they tend to have less impact on walleye location than the smelt depth. Gizzard shad are a warm water prey base, where they will often prefer to be in less than 30 feet, if not shallower, however; when the smelt dive deep it is not common for the gizzard shad to keep walleyes shallow.
Mid-summer walleye patterns revolve around three main techniques: jigging vertically, trolling crankbaits, and bottom bouncing. The best technique may vary each day based on weather and forage behavior. When forage is shallow, trolling crankbaits and bottom bouncing are the top two options depending on location. When forage is deep, it sets up to be a jigging bite.
Contour Cranking Walleye
One of the best ways to target mid-summer walleye is pulling crankbaits along contour lines. Once the fish move out of the creeks and tributaries, they will stage along points, underwater points, and breaklines along the shore. Trolling crankbaits is an effective way to target these fish as it allows you to cover a great number of pieces of structure and vary the depths of your baits.
Depth control is critical for this technique. Planar boards play a key role in this. The shore side board is going to be the shallowest bait. It is a good idea to set this bait higher than expected, as it will float across extremely shallow areas as it crosses points. Shallow walleyes are often very aggressive and will not hesitate to come up and take this bait as well.
The main lake planar board also has an important job. The largest walleyes will often suspend out over deep water. While they may be in 30-40 feet of water, they may be only 10-15 feet down in the water column. A large, gaudy, wide-wobble bait suspended on this board is a great way to produce the biggest bite of the day as it scours deep water looking for suspended giants.
The two inside rods are going to be the baits that often produce the most bites. These rods you want to set your bait relatively close to bottom. Walleyes will come up to take the bait, but these baits are best set for being within 1-3 feet of the bottom of where you plan to have the boat the primary amount of time.
Top baits for this tactic are going to be Rapala Tail Dancers, Rapala Shad Dancers, and the traditional Rapala Shad Rap. The Tail Dancers are highly effective for targeting trophy caliber fish, particularly #11s. These are a great option for the deep-side board. The Shad Dancers are very effective for setting on the inside rods, while the traditional Shad Rap is often the best option for the inside planar board. Larger baits are key as fish are used to keying on larger meals, so do not hesitate to run #11s and #9s in Tail Dancers, with #7 Shad Dancers and Shad Raps. Top colors are blue and purple.
Smiles for Walleyes
The second technique for mid-summer walleyes would be bottom bouncing with Mack’s Lure Smile Blades. After trolling contours, if you find walleyes are holding tight off certain areas, such as the tips of points or off dropoffs, work back through these areas with bottom bouncers and Smile Blades.
During this time, focus on fishing slowly and really hanging the bait in front of the fish’s face. If fish are in depths less than 18 feet, you can pull #3 or #4 Colorado blades with success, but fish deeper than 18-20 feet or fish that are more neutral or passive will prefer the Smile Blade. A slow death or spindrift hook can also be very effective when fished slowly.
Trolling crankbaits is often the best way to catch trophy caliber walleyes, but bottom bouncing is the best way to put several fish in the boat quickly. The drawback to trolling is you are out of an area that has fish right away, but bottom bouncing allows you to precisely stay on top of these pods and pick them apart in short order.
Getting Vertical
The third technique focuses on a deep water bite that is growing in popularity. The advancements in sonar, such as LiveSight, Active Target, and other forward facing sonars, has exploded the popularity of deep water fishing. These sonars allow anglers to precisely cast to specific fish with Jigging Raps, spoons, plastics, blade baits, or other similar options.
Once the bait dives deep, fish will set up on deep water structure as they key on these baits. This could be sunken islands, subpoints, rock piles, or even submerged trees. Depths range from as shallow as 25-35 feet, to as deep as 50-70 feet. In fact, walleyes may suspend over even deeper water as well depending on the conditions.
While trolling can be effective for these deep water fish, often the highest percentage for success is going to be with live imaging and fishing vertically. The ability to focus on specific fish, at specific depths, is what makes this more successful than trolling.
Anglers that wish to fish vertically in deep water need to be aware of barotrauma. When fishing depths greater than 30 feet, fish are greatly susceptible to barotrauma. Similar to a diver, when a fish is brought from deep water up quickly, the change in pressure will result in severe internal damage. Fish may still swim off following this barotrauma, but there is a high probability these fish will ultimately die.
It is the angler’s responsibility to ensure they are being ethical when targeting these fish. Simply put, regardless of the actions taken by anglers, fish caught from water deeper than 30 feet will likely experience mortality. When legal, it is a good idea to keep these fish for consumption, or look for fish in less than 30 feet of water when possible.
It can be tough to beat the mid-summer fishing opportunities on Lake Oahe. Walleyes, particularly trophy caliber walleyes, will be in predictable locations and a combination of techniques can put fish in the boat. When the weather gets hot, the fishing on Lake Oahe stays hot as well! Good fishing!
Plan Your Trip to Lake Oahe
There is no better time to fish Lake Oahe than in the early summer months! We have everything you need to plan your trip! Learn more about Lake Oahe in our Lake Oahe Profile, find where to stay in the Pierre or Mobridge areas, and find more tips and tricks to put more fish in the boat all season long!
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