Lake Oahe is a large, complex waterbody and in turn requires in-depth management efforts. South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks (GFP) fisheries biologist Dylan Gravenholf provided an update on these management efforts at the January meeting of the GFP Commission.
Spanning from Pierre, South Dakota to Bismarck, North Dakota, Lake Oahe covers two states, and in South Dakota is split into two distinct management zones, Upper Oahe and Lower Oahe. While known for walleye fishing, Lake Oahe also provides angling opportunities for smallmouth bass, chinook salmon, channel catfish, northern pike, yellow perch, and crappie.
“Lake Oahe is one of the most recreationally important fisheries for the state,” said Gravenof. “It is a monster of a reservoir, it is a very, very large system.”
Each fall, GFP fisheries staff place over 200 nets at random locations throughout the reservoir. These nets collect walleye and other species, which allows biologists to determine recruitment, growth, and mortality throughout the fishery.
The 2025 survey results indicate increasing abundance and excellent growth rates for walleye. On the lower end of Oahe in particular, growth rates are spectacular with fish reaching nearly 17 inches by age-3.
Learn More: Walleye Growth Rates Cause for Excitement on Lower Lake Oahe
The increasing walleye abundance and fantastic growth rates are due to a number of factors, but one of these is stocking efforts by GFP fisheries staff.
Walleye stockings are alternated each year between Upper and Lower Oahe. This prevents fish from stock piling in a certain area and decreasing growth rates.
“We stock every year on Oahe, but one year we’ll stock the lower end, the next year we’ll stock the upper end,” continued Gravenhof. “Typically it’s not a good idea to stock the same locations with large numbers of fish every year.”
These stockings began in 2021, and have ranged from 2.1 million fingerlings to up to 3.7 million fingerlings. The 2025 season saw 3.5 million fingerlings stocked on the upper end of Lake Oahe. The 2026 plan will be to stock the lower end of the reservoir.
Stocking takes place on a statewide basis, and local fisheries managers submit stocking requests for their specific waterbody or area. These requests are then prioritized and determined based on hatchery capabilities and other needs across the state.
“Our hatcheries have been phenomenal the last couple years; they’ve actually exceeded our stocking requests, so I’m pretty confident we’re going to have a very similar 2.5 to 3.5 million fingerling stocking on the lower end in 2026,” expressed Gravenhof.
Stockings took place at West Pollock, Shaw Creek, Indian Memorial, Indian Creek, Thomas Bay, Walth Bay, and Swan Creek in 2025.
All of these stockings saw over 400,000 walleye fingerlings stocked with the exception of West Pollock, which saw roughly 137,000 walleye fingerlings stocked.
“We work very often with our counterparts in North Dakota and what they are seeing on the North Dakota portion is they have a lot of walleyes out there but they are growing very slowly and in poor condition,” explained Gravenhof. “We’re fortunate we’re seeing something a little bit different, but we transitioned a few of those fish away from the state line and a little further south.”
In addition to stocking walleye, GFP fisheries staff have also been stocking gizzard shad throughout the reservoir. These gizzard shad stockings provide several benefits to the fishery, including offering an additional food source, supporting growth rates for these large walleye stockings, and are a warm water prey fish that can keep walleyes in shallower water throughout the summer months.
These gizzard shad are obtained through trap and transport efforts from Hipple Lake within Farm Island Recreation Area on Lake Sharpe near Pierre. These shad are collected as pre-spawn fish, then placed throughout Lake Oahe so they can spawn throughout the summer months.
“We’re not actually stocking small fish, we’re stocking adult pre-spawn shad early in the spring during the spawning season so ideally when we move them to Lake Oahe they can actually spawn multiple times throughout the course of the summer,” explained Gravenhof.
These gizzard shad may spawn four or five times throughout the course of the summer on Lake Oahe. In addition to being prolific spawners, gizzard shad can grow walleyes incredibly quickly, and serve as an excellent food source particularly for walleyes less than 20 inches.
“Originally we were stocking gizzard shad in the same places we stocked walleyes, the last few years we’ve moved to stocking those fish across the whole lake,” expanded Gravenhof. “Even if we’re only stocking walleyes in one spot, it’s not a bad thing to get more prey in across the whole system.”
Gizzard shad stockings began in 2021, and expanded from the walleye stocking location to the whole system in 2024. The 2025 season saw gizzard shad stocked on both Upper and Lower Oahe.
Because these fish are obtained through trap and transport efforts, quantity can vary each year. Ideal weather conditions and catch rates can result in more fish stocked, but fisheries biologists cannot directly control all of these variables.
“It is a pretty time intensive effort and we are kind of at the whims of the conditions on Lake Sharpe where the shad are coming from – that’s why some years you see good numbers and some years you see bad numbers, based on water temperatures and stuff like that,” said Gravenhof.
The gizzard shad stocking plan will be modified for 2026, with stocking efforts to take place only on Upper Lake Oahe. This is directly because of those spectacular growth rates on the lower end of the reservoir.
“We’re seeing such phenomenal growth on the lower end, the abundance of walleyes is really good and the growth is really good but we’re actually seeing lower angler catch rates on the lower end than the upper end because the fish are in such good shape,” detailed Gravenhof. “There’s so much natural forage out there why would they bite the plastic little lure when they have millions of shad swimming around.”
The abundance and growth rates on the lower end is what makes biologists confident they can focus their efforts on the upper end to further bolster growth on that end of the reservoir.
“We’ll move as many shad as we can get our hands on, but we’re at the mercy of what the weather and water provides,” stated Gravenhof.
Gizzard shad were stocked at West Pollock, Indian Creek, Swan Creek, East Whitlock, Sutton Bay, Minneconjou, Cow Creek and Peoria Flats in 2025.
The combination of walleye stockings and gizzard shad stockings have led to the increased abundance and increased growth rates that anglers have enjoyed throughout the past several seasons on Lake Oahe.
Overall, the Lake Oahe walleye fishery is incredibly healthy and anglers should make plans to enjoy yet another fantastic year on the reservoir.
Lake Oahe Stocking Information
Lake Oahe Annual Walleye Stocking by the Numbers
- 2021 – Lower Oahe: 2,151,660 walleye fingerlings
- 2023 – Upper Oahe: 3,700,000 walleye fingerlings
- 2024 – Lower Oahe: 2,887,992 walleye fingerlings
- 2025 – Upper Oahe: 3,505,940 walleye fingerlings
Lake Oahe 2025 Walleye Stocking by Location
- West Pollock: 136,892 walleye fingerlings
- Shaw Creek: 449,276 walleye fingerlings
- Indian Memorial: 451,141 walleye fingerlings
- Indian Creek: 475,528 walleye fingerlings
- Thomas Bay: 451,603 walleye fingerlings
- Walth Bay: 451,500 walleye fingerlings
- Swan Creek: 1,090,000 walleye fingerlings
Lake Oahe Annual Gizzard Shad Stocking by the Numbers
- 2021 – Lower Oahe: 599 gizzard shad
- 2022 – Lower Oahe: 520 gizzard shad
- 2023 – Upper Oahe: 1,651 gizzard shad
- 2024 – Upper and Lower Oahe: 2,226 gizzard shad
- 2025 – Upper and Lower Oahe: 2,638 gizzard shad
Lake Oahe 2025 Gizzard Shad Stocking by Location
- West Pollock: 333 gizzard shad
- Indian Creek: 214 gizzard shad
- Swan Creek: 355 gizzard shad
- East Whitlock: 396 gizzard shad
- Sutton Bay: 197 gizzard shad
- Minneconjou: 350 gizzard shad
- Cow Creek: 472 gizzard shad
- Peoria Flats: 321 gizzard shad
Increased Growth Rates on Lower Lake Oahe
The walleye growth rates on the lower end of Lake Oahe are truly spectacular, and fish are reaching nearly 17 inches by age-3. Learn more about why this has fisheries biologists excited, and how anglers should be equally as excited as well.
