Dry Lake #2 can be cyclic, but offers some truly world-class yellow perch fishing as well as a strong walleye population. Yellow perch over 15 inches and walleye over 29 inches are certainly in the system and are caught by anglers. The lake has large, expansive basins, but most of the areas fished are 8-13ft deep depending on water levels. Flooded road beds and these large basins are often popular locations to fish by anglers. Weed beds can also become quite thick during open water season.
Fishing Information
Location
Location isn’t the appropriate title for this section, it should be “Mobility”. If you aren’t marking fish, you need to be moving. The basin style lakes in the Clark area force you to just keep moving until you contact fish. Imagine fishing a giant field and this is how you can characterize Dry 2. This basin area is going to be about 9-12 ft depending on where you are and the current water levels.
Perch and walleye can be found roaming the basin chowing on shrimp and other insects. You may even see these invertebrates floating through the column on your flasher, drifting in and out of the screen. When you find the forage, fish are often close behind.
(Learn more about how these invertebrates can impact your ice fishing in Making the Forage Connection for Ice Success.)
The lake does have humps, road beds, points and weed edges and these areas can concentrate fish particularly in the mornings and evenings, but if you are in pursuit of the famous Dry 2 perch you will want to be constantly on the move drilling across the basin.
The best piece of advice for Dry 2 is drill until you find fish, then resume drilling as soon as they disappear. Often times once you find them they will be stacked up and you can pull them out in rapid fashion. The lake is famous for “hot holes”. This means working in pairs and having another angler ready to drop down on fish right away will keep the school around and maximize your success.
Presentation
The main key to getting fish to bite on Dry 2 is by being on them, but there are certain baits that will give you better odds. Favoring a more aggressive bait helps draws fish and keeps them around, but you can’t go too much. Northland Buckshots, Clam Rattle Spoons and Forage Minnows are all an excellent choice. Top colors are orange, UV orange and red for the Forage Minnows. Top colors for the rattle spoons are firetiger, pink/gold, orange and glow goldfish. Some days, they may crush the Forage Minnow, but other days they may favor the rattle.
If you’re having marks come up to these baits but won’t commit it is time to drop down further. Gold, red and silver tungsten jigs with minnow heads, red spikes and wax worms can be effective in coaxing neutral fish into biting.
(Learn about fishing with plastics for perch too in Plastics for Ice Panfish!)
I’ve mentioned it above, but it is worth repeating. The most effective way to keep fish around is have a partner to drop down as soon as you hook up with a fish. Establish your partner in groups, stay close to each other and communicate about when you have fish, how many and when you are hooked up. The more people in your group, the more holes you can drill and the more combinations you can throw at the fish.
Surrounding Area Information
Nearby Towns: Willow Lake, Clark
Nearby Lakes: Indian Springs, 3 Buck Slough, Willow Lake
Area Bait Shops: Dakota Convenience Store (Willow Lake), Black Claw Bait (Indian Springs Lake), The Bait Box (Lake Preston), Handi-Mart (Arlington), Cowboy Country Store (De Smet)
Area Lodging: Home Town Hotel (Willow Lake), 212 Overnight Motel (Clark), De Smet Super Deluxe Inn (De Smet), Cottage Inn Motel (De Smet)
Area Restaurants: Rusty Nail (Willow Lake), Wards Store (Bryant), TJ’s Tavern (Bryant), Oxbow Restaurant (De Smet), Subway (De Smet), Dairy Queen (De Smet), Dugout Steakhouse (De Smet), Wheaties Sportsbar (De Smet), Heather’s Bistro (Clark), The Corner Diner (Clark), The Lookout Bar and Grill (Clark)
Related Readings
Understanding the prey of the species your are pursing is critical to ice fishing success. Nick Harrington breaks down the various situations anglers will encounter when targeting walleye, perch and northern pike across South Dakota and the Midwest in Making the Forage Connection for Ice Success.
Ice anglers are all about that gold! Early in the season, the perch fish can be absolutely fantastic! Chris Seylar breaks down what he looks for it start his ice fishing campaign off with some gold in Early Ice Perch Tactics!
