South Dakota Surprise

[FryDog62]

Our season isn't open (besides crappie) here in Minnesota for another few weeks.... so I went over to fish for smallmouth in the Glacial Lakes area of South Dakota...

 

I went there looking for smallmouth and caught a couple like this over a 10 hour period ...

But then ended up catching a bunch of nice walleyes - and a PB 40 inch pike.  Not what I went for but had a blast...

[KCFinesse]

Awesome lakes up there. It always seems to me like the two best strategies in those lakes are to brave the wind and keep an open mind and be willing to hit the hot bite regardless of species. Nice fish!

-Jared

[FryDog62]

You're right, when I saw air temps in the 60's and winds 5-10 mph I skipped out on work and went.  Tried to go the last 3 April's but ran into 20+ mph winds every time I had an open date.  

 

It is worth going though if you find the right window.  The forage base of freshwater shrimp really helps the fish grow faster there.  And the season is open there when it isn't here.  Didn't see another boat on the lake --

[kickerfish1]

Nice job and congrats on the catches! It has been a few years since I have fished up there. Fishing has always been hit or miss on the bass (both LMB and SMB). Pike always seem willing to play. Lots of lakes up that way that vary in size and a pretty diverse amount of species to target as well.

[rascalP]

The Lindner crew always make it look so easy, don't they  .   SD has been on my bucket list for the last few April's as well.  Trout fishing has always gotten in the way.  Along with that work thing.       Enemy Swim and a couple of other lakes to the south of Webster and Roy and Clear are on my list.    Frydog, what were your best baits?  Jerkbait must have come into play at some point. 

[FryDog62]

9 hours ago, rascalP said:

The Lindner crew always make it look so easy, don't they  .   SD has been on my bucket list for the last few April's as well.  Trout fishing has always gotten in the way.  Along with that work thing.       Enemy Swim and a couple of other lakes to the south of Webster and Roy and Clear are on my list.    Frydog, what were your best baits?  Jerkbait must have come into play at some point. 

 

Absolutely on the jerk baits.  Hardest thing for me is to fish them slow... painfully at times.  Water is still quite cold in April though.  Any point, reef or sunken islands or high spots in the middle of the basin.  Lindners do talk a lot about bright colors work best, I can't disagree although natural colors work too.  Closer to the spawn 4 inch plastics work as they stage near shore.  This time I also tried some slow soaking of wacky worms but couldn't coax even one bite.  

 

On the jerk baits, be prepared to lose some due to the pike.  But dam those things are expensive.  I do use a short leader that Wayzata Bait makes specifically for crank baits.  They help ...

 

Hey if you're in Eastern Minn, did you get out for the Wisconsin opener this weekend?  I'd like to find a few places to fish smallmouth in western Wi to hit some time for smallmouth without going all the way to Hayward.  This first week when they're open but we're closed would be fun to try next year or even this.  Closer drive than South Dakota for a quick half day of fishing.

[rascalP]

Frydog,  Our plan was to fish Wisconsin today, but for a number of reasons, opted to fish local Chisago area.  Between trout fishing and bass fishing, there's not much chance for panfishing, and that's been good around here. So I spent a couple days fishing sunnies and scouting newly flooded lake spots (my weekend is tues,wed).  

  As far as smally waters in Wisconsin- St. Croix is probably your best bet, but best in Oct.  Shell, by Spooner has a decent smally population as well as Long, by Haugen. Better to head to Chequamegon Bay (3 hr drive). It'll spoil you.  In May all shallow - less than 5 fow.  And big avg. size.

      Or, wait a week, and hit Mille Lacs - which is my plan next week, weather permitting.  But C. Bay should definitely be on your bucket list. Great in fall too.

 

  I used to fish Wisconsin alot for bass, but I think the size structure has gone down over the years. Not sure why and with MN opening only a week later, I can wait.

[FryDog62]

Went back to SoDak to find the smallmouth and silver bass this time.  More South Dakota surprise...  brought my kids and it turned out to be a walleye slug fest.  Caught 15 that were 22 inches or bigger.  Son caught 26, 27 inchers, I had a 28.5 and my daughter caught her first walleye ever at 29.25 inches!  I think she's jaded for life.  Will go back once more this year and may actually catch some bass as intended... but I'm not complaining!