Closing out Ice season in Sodak

Well with some open water spots FINNALY starting to show I think I can dust off the open water gear and ready the big tacklebox. Anyway the fast few weeks have been a whirlwind with chasing snowgeese, turkey trips, as well as ice fishing. About mid april I finally saw the big perch go into that late ice mode with a consistent shallow bite in that 12-15 fow of water range. This also seemed to be more of a primetime bite with bite windows going from sunrise to about 10am and the waitign for that last hour of daylight for fish to get super active again.

When we found these perch they were bunched up in smaller schools and were very aggressive. Friends and I were using Bfishn blades, rippin raps, 1/4oz slender spoons, as well as rippin shads. Working the bait 3-4 feet off bottom drew the most active strikes with a good rip of 1-2 feet followed by shorter jigging strokes of a few inches to close the deal.

Closing out april I have attempted to get on some shallow walleye bites with marginal success. Fish are moving up onto roadbeds at the end of sunlight and are very hungry. We have been targeting roadbeds in 7-12 fow using clackin raps, rippin raps, as well as the old standard jigging rap. Rattle spoons are also turning a few fish. These fish come in fast and are appearing 2-3 feet off bottom on the graph. Some fish have been caught 6 feet down in 12 feet of water so staying up in the water column was key

These fish are hanging off on flats adjacent to roads before the prime bite periods and are roaming around from that 4-7pm window. Fish are not as aggressive during this hours and I have been using rattle spoons in red as well as 1/8oz slender spoons in silver and green with a pinched off minnow head. I wish I could say come on out but this might be the last hurrah, gonna try to sneak out tonight yet to push the last day back to may 2nd, we will see. Good luck and be safe out there. -Q