SE ND Update

I thought I would give a little update for my neck of the woods here in Southeastern North Dakota. The area I fish is anywhere South and East of Jamestown, ND. Just posting to help out and talk about this area of the state.

Overall, this year has been really hit or miss. I’ve had one day of 50+ perch 10’’ to 13’’ with action all day. I don’t think I went longer than a minute without marking a fish. This day was sandwiched between two days in which I didn’t catch or mark much of anything. Whenever I have had good luck, I have drilled hole after hole trying to find fish. Once I found fish, it seemed like they would stay in the area for the better part of the day.

When targeting walleyes, I’ve had a little better luck with numbers but not so much for size. I always seem to pick up one or two walleyes between 15” and 18” and rarely a fish over 20”. This biggest walleye so far this year is 25”. It also seems like I always ended up tying into a least one northern during the day.

I’ve had the best luck with three lures: UV VMC Tingler Spoon, Northland Buckshot Glow/UV, and the Ultra Light Rippin’ Rap #4. When fish are aggressive the Rippin’ Rap is the way to go. They can’t seem to resist it. When I have trouble finding fishing I use the Buckshot and pound the bottom until I mark a fish. When the fish are being picky I always go to the Tingler Spoon. It has out preformed any other lure in these situations. The falling motion of the lure seems to be the ticket. I’ve also noticed fish rushing up to my lure only to quickly swim away. I’ve had more strikes when I raise the lure up, matching the speed of the fish (fast), and keep raising it until they bite or swim away. I have caught fish 3 – 4 feet from bottom of the ice just because I raised it up that far and that fast.

With my persistence in hole hopping and trying different lakes, it seems like I have had a little better success than most people I have talked to. It has been a lot of hard work but worth it once I get on fish. Hopefully, someone can find this useful and it gets a discussion going. Good luck to everyone out there.

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Great report! THX

I have heard a ton of hit and miss this year for ND. I will be out to DL sometime later March and hope we “hit” instead of miss:)

Mocha wrote:

Great report! THX

I have heard a ton of hit and miss this year for ND. I will be out to DL sometime later March and hope we “hit” instead of miss:)

Thanks.

I’m planning a trip also or the end of March. I think it could really pick up around that time. Good luck and hope you get into them.