I spent the last weekend fishing some of the lakes in the Northeast portion of SD. I was joined on this trip by Alan Corzine, Director of Technology/Development with Federal Ammunition. Alan and I spent 3 days in SD in search of Trophy Bluegill, Walleye, Pike, Crappie and Perch, fishing lakes such as Pickeral, Enemy Swim, Bitter, Rush and Waubay. We were greeted on Friday with warm temps and a tough bite. However we didn’t let a tough bite deter us from our goal. This first picture is me with one of the trophy gills over the weekend.
We spent most of the weekend concentrating on Trophy Bluegill and our patients was rewarded. We ended up catching 3 gills that eclipsed 1.35 pound mark, of which two were just shy of the 1.70 pound mark. Again, the action was not fast but good fish like these take a lot of patients and concetration to catch. The next picture is Alan and Jon with a huge SD gill weighing 1.66 pounds.
Besides the Trophy Bluegill bite, we fished other lakes for eater size gills. Alan and I caught a nice limit of gills ranging from 8-9.5 inches with an occasional crappie mixed in. This picture is a Alan with the fish we caught on Sunday afternoon after the weather took a major turn for the worse.
We also fished Waubay each evening for walleye. The walleye bite was nothing short of fantastic, as we could hardly keep our tip-ups all set at the same time. The bite was a night bite and the fish ranged from 14-18 inches. We easily caught 25-30 walleye each night and were able to keep our limit of nice eaters. The best presentations for walleye were Perch Go Devil Jigging spoons from Scenic Tackle and Tip-ups rigged with Red Glow Jig-O-bits tipped with a fathead. The water on Waubay is very clear this year and the day bite has been tough as of late. The tip-ups outfished jigging spoons on this trip, but usually it is the opposite for us. We did not get any pictures of walleye because of the late bite and amazing action. But, here is one more of those Trophy Gills! Once again it was a great trip to SD.
Those are some SUMO Gills Scott! Nice work.
Its been a long time since I have tanlged with some hefty gills, even thinking back to when I did I do not think they were close to the size of the ones you guys have here!
How deep did those bruisers come out of?
All I can say is WOW!
Let’s go! I’ll drive! Dee Zee, you in?!?!
Tuck
Tuck,
Strap on that kidney belt and lets hit the road!
Steve, when chasing those big gills we focued on flooded trees in 15ft of water. Flooded trees hold the Freshwater Shrimp and the gills love those shrimp. Most lakes in SD are loaded with those shrimp, and thus the HUGE gills. The bite is extremely tough because the fish are always full. Also, the actual number of gills is low in most of the lakes.
It is hard to imagine just how big these fish are without seeing them alive. They are twice as thick as a normal bluegill with the big ones being over 3 inches thick. They are truely amazing fish.
One more picture of the smallest of the Big Ones
Dandy fish Scott!!!!!
Hey Scott, your not wearing your pink Ranger visor!!!!!
LOL, I had it on Friday but went with the hat on Saturday and Sunday because it was WINDY!! I retired the pink one after Christmas because Ranger sent me two new Red ones
We’ll see how long it takes them to end of pink too 
Awesome bluegils.
WOW nice fish
Nice catch
Now that’s what I call Bull Gills!
Oh My!!! Very nice indeed!
Absolute beauts! Can’t help but think about open water and catching those monsters on a light fly rod. Enough to make a guy drool!
Charlie
Awesome Fish Scott!
SHRIMP…YUM YUM..
NICE CATCH!
Scott, I sent you an email with some info on Waubay lake!!!!
Good luck!!!
NICE GILLS YOU DON’T SEE GILLS LIKE THAT VERY OFTEN.
Scott
Were you guys using livebait for the gills or something else? Thanks in advance.
I was using wax worms on very tiny panfish jigs and then tipped that with a freshwater shrimp. The bite was extremely light and when you add in the 30 MPH wind, it took a lot of concentration. I missed two fish on the weekend and when you miss one, you heart just about stops
Scott,
Amazing how finicky those big Gills can be! I remember a bite like that on some sumo gills on Ann Lake in Ogilvie, Mn. Those fish seemed to hang next to my jig for minutes (seemed like an hour). I felt like I did not take a breath the entire time.
What # test mono were you using for these fish?
I use 2lb Berkely Vanish for panfish. I strongly believe the Flourocarbon line makes a big difference on those finicky fish.
It is also important to have good line so your jig does not spin. It is tough to get a bull gill to bite on a jig that is spinning because it is not a natural movement they are used to.
Also, if you get a jig that spins a lot, you have a 50% chance that an aggressive fish will hit the wrong end of the jig. I only fish hooks that hang horizonal, so spinning is a big deal.
Good post, Scott! I’m planning on going on one more 3 or 4 day icefishing trip this season and NE South Dakota is one of my choices, the others being LOTW again, Red Lake, or Devils Lake. How much is a license and where is a good place to stay? I’ve watched Tony Dean fish on Enemy Swim and Roy Lake on t.v. and would like to give it a try. I have my own portable and all of the gear. How much fishing pressure do these lakes get? The freshwater shrimp is also the key to the great duck hunting in North and South Dakota!
The problem with giving out lake names and fishing holes as you should be aware….. is that like an out of control “fire”; once she gets going, there’s no stopping the flames until every resource is smoked. Some lakes that have enough acreage can take the pressure, yet then again, species as such as bluegills can be raped from a lake in a matter of one or two seasons. (I,ve witnessed it)
May I meerely suggest that you not mouthpiece specific waters much the same as you would’nt show a picture of a Boone-Crocket buck and tell what 200 acre area it was harvested.
Hermit, I am well aware of what can happen to a lake when word gets out. You also didn’t see me mention what lake I got the fish on or where.
As fisherman it is our duty to be leaders in protecting fisheries and some are more fragile than others. Large Bluegill are particularily fragile and this site does a better job of preaching CPR than any other. Thanks for your input, and those of us reporting on this site are well aware of what can happen when to much information is given. We are not hear to put you ON the fish, just merely help you in your search.
Perchy, a SD nonresident fishing license is $60 and there are lots of places to stay. I usually stay at Lakeside in Waubay, but Webster also has several good places.
Thanks for the info, Scott. I feel the same way about giving out too much info on a hot bite, that’s why I mostly read posts and don’t reply. Just really interested in NE South Dakota and enjoyed your post. Is it alright to mention the lakes I did? Didn’t try to make anyone mad!
Percy, not a problem. Most of the lakes in NE SD are now well known, at least by most of us that fish up there a lot. I try not to put people on the exact bite or location of the bite but give general information like presentation and depth is fair game I feel. We appreciate your reports and let us know how you do when you get back