The eighth week of the Tuesday Night Walleye Fishing League season in Pierre is complete and the weights are tightening up as summer patterns continue to take hold of Lake Sharpe. Week Eight saw five boats within a pound for the victory, with quality fish being at a premium!
The night started with strong winds coming out of the north, gusting over 30 mph. For as strong as they were when the night started, they greatly died down for about the last 30 minutes of the night. A series of strong fronts had moved through the area over the previous days, which also greatly dirtied the water.
“Mason and I nearly simultaneously said ‘something feels off in here, almost eerie’ when we first put on the water,” said Nick Harrington, Owner of Lip Ripper Fishing. “The water color, the angle and strength of the wind, and all sunlight had us very much in a funk.”
The boys frequently trailer from Downs Marina to Farm Island to fish Hipple Lake for the later weeks of Tuesday Night League, and this is where the boys were fishing once again.
“We started trolling crankbaits, but I told Mason I didn’t have confidence that cranks would be the answer and we needed to be ready to bottom bounce. We both agreed that cranks were not going to produce a limit at that time,” continued Harrington. “About 5 minutes after that conversation, we put two fish in the box cranking to prove us wrong.”
After following up the same pass again, the boys had two more fish in the boat and were sitting at four. It was at this time they knew they needed to work to find better quality fish.
“Hipple Lake seems like a giant bowl that fish just roam wherever,” said Mason Propst, Owner of Mason Propst Fishing. “That’s really not the case though, we have stretches that produce more fish and stretches that produce larger fish and we decided we needed to go try to catch those larger fish.”
Targeting better quality fish, the boys’ plan backfired as it produced only one 15 inch sauger for a fifth fish.
“We had about 30 minutes left and knew we needed to head to our desperation spot,” said Harrington. “We were only going to get one pass on it, but that proved to be all we needed to get three upgrades.”
The boys were able to boat two 17 inchers and a 16 3/4 incher, which gave them 18, 17, 17, 16 3/4, and 16 3/4 inchers to bring to the scales.
“We had our eight in the boat and were on the trailer a bit early, which gave us time to sort our fish and see which ones we wanted to weigh,” explained Propst. “As we were going through the box we realized they all pretty much looked the same!”
The boys’ five fish weighed in at 6.80 pounds, which was good enough for a tie for 7th place.
Tuesday Night Walleye Fishing League Week Eight Top 5:
- 1st Place: Hight/Merrill 8.80 pounds
- 2nd Place: Menning/Laube 8.40 pounds
- 3rd Place: Young/Dillman 8.20 pounds
- 3rd Place: Macomsey/Keller 8.20 pounds
- 4th Place: Clark/Buechler 8.00 pounds
- 5th Place: Metzinger/Zilverberg 7.20 pounds
“We knew that the weights were going to be tight and that just one or two 18-19 inchers were going to be key, we just weren’t able to get those bites tonight,” concluded Harrington. “Overall, it was a great night on the water and the bite was a lot of fun regardless.”
Casting for Recovery Donation
Each week throughout the Tuesday Night Walleye Fishing League season, plus Sharpe Showdown, for each pound the boys bring to the scale $1 will be donated to Casting for Recovery South Dakota.
Current weights/donations:
- Tuesday Night League Week One: $3.85
- Sharpe Showdown: $12.94
- Tuesday Night League Week Two: $6.79
- Tuesday Night League Week Four: $4.80
- Tuesday Night League Week Five: $12.20 x WIN DOUBLE=$24.40
- Tuesday Night League Week Six: $3.80
- Tuesday Night League Week Seven: $4.80
- Tuesday Night League Week Eight: $6.80 pounds
Total Current Donation: $68.18
Lake Oahe and Lake Sharpe Fishing Report 6/16/24
Mid-June is here in Pierre, South Dakota and the bite is very good on both Lake Oahe and Lake Sharpe! Summer patterns are beginning to take shape on both reservoirs, which makes fishing even better and better on the lower end of Lake Oahe. Lake Sharpe continues to produce a steady summer bite as well!
