Long overdue South Dakota update

Hey fellas, Now that my almost 3 weeks of unused work vacation time is up, figured I’d fire up the laptop and post on IDO again. After a very busy and stressful year of work, I told myself the computer was going to sit idle while I was off. For the most part, it felt great and I got to spend a good amount of time on ice.

I’ll make this brief. Fishing has been great for the past few weeks. The deep basin perch bite on many N/E SD lakes is going pretty good now. That being said, this isn’t a bite to explore if you aren’t willing to put in the work. Lakes such as Waubay and Bitter are huge. The perch in these bodies of water school up over main lake mud basins and cruise, looking for scuds and other aquatic bugs. Locating these active schools can be hard work, involving lots of moving, drilling, and repeat. It could take hours, even days to dissect water, zeroing in on areas that these schools are using. I hole hop with 2 rods. I fish a #4 Rippin Rap on one rod, and another rod rigged with a VMC Tungsten Tubby Jig. I rig the Tubby Jig with either Trigger-X plasics or pack with euros, letting the fish tell me what they want. If they’ll eat plastics, I can work more fish out of a school without having to worry about rebaiting. I search for the active schools with the Rippin Rap first. Nothing gets the attention of roaming fish like a Rippin Rap, even if they don’t always eat it. Once a school is located, I grab that jig rod. The 16th oz Tubby gets back down to the fish fast, allowing me an extra fish or 2 out of the fast moving schools. Time is of the essence here. you must be prepared once the school shows up. Focus on unhooking fish quickly and getting the jig back down the hole. The more efficient an angler is at this, the more fish you can catch out of each school. I sound repetitive I’m sure, but it can mean the difference from 1-2 fish, or 5-6 fish.

As far as walleyes go, the bite has been day to day depending on weather. My best bite has been fishing VMC Tinglers, Tumblers, and my favorite, Rapala Rippin Raps. Consequently, ALL of our big fish this season have come on the Rippin Rap. Every single one. Focusing attention to main lake structure that transitions to shallow water have been best. Finding some timber on these same spots does not hurt either. Plan on setting up on this structure around 2-3 pm. Drilling holes at prime walleye movement time rarely yields good results.

Here are some pics from the last 2-3 weeks, enjoy!
Andy

nice work andy. I agree with the basin bite being tough bite and not necessarily for the faint of heart but when you get on them its a fun bite. I wish I could get up there and take advantage of it but its gonna have to wait awhile. Dang work is sending me away for a few weeks.

Also, my wife got me a GoPro for Christmas. I’ve only recently started to play with it. I’m no James Holst, I know. But it is kind of fun to play back some footage of the days’s effort. I’m getting better at the editing side after making two now, but there is definitely room for improvement. This one illustrates exactly what I mean about roaming schools of perch.

Wow really nice fish. I will be in the Lynn Lake area in February. I hope to on some nice fish like that.

This was my first effort. This was a smaller slough with a good dead stick perch bite. Completely different than what I’m use to. A Tuned up noodle, VMC Tungsten Tubby jig, and tipped with a tiny minnow was deadly. Those noodles double as an excellent perch deadstick. Watching that tip go down was kind of fun actually.

Sorry, YouTube muted the video.

Thanks guys!

Nice work. Those are nice fish! Those perch got some shoulders. Wow.

Andy
I don’t even know how to reply except to say WOW!!. I can only hope to someday be 1/2 the fisherman you are. Thanks for the post !!!!

I have got a lot of work to do
Bob

I got invited along with a group from work to stay in a sleeper house on Enemy Swim here in a couple weeks (23-24). My first trip out that way. Any advice Andy? Nice fish. Tight lines!

Good report Andy! I’m heading out to Clark, SD this weekend for my first ever Dakota fishing trip. Any recommended lakes in the area to start our search would be much appreciated?

Nice fish there Andy! I’m from sd and been doing pretty good on perch headed out to the river this weekend for some walleyes.

Awesome job! Do you like the way the No.4 Rippin Rap on the QuickTip or the Precision?

Nice looking fish Andy. I was out that way over New Years and did pretty well too. Fish were snapping ahead of that front! People were scattered all over which I thought was interesting…

Well done sir!

dbrode: Enemy Swim is a great lake for walleyes, but at times they can be difficult to find. When you do however, some can be dandies. Fairly clear water so your best windows are going to be sunrise and sunset. It’s a great panfish lake, and you should be able to find good gills and crappies. Indian Bay on the very west end of the lake is a good place to start. Look for pockets in the weeds and the fish will be there.

Matt Brookman: In the Clark area, I would suggest Dry Lake by Willow Lake. Large sprawling lake with lots of shallow weeds and some timber. The perch are high quality along with the walleyes. Pike are everywhere. Staying on the move until you find fish is critical. Structure such as sunken roads can hold fish.

Frenchman: I fish the #4 Rippin Rap with a Precision. I like the hookset power of the precision as we occasionally run into larger walleyes.

Andy, great report. Thanks. Do you typically tip the rippin rap?

Hey Robb. I never tip the Rippin Rap. Not that it wouldn’t be effective, but I feel that it might take away some of the action that makes the bait so effective in the first place. For those of you that don’t fish one, you are missing out on one of the best perch/walleye attracting lures on the market. There are those days when it will bring fish in under me, but they just wont hit the bait. I always have a follow up rod rigged with something smaller such as a spoon or jig ready to go. If the fish wont commit to the RR, I’ll reel up and drop down the smaller bait. 8 times out of 10, that will make them bite.

Nice fish!

Great tips on fishing the Rippin’ Rap and gobs of big fish! Quality catches in multiple species. Thanks for sharing!

Joel

Thanks for the info Andy. Any more reports, tips or ideas would be appreciated!

sweet report, thanks for sharing

Great report Andy. I have been out your area each of the last 2 falls, But have yet to make it out that way in the winter. We had a trip planned after Christmas but the cold weather had us change our plans. I’d really like to get into some of those Jumbo Perch. Does the bite for them get better and easier near ice out in that area like most other lakes? I’d like to try and plan a trip out there near ice out.

Hey Fishthumper,

I would say the perch bite will be peaking by later February and into March. Coincidentally, the weather is typically nicer then to chase them down as well.

Hope this helps,
Andy

Very nice, those are some impressive fish.

Very Impressive fish there Andy!
As for the rippin raps, are you still using the size 4 for the eyes?

Great videos! I love that you run the lx5 still. I said the same thing to Joel it’s cool to see that unit get camera time instead of the new units all the time. Thanks for sharing the pics and video quality fish!

Nice work, looked like a good time!

EC1: Yep, almost exclusively use the #4 now. The reason is that we typically fish walleyes of the eater variety. We also run into perch while walleye fishing. The #4 is small enough to be appealing to them all.

Hamms: I love the mechanical flashers still. I’m probably the guy that wont ever change either. It’s my comfort level, they are very simple yet work flawlessly for how I fish.

Heading up that way in a few hours, can’t wait to get on the ice even with the 30+mph winds tomorrow!

Good luck and stay WARM!