Bitter or Big Stone

Thinking of going to Bitter for Walleye or Big Stone for perch this weekend. Just wondering what you guys have heard about the bites on these lakes. I have a good idea or where to go on bitter, but not so much on Big Stone.

Bitter for both perch and walleyes. big stone the size isn’t even comparable. a big stone perch is 9″ avg they do get some 12″ but not that many.

I would go to bigstone, perch bite has been next to non existent on Bitter and the walleye Bite is a night bite. I have been twice this year with same results, i think if i go back i am going to chase pike during the day.

The bite on Big Stone has been fairly good – better some days and the active schools move around but you can usually find something. Mike is right about size as most keeper perch on BS are 9″-11″ and anything over 11″ has been tough to find for a while. Not a bad thing as 1) those 9″-11″ clean up nice and 2) you might get some bonus keeper gills/crappies/white bass mixed in but better to set expectations first.

RE: Bitter, I’ve been hearing the perch bite has been tough for the last couple years and Waubay has been decent/good if you can find the fish, more like 10″-12+” keepers out there. Don’t have any more info than that, though.

Hope this helps, good luck if you go.

Thanks for the info guys! I’m sure we’ll catch some fish either way.

Was just on Bitter a few days. Walleye bite was phenomenal at night, if you can find right structure. There was a certain depth and contour pattern that we absolutely lit them up on. We had a 30 fish night in one spot, some friends a hundred yards away didn’t get a bite. Not much of a daytime bite. Talked to a lot of stumped people in bait shops.

The weather that moved through this week may have changed things, though.

Not a single perch. In fact, they’ve been tough in that whole area. I’m guessing all the pressure is starting to get to someof those popular lakes out there. But, they can still be found off the beaten path. Got into some nice gills during the day on Enemy Swim and did alright on Pickerel on a variety of species. Didn’t waste our time pounding Bitter from about 8-9 am to about 4 pm.

Haven’t heard much good going on Waubay in a while.

Be warned, there are dangerous pressure ridges all over out there. Wouldn’t suggest driving around unless you can see what you’re doing. Even heard about one heave that inverted under the ice on the west side of Bitter. Water seeped up and it froze, and there is no way of knowing it’s there. A guy put his front end in when we were out there. The gentlemen at Sportmans Cove in Webster are full of good information on that stuff.

Big Stone has been good for both species this year. Again, have to know the structure to look for. As mentioned, don’t expect a 14″ perch, but you can keep yourself busy.

Thanks for the report sw Eyes! We fished bitter a couple of weeks ago and caught 25 eyes and 1 13 inch perch. The crazy thing is that the only perch bit on some shrimp that washed up the hole when drilled! The walleye were very aggressive. Although most were small it was still fun. The fishing sounds good either way so we’ll just have to pick what species we feel like chasing!

SW Eyes wrote:

I’m guessing all the pressure is starting to get to someof those popular lakes out there.

Not trying to start something or hijack the thread… but this sentiment is common in SD. Which is part of the reason there are now 20+ waters and counting that are all or partially closed to the public.