Finally made it out on 3/23, what a good feeling to be back on the open water. We went thru Chamberlain & everything is wide open & drove up to Ft. Thompson to put in. They were pooring water thru the dam when we got there, so we were very optimistic. 15 minutes of fishing we had a normal 16.5″ for the box. Looking easy right! Then they shut the water off & the bite died. We did manage 9 keepers for 3 guys for the day. Biggest fish was 19.5″ & the smallest 15.5″. All off jig’s & minnows & no paticular pattern. Seemed like we only got a fish or two @ each of our normal hot spots. Still a great day to be on the water, 72 degrees & no wind. Already working on the fisherman tan

I just got an email from my contacts that live right in Chamberlain & Cedar Shores is ice free as well. So it’s go time. Vacation day is turned in for Friday & I’m heading that way.

Well I made it out there today & it’s still iced over. The ice in the main channel looks very poor & should open with any warm weather & breeze. As far as the bays go I asked a couple of locals & they said it about 2 foot thick yet. That will take some warm temps & a breeze to open up. On a good note, the forecast for Thursday – Monday out there is between 47 on Thursday & up to 55 on Monday. Believe me those temps will be devistating on the ice. If it stays like that I’ll be taking a vacation day next week & heading out to Ft. Thompson with the boat, it’s almost always open up there. If I hear or see anything else I’ll post back.

As always weather will determine everything but I don’t think you have to worry about much. A couple of warm day’s & the release of water thru the damn will take care of it. I’ll be out in Chamberlain for work next Monday so I’ll report back on how it looks. With a late ice out the bite come the 1st of April will be North from Chamberlain anyway & I’m sure that will be open.

It would be great to see some SD lakes on these. I’ll start with my list of importance.
1. Lake Thompson
2. Lake Oahe
3. 3 way tie for Waubay, Francis Case & Lake Sharp
4. Any other major NE Glacier Glakes, ie. Enemy Swim, Bitter, Cattail & Kettle to name a few.

In recap the major ones would be the entire Missouri River, Waubay & Lake Thompson.

Pull the boat back to Huron but I wouldn’t bother going south to Chamberlain. Had some friends in a tournament out there the last weekend of September & it’s very tuff. Go back east to Lake Thompson. They are still getting some nice eye’s out of there & the perch & for the first time I can remember even the crappies are starting to go.

Waubay has been decent all summer & it will only get better as we start to cool down. Last fall one my best friends fished it almost everyweekend & would have 100 fish day’s pretty common. Lot’s of fish in the 14.5″ to 15.5″ range but usually everyday will produce at least one over 20″. Fish the road beds & tree lines with plugs or live bait.

Two weeks ago my fishing partner was up there out of Grenville with 4 guys in the boat. They had their limit of walleye’s & about 20 bonus perch before lunch. They just anchored out off the tree line about 1 mile south of the dock and vertical jigged & slip bobbered. Anyway if you want numbers this is the place to hit. Give it 30 to 45 day’s & it will only get better.

Fish are still on up on Oahe. I guess we hit a couple of off day’s after a storm last Thursday July 29th but we still did well. We fished out of Bush’s about 30 miles north of Pierre. Fished all main channel points off major creek arms and came in with a limit everyday. Trick is slow, almost like early spring fishing. 1/2 crawler on a single colored hook, or a leech. They both have their times. Not much going yet on Spinners, kind of weird for this time of year. Lite biters so hold on to the rods & be ready for them.