Wow, I go to Georgia for a week and a lot happens!! Let’s get to it.
Lake Oahe
The lower end of Oahe has been treating the Propst Professional Anglers boys well!! I was heading to Georgia while Bob, Mason and crew were smacking some awesome fish!! Not only are the numbers great, but the sizes are even better!
There is plenty of bait and the fish are looking very healthy! There are plenty of fish to be caught, but the big ones are playing too. This awesome day on the water was capped with a 9.5lber coming in. To say I’m jealous of that gentleman would be an understatement!!
As far as presentation, bottom bouncing with Mack’s Lure Smile blades has been a hot producer! Fishing slowly along points was the key to filling the boat like they have been. Moral of the story is the fishing around Pierre on Oahe is alive and well!
Lake Sharpe
Now it’s time for the not fun news. Zebra mussels have been confirmed on Lake Sharpe. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers initially discovered them and then South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks staff were notified and confirmed their presence.
What does this mean for anglers? If you fish on Lake Sharpe, you’re going to need to decontaminate your boat when you leave the lake. This page is a huge help for making sure you get all those nasty little buggers out of your boat. Check out SD Least Wanted for everything you need to know regarding invasive species here in South Dakota.
Waubay Lake
Talking about Sharpe was not pleasant, but let’s get back to what fishing is all about….having fun! We had a lot of fun in northeast South Dakota this past weekend! Friday we were prefishing for South Dakota Elite Walleye Series’ event #4 on Waubay Lake!
Pre-fish on Friday was tough to say the least. The sun was high and the wind was nowhere to be found. We initially started looking for shallow weedline fish, in 5-12ft. The smallmouth bass were eager to bite, but there were no walleyes found on the end of the line.
We transitioned to main lake structure of timber and submerged road beds. We found some fish in 14-18ft of water depending on where we were, marked them, then went off looking for those big girls in shallow water.
After searching roughly a half dozen more spots, moral was low, but with about an hour left in the time we had to pre-fish before we had to be off the water we found some active fish in the timber. Mason stuck two good ones with a Phantom Lures Tilly and we left the lake with some confidence we could get a few fish to go.
Saturday rolled around and with a little wind and clouds we were hoping our shallow weed spots would produce some fish early in the day. Swing and a miss. We quickly realized we were going to need to grind out those fish out deeper.
As always, wind was the right medicine and the fish were snapping! The issue was it wasn’t fish we needed. If we were out to catch a limit of 14.5-15s, well you could say fishing was excellent!! Catching those fish in 16-19 inches, well that wasn’t happening.
We ended up putting 15-16.5s in the boat and we knew that wasn’t going to be enough. Hoping the wind had turned one of our spots on to kick out a big fish, we hit our top spots again. The bass continued to smack, but not the critters we were looking for.
We went deep again and tried a new location. To catch our eaters, we were pulling .8″ Mack’s Lure Smile Blades with leeches and nightcrawlers and also plain Slow Death hooks and crawlers. Hoping to trigger a big one, we got serious with our presentation. We put on #5 Colorado blades and full crawlers and our plain hooks were no longer tipped with crawlers, but rather full sized chubs. We couldn’t get them going still.
With about 45 minutes left, we ran to the treeline right across from the ramp at Grenville. With 24 minutes left in the tournament, my slipbobber tipped with a leech took a nose dive. I set the hook and my drag started screaming. I thought it was a smallmouth like the one we had caught here in pre-fish, but Mason convinced me to quit horsing it in. Sure enough, he was right. It turned out to be a 3.00lb walleye, enhancing our bag.
Unfortunately for us, the tournament came down to who could get their 17-19s. We were unable to get these right bites. We were able to score a respectable 8th place thanks to the 3.00lber and we’re happy with our points heading into the Championship at Mobridge next month. As always, we had an awesome time fishing the event. Huge shout out to Brock, Jenny and Brennan for putting on another great event.
Antelope Lake
Saturday night, we were hoping to get one of these big girls on Antelope Lake. Well, the 12-14 inchers were flying into the boat there too. Doubles upon doubles upon triples. The fishing was fast, but the big ones didn’t come out to play. Pulling plain hooks and Smile Blades once again was the key presentation to boat these fish. If you’re looking for a fun bite right there in Webster, well there is fish to be caught!!
Bitter Lake
Sunday we were once again hoping to go get some dandy fish. Well, guess what….the 12-14s are popping there too! Main lake structure such as submerged road beds and humps was the key.
Again, plain hooks and Smile Blades was flinging them into the boat. Leeches and crawlers were both producing well, but crawlers seemed to have a slight advantage.
Naturally, Hannah’s dad had a fantastic day on Waubay on Sunday resulting in a 21.5, 2 19s, 2 18s and several 15-17s. Go figure!
Moral of the story is fishing is very good in northeast South Dakota when you can find fish out on those main lake structures and of course, wind is the best medicine. My Mike’s Maps were a huge help to help locate the structure and I spent a great deal of time studying in particular my Waubay map.
If you’re curious about what I was off to last week. I was at a conference down in Savannah, Georgia. The history of the city is fascinating, I’m a firm believer there are ghosts there (don’t doubt me!!!) and I also got to explore the Savannah River on both a riverboat and the “Dolphin Magic”. For this week’s dolphin viewing report, well it’s a blast! Highly recommend checking the city out, but unless you like hot weather I wouldn’t do it in July!
Related Reading
I took my own advice this week and it worked out! The mid-summer fishing can be tough, but the right tactics can help put fish in the boat.
The bait is alive and well in all the lakes. Just ask all the bugs we were swatting! How do you catch fish on a bottom bouncer when the bait is abundant in the middle of summer. Find out here!
