Walleye have been biting great the past week. Went out Thursday and got 5. All of the fish are shallow, 6-10 feet of water or even lesd. Got 3 of them on a yellow and silver clackin-rap but worms on lindys did well too. Weather has been really warm and water is pretty muddy but they don’t seem to mind. Surface temp was 60 degrees or more.
No pictures sorry.
Sakakawea
Update on spring
Went out yesterday, water temp were around 51 degrees, didn’t get any walleyes nd the general was a slow bite. Did get 2 white bass and they seemed active. Tried on lake side of point in lewis and clark for crappie but no luck, might try shallows this weekend.
Went out a week ago from shore at Lewis and clark and did well, fish were holding in about 3 or 4 feet of water, and catfish were ravanous!
First day in boat!
Took Rooke’s boat out today for first time. Ice came off of this end of the lake about a week ago. Fished in about 8-10 feet of water at 50 degrees. Managed two good walleye and a slab crappie. Jigging powerbait minnows with a slow retrieve worked well along with dead sticking a minnow below the boat. Water was super brown but they still seem capable of finding food.
As far as spawn goes, neither of the eyes had eggs but they may have been males idk. Crappie may start spawning soon so I need to watch for that.
Pike on the ice
Went out again yesterday looking for pike. Started inside the bay near the point at about 13 ft. Managed one smaller male right away but then nothing so we moved to the mouth of the bay in about the same depth of water and we’re immediately rewarded. Hooked up and missed a few, Rooke had a nice one on that we lost at the bottom of the hole.
Then I managed this dandy of a fish. 15 lbs 38 inches on a pink and white spoon tipped with a whole minnow.
The bite was really good right at sunset. Weather was blue skies and mid 30s it was unusually warm.
Catching pike
Well no where is biting good, but I’ve found pike in lewis and clark bay. The bay is at 14 ft of water and the pike seem to be cruising through. Marked alot of fish and was able to call them in with a thumping rap and caught one on it. Otherwise today smelt was king with all of our hits and fish coming on smelt, except one. Water was cold, 10-15, with snow in the morning and clearing in the afternoon. Bite was mostly at evening, coming after 4 and sunset at 6.
Monster pike
Forgot to post this when I caught it, last ice fishing of the year, March 9th. It was 45 degrees and sunny, I was fishing in 9 to 15 ft of water with tipups and smelt. Caught 5 fish, a 10 lbder and this monster! 40 inches long and probably my biggest pike! What a day!!
Early spring fishing
We have had an exceptional early thaw this year. The river opened one week ago and today I am fishing open water at lunds landing and Lewis and Clark. It would seem the walleye are prespawning on the river and people have been doing really well at the pumphouse. Today I fished for pike on sakakawea. Lunds had really low water, I couldn’t find a spot deeper than 5 ft. Managed a small pike slow rolling a minnow but was otherwise dead. It may be to shallow to early. Lewis and Clark however was a different matter. There is still ice on the boat ramp where barley 3 weeks before I caught a 40 in fish through the ice. On the inlet though the water was open and the pike were trolling. I got an ok pike and the guy across from me got a beauty of a fish. Oddly I also caught a large catfish in deep water on a minnow. Weather has been in the 40s and wind was light with mostly sunny skies giving way to clouds.
Mid-Winter Fishing
Went out fishing at Sakakawea yesterday with some friends. It has been really cold with highs in the negatives some days but we warmed up this weekend with yesterday at 36. Still fishing was slow. We tried out by Lunds Landing, some submerged islands off in the main body at about 17 to 30 feet of water and got nothing. We then went over to the south side kind of by Tobacco Gardens but a little bit further east at the opening of this bay. We were fishing at 12 to 9 feet of water and managed one yellow perch, one pike, and one 21.5 in walleye! Saw a few other fish on the finder and had a few tipups go but to no result. Caught the fish on a yellow darting lure.
Posted from Williston, North Dakota, United States.
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Summer UPdate
It has been awhile since I have posted anything so I need to record an update of what has happened.
Went out a few times on the lake since last post and did pretty good late summer for walleyes all around the west end here using crawler haulers or trolling raps.
First thing, walleyes do indeed move up into the river in fall. I have been out to the confluence and managed some walleyes (actually sawger) using a three way swivel rig or bottom bouncer pulling a floating jig head with a minnow or slow rolling rattletraps. This was during the month of October mostly.
Second thing, I went out to Kota-Ray today (11-1-2015) in a boat. Yes on the first of November! The water temp was 43 degrees and the air temp was mid 50s with a West/Northwest wind at about 15 mph. It was really hard to find any perch. We found a few small ones sitting in about 6 feet of water across from the second pier on the west end of the lake. They were hitting worms on a double hook ocean rig. Also managed two good sized Large Mouth bass using a Jighead with spinner and a small minnow bait on the end. They seemed to be hold up right on the edge of the weeds in the 8 foot of water zone. Jigged slow and paused in some spots seemed to do the trick.
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Perch Turned Off
Well went out again to catch some more Yellow Perch because they are just so tasty but wasnt able to get very many, or really any big ones. I was using minnows and I thin minnow are over and I should have used worms. Managed five keepers. Also some smaller perch were doing some really odd things on the surface of the water, may be a sign of when the fishing turns off. I heard that others were having a tough time catching them too.
Other news, the lake is still muddy but is clearing up, I hear that the walleyes are starting to bite again on this end on spinners and WORMS so it would seem around 65 degree water temp the switch from minnows to worms happens.
That is all for now.
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Posted from Williston, North Dakota, United States.