It has been a busy spring on Lake Sharpe, with both National Walleye Tour and Sharpe Showdown headlining a major month of April on the fishery. In addition to these events, the Tuesday Night Walleye Fishing League has been going strong. As the spawn concludes, and summer patterns begin to take hold, let’s take a moment to check back on our forecast and the status of the reservoir.
Heading into this year’s season, we shared our Lake Sharpe Status and Outlook, which had a couple highlights we wanted to check back in on.
The first was that walleye abundance was it’s highest since 2017, with ample fish ranging between 10-20 inches.
“This year has been one of my best springs for overall numbers since I moved to Pierre in September 2018,” said Nick Harrington, Owner of Lip Ripper Fishing. “It has been constant action, and I heard the same thing from many of the anglers who fished NWT and Sharpe Showdown too.”
These survey results indicated approximately ⅓ of the fish sampled were greater than 15 inches, a trend that also appears to be holding true.
“Right now I’d say it’s about a 1:1 ratio, ‘keeper’ vs ‘short’ fish, for what I’m seeing,” continued Harrington. “There are a lot of fish between 14 ¼ inches and 15 ½ inches, and another strong crop of fish between 16 ½ and 17 ¼ inches too.”
These year-classes are presenting themselves in these consistent size structures due to the steady growth rates that occur along the fishery.
“Lake Sharpe walleyes at three years old are right at that 15 inch mark in terms of growth,” elaborated Harrington. “That’s a lot of the fish we are getting, then it seems those slightly older fish are constituting that 16 ½ to 18 inch range.”
Lake Sharpe is a gizzard shad driven fishery, which is why the bulk of the fish are below that 20 inch mark, though some quality walleyes have been showing up as well.
“When the big ones go, they go big,” joked Harrington. “Bobby Crow had a 9 and 7 pounder on Day One of NWT to anchor a 21 pound bag, and Cam and Tyler had a 26 incher that came in at 6.80 pounds and 22 incher to score a 13.80 pound bag for Week Four of Tuesday Night League.”
Outside of these incredible bags, the bulk of the weights are often coming in between 6-8 pounds for five fish limits.
“I weigh all the fish I catch in tournaments, and usually you see Lake Sharpe fish coming in between 1.15-1.25 pounds for those 15 to 16 inches and 1.3-1.5 pounds for 17 inches,” detailed Harrington. “Everything is right on that this year, you’re getting that 1.4 pound average, and a couple of those better fish in that 1.5-1.7 pound category.”
This aligns with the weights that are coming across the scales routinely, which gives anglers a good idea for what to term a quality fish in Lake Sharpe.
“An eight pound bag is a 1.6 pound average, and a seven pound bag is 1.4 pounds,” elaborates Harrington. “That’s the math I based my decisions on, and I know if I bring 7-8 pounds I’ll be right where I belong on the leaderboard each week.”
This math is pretty consistent year over year, particularly in the spring tournaments prior to gizzard shad abundance reaching their peak as the water warms.
“Gizzard shad are prolific breeders, and essentially once we get towards Memorial Day the first wave of young-of-the-year shad will begin showing up, and that’s when the bite will slow a bit and the fish will really begin feeding and growing,” expands Harrington. “I say first wave because what’s unique about gizzard shad is they will continue to spawn as long as water temperatures are warm enough, which means by the time fall comes there will be multiple sizes and classes of shad.”
Overall all signs are pointing towards another great season of fishing on Lake Sharpe.
“Everything I’ve seen this spring aligns exactly with what the lake survey results indicate and thus what was forecasted for this season,” concluded Harrington. “That’s reassuring to me, and also tells me anglers have a great summer and fall of fishing on Lake Sharpe ahead of them!”
Check out the full Lake Sharpe Status and Outlook, and learn more about Planning Your Trip to Pierre as this year’s bite is going to be one you won’t want to miss!
Find the Latest Lake Sharpe Fishing Reports
Find the latest fishing reports for Lake Sharpe each week on our Fishing Reports page! We highlight in depth the bite we’re on and share plenty of other updates regarding the fishery and Pierre area as well!
Check Out YouTube for Bonus Reports and In-Depth Tactics
Check out the YouTube page for bonus fishing reports, detailed break downs on the techniques we’re using, and more! Be sure to subscribe to get all the latest videos!
