Pike

McLeod

~ James Skinner

Took the yak out to ray to fish McLeod for a first.  Lake is real shallow north of the bridge but the south side is like one big pit that maxes out near 30.  Water was warm at 70.  Caught about a dozen 2 foot or less pike using a jig head and gulp minnow bait.  Was looking for perch and walleye and marked a bunch at 9-10 feet right at the edge of the weeds. Only managed one bitter though on a slip bobber and worm but it was a huge perch.  13 inches long, if I could get a mess of them that would be great.  It was bright and sunny and very calm, may have better luck on a cloudy day. 

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Spring update

~ James Skinner

So far this spring came early. I have heard reports of smelt starting to run on the lake by lunds landing.  Walleye by Newtown have been good but on this end its been real slow. Not a lot of reports but last weekend I went out and got a few pike, one being 12 lbs but I think was half spawned out. Also caught a ling, all in about 10-15 ft of water.  Temp have been solid for about a week now so water temp should be up, I’ll check this weekend if I go out. No melt yet from the river so lake levels are  real low.

Monster pike

~ James Skinner

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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

~ James Skinner

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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

~ James Skinner

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.

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Posted from Williston, North Dakota, United States.

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Kayaking at Lewis and Clark

~ James Skinner

Went out in the kayak today, it was really muddy water and the water was rather high from the flood/run off of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers. Water temp in the bay was pretty warm, around 65 degrees. Went specifically looking for Crappie that i heard were in the lake now. Fished the rock wall along the marina as the wind was from the south at a pretty good clip so it was the only place i could get away from it at. Ended up catching five with the best technique being casting and slow reeling a jig head with minnow in about 7 feet of water. Also caught 2 good pike on the day.

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Posted from Williston, North Dakota, United States.

Amazing Pike day

~ James Skinner

Went fishing at the state park on the point on the other side of the marina and slammed the pike. Was out from 12-4 and caught over 10 pike, keeping 9 with the largest being right at 7 lbs. The spawn seemed to be mostly over albeit two of the fish still had eggs. Also saw a few catfish and some small white bass. Was an awesome day of fishing with smelt and for big pike. Water level was pretty average.

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Posted from Epping, North Dakota, United States.

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Early Catfish

~ James Skinner

Went out to Lund’s Landing again out in the Kayak. Managed two average pike, 4 average catfish, and several shiner. This was the first day I have seen both Catfish and Shiner so they must be moving in. There was a slight wind from the south and fishing was really good right at sunset on the wind side of the water casting deep.

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Posted from Ray, North Dakota, United States.

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