It’s easy to love fall in South Dakota. The greatest pheasant hunting in the country. The gorgeous colors of the Black Hills. The crunch of the leaves as a deer walks under your stand. Don’t forget the quiet, cool camping nights as well. There are so many things to love about fall in South Dakota, that sometimes we tend to forget about what we had so much fun doing throughout the spring and fall.
Indeed, while duck calls echo through the sloughs, the fields turn orange, and the leaves change colors many boat ramps and shorelines sit quiet. This isn’t due to lack of walleyes. In fact, fall produces one of the best bites of the entire year and wherever anglers look to wet a line they’re going to experience everything the fall bite has to offer!
Walleyes on the Clock
The best thing about fall walleyes is they seem to be very accommodating for schedules. You can spend all day out on the Missouri River and enjoy an awesome bite all day long, but you can also enjoy a great bite after work, school, or of course a day out in the field chasing roosters!
Learn More: Night Time is the Right Time for Fall Walleye
It seems more walleye are caught the hour surrounding sunset than the rest of the day combined, especially for those anglers looking to sneak out to get some casts in from the shoreline. When you combine rocks, weeds, and shallow water adjacent to deep water you’re going to find fish. This means you don’t have to spend all day out looking for them, you can sneak out to end the day, wet a line, and more than likely feel a tug or two on the other end of it!
Learn More: Staying in the Red Zone for Trophy Fall Walleye
Bold Bites at Night
Fall also presents one of the most enjoyable bites of the year, gone is the finesse of spring when a jig and minnow fished slow may have been key. In the fall, walleyes are looking to stock up on calories and that means they’re seeking out big meals. This means anglers can bust out their biggest baits of the year, and often experience bites trying to rip the rod out of their hands.
While larger plastics can be effective, aggressively ripping larger crankbaits can often produce some of the best bites of the season. Larger baits, like #9 Shallow Shad Raps or Flicker Shads, as well as #11 Husky Jerks are a staple of fall. Many times, anglers associate these as baits that exclusively target trophy caliber walleyes, but that’s not necessarily the case as you can catch fish of all sizes on these baits this time of year.
Learn More: Over-sized Baits for Over-sized Fall Walleye
The reason these hard body crankbaits can out produce live bait or plastics is due to the vibration these baits produce going through the water. Twilight walleyes, which are what many anglers are targeting all winter, feed at this time because of their exceptional low-light vision abilities. This gives them an advantage over their prey, often perch or white bass in eastern South Dakota or gizzard shad on the Missouri River, but the strong vibrations through the water help these fish pinpoint in on these presentations.
Learn More: Know Your Hard Baits
Crankbaits aren’t limited to casting either. Trolling crankbaits is one of the best techniques in the fall, particularly in eastern South Dakota or oxbows such as Hipple Lake on Lake Sharpe. In the fall, the abundance of small white bass, yellow perch, and/or gizzard shad means that you can nearly perfectly emulate the natural forage by pulling crankbaits. This also allows you to cover water and contact active fish, which is key when bite windows are tight due to the large amounts of forage in the system.
Learn More: Cranking Up Fall Walleye
Fall Missouri River Walleyes
While the Glacial Lakes region of eastern South Dakota can produce a spectacular bite for both shore and boat anglers, particularly in the evenings, days on the Missouri River reservoirs aren’t to be forgotten either!
Early in the fall, fish are transitioning from their summer spots on the lower end of the reservoirs back up towards the upper third of the reservoirs. The large flats on Lake Francis Case and Lake Sharpe provide the perfect areas for walleye to stage and feed throughout this seasonal movement, and thus makes for predictable fishing for anglers.
Weather patterns play a major factor in the bite, as warm days can scatter fish among these flats while cooler days can concentrate them. The bite is often strongly dictated by the amount of current flowing through the reservoir, or the presence of wind as well. Anglers need to cover water to find these active fish, which makes bottom bouncing an effective strategy for targeting these areas throughout the beginning of the fall.
Learn More: Bouncing Around Early Fall Walleyes
While still effective in the early season, particularly as fall progresses anglers will find the best success bottom bouncing with larger, flashier presentations. This makes larger blades, such as #3 or #4 Colorado blades, a perfect option. Combined with a half to three-quarter crawler, these presentations produce the flash and size that walleyes are targeting through the fall months.
Learn More: Getting Flashy for Fall Missouri River Walleyes
This also presents a unique way to target fish that can result in extremely aggressive strikes. The larger blades, coupled with bottom bouncing at higher speeds, can result in rod-bending bites that make fall fishing that much more fun. The larger flats, combined with fish in varying moods, makes boat control critical. The most successful anglers are going to be the ones who pay more attention to their boat control, even more so than the specific color or style of bait they’re putting down.
Learn More: Boat Control Basics for Bottom Bouncing Fall Walleye
Let’s not forget about the special fall bite Lake Oahe is capable of producing. The fall of 2023 is going to go down as one of the best bites in South Dakota history, as the state record walleye was broken not once, but twice! Lake Oahe is a special fishery, and when you combine a fishery of this nature with the fall bite, truly epic bites like this are always possible!
Learn More: Lake Oahe: A Trophy Walleye Factory
The Missouri River reservoirs don’t require a boat either. Anglers looking to target river walleyes can find a similar bite to their eastern South Dakota counterparts, taking advantage of the rocky shoreline along the tailraces below Oahe Dam, Big Bend Dam, Fort Randall Dam, and Gavins Point Dam. These areas concentrate walleyes, and can produce a spectacular twilight walleye bite.
Learn More: Tailrace Walleye Tactics
There is no shortage of opportunities for individuals to take advantage of in fall across South Dakota. Whether it’s chasing roosters, sitting in a tree stand, hiking through the fall colors, or hip deep in a duck slough it’s no doubt fall is the greatest time of the year. While out enjoying all of those activities, don’t let your fishing rods sit in the corner collecting dust. Throw a rod in the back of the truck, hook up the boat one last time, or plan a trophy walleye weekend. However you hit the water, see for yourself why it’s easy to fall for South Dakota walleyes!
Learn More About Fall Walleye Fishing in South Dakota
Want to learn more about fall walleye fishing in South Dakota to make your trip even more successful? Check out some of our additional articles to learn more about each technique and tactic!
Bottom Bouncing with Big Blades
Nick Harrington’s favorite way to fish in the fall is aggressively with big blades. Find out more about his presentation, as well as how he uses the boat to trigger extra bites, in Getting Flashy for Fall Missouri River Walleyes and Boat Control Basics for Bottom Bouncing Fall Walleye!
Trolling Crankbaits for Fall Walleye
Trolling crankbaits is a popular way to catch fish all season, and can be particularly effective in the fall as well. We’ve got everything you need to know to become a better crankbait angler on our page, Trolling Crankbaits for Walleye!
Shorefishing for Fall Walleye
The fall bite from shore can be truly spectacular. Whether you are looking to leave the boat and make a few casts at the end of the day hunting, or are always fishing from your own two feet, we have plenty of tips to make you a more successful shore angler on our page, Shorefishing for Walleyes!
