The month of June is prime time for trolling up walleye on the Missouri River reservoirs of South Dakota. Over the past month I have spent every weekend on the water with most of that being dedicated to trolling cranks for on Lewis and Clark Reservoir near Yankton, SD. This past weekend, my buddy Mike Means and his long-time friend, Craig decided to take a break from Lewis and Clark and we headed north to the Chamberlain, SD area to fish Lake Sharpe, another one of these incredible Missouri River Reservoirs.
Mike, Craig, and I planned to take advantage of a suspended walleye bite that takes place on Lake Sharpe during this time of the season. Mike has a pattern dialed from his time spent on this water in the past and his previous experience paid off for us right away. On day one of our weekend adventure we managed to boat about 30 eyes with 12 being between 15 and 18 inches. These are perfect for the pan, which is what we were after on this particular trip. We had fish fry on the brain!
Our success came from trolling lead core line anywhere from 190 to nearly 300 feet back. We primarily trolled suspended walleye in 45 to 60 feet of water with our shad raps and flicker shad running anywhere from 25 to 35 feet below the boat. We trolled six lines and used a variety of color combinations. With the high sky most of the trip, colors such as red craw and natural shad produced well, but other colors produced as well. Trolling speeds were generally kept around 2 to 2.25 MPH on the Lowrance GPS.
Saturday brought stormy skies and talk of tornadoes, making for tough conditions and a shortened day of fishing. Sunday morning found us back out on the water with beautiful conditions once again, and again the walleye cooperated. We managed several more nice eyes before we had to pack up and head back home for another week of work. But no worries. Another weekend is close at hand, and the Missouri River is calling my name… Best of luck to you all this coming weekend. Have a fun and safe 4th of July weekend!
I have neglected to post many reports this season. If I’m not fishing, I’m working. I haven’t had as much time as I’d like to get on IDO of late, but hopefully I can post a little more often in July. Here are some pics from Lewis and Clark and the Gavin’s Point tailwaters over the past month. Pictured are: Carinsa Kuehl (8), Tamara Kuehl, Joe Kuehl, Tim Zoucha, Tim Zoucha Jr., and me.
My wife, Tamara and my daughter, Carinsa wanted to give a shout out to good ol’ Dean Marshall of Everts Resort for stocking the best jigs and plastics on the market. Those two catch 90 percent of their fish on Everts plastics and it sure beats a bobber. Thanks Deano!
Way to go Wade! Thanks for the report
Awesome Wade! The Missouri is an awesome fishery!How deep are those submerged trees now since the water went up?
I am glad the Kuehl women & friends were able to put you on the fish!
I’ve heard things are going well on Lewis and Clark, the quality fish were on the chew! How were the water levels? Francis Case is as high as I have seen it. Keep up the good work.
Team Jolly Ann strkes again…nice goin!
Dean,
Lake Sharpe is held at a consistent level for flood controls. Oahe and Francis Case are the ones that go into real swings, but to answer your question, the trees were anywhere from 20-40′ below surface. Great time as always Wade, hope to see you in a couple weeks for some River Fishing.
Mike
Pete, Lewis and Clark has been up and down. Last time I was on there it was up for a day and really muddy, then they drained it like a bath tub. She dropped 2-3 feet in 6 hours.
Mike, I had a blast as always. We’ll do it again soon.
Dean, I need all the help I can get. Your Everts shorty rods worked as advertised. I love them for trolling lead!
As Mike said, Sharpe was held at a constant level and the tree depth varies. We lost one or two cranks this weekend. 
I know where replacements can be had….left a few there myself a few years ago!