Lake Oahe, part 2

29 inch Channel Cat

I have to be honest about last weeks post which forced me to use only the pictures I had taken with my phone.  On Monday morning I brought the boat back to the dealer to get the kicker mounted and the last place I remember my camera was in the dash compartment by the steering wheel of the boat. Of course all my bragging pictures were on that camera.  Well, I picked the boat up Friday and the first thing I looked for was the camera, dang, it wasn't there.  A quick panic then a look in my computer backpack......I had it all along!  So Our first day of fishing on Oahe took us south to the area called the Slide Hill.  Although the Lowrance still had the trails we made 2 years, because of the high water, they were now 35 feet deep and all indications stated the fish were in 15 - 20 feet. Contrary to the most popular method of fishing on the lake, pulling bottom bouncers, we like to jig fish.  One never knows what you will catch and it is fun to feel them hit as one sets the hook.  Unfortunately the catfish really like this slow presentation.  Wednesday afternoon I set the hook on a monster fish as it took about 10 minutes to land this nice 29 inch channel catfish.  These things really fight as they really are not interested in coming to the top and a 10 pound catfish feels like a 20 pound northern pike.  We took a few pictures and let it go but not before Steve remarked that his late father-in-law would not be very happy seeing this one swim away.  Wes was quite the catfisherman down in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin and was a bonafide river rat.  This catfish was the largest fish we caught for the weekend but certainly not the last.  Unfortunately at this point, Wednesday July 15th was the 5th time I had the boat out, 3 trips to Mille Lacs, 1 to Osakis, and now Lake Oahe and I had yet to land a walleye. Pretty embarrassing if you ask me because eventually the excuse of "I'm still getting used to fishing from a wheel boat" would start to ring pretty hollow!  We fished the Slide hill pretty hard but it really didn't amount to much of anything.  Mark and Steve both caught some walleyes yet I remained walleyeless for the remainder of the day.  Admittedly catching the 10 pound catfish was nice yet we would load the boat up with a look for tomorrow to fulfil that simple barrier to the proper break in of the new Ranger!  The landing area has a great fish cleaning station, complete with water and a fish grinder to get rid of whatever is left.  Mark had caught a walleye that contained a tag through it's lower jaw which should be turned into the South Dakota Fisheries.  Unfortunately we forgot about it and that tag got ground up with the rest of the fish carcasses.  It was interesting that Russ had a tagged fish as well and ended up doing the same thing, grinding it up!  It was after this that we stopped by the Missouri boys camp and got the hot tip for the next day.

Mark with a Beautiful Crappie

After driving to the landing on Thursday and launching, we checked to see where Russ was fishing and stopped to say hi.  We are good listeners and after seeing the Missouri boys fly past us, it was time to follow them up the Moreau River.  It was a 10 mile run but as stated last week, we got an idea of where everyone was fishing and it certainly provided the strategy for the next 3 days.  Still feeling our way around the new area, we worked a shoreline that lead to a bay which curved 90 degrees out to a point on the main body of water.  I did get a small walleye on one of the casts but quite honestly, it didn't count.  As we approached the bay area where the water was calm, there were fish all over breaking the surface.  Hoping it might be stripers, to our dismay the bay was full of 15 - 20 pound carp, milling around in near the shore.  It was fun to watch but were were there to catch walleyes.  A few minutes later Mark nailed a beautiful 14 inch crappie in the bay.  I would normally doctor the picture to highlight both the angler and the fish better however it really shows the unusual background of the shorelines as well as how calm it was that day.  Thursday would prove to be the best of the 3 1/2 days of fishing with both the weather and the water conditions excellent.  Meanwhile the Missouri boys headed east of us trolling the shorelines with shad raps.  We never hooked up with them again so we weren't even sure how they did and I think it would have been nice to see their results.  Oh well.

First "Official" walleye of the new boat!

So I did catch my very first walleye in the new boat on Thursday late morning.  The small one I caught earlier just wasn't picture material and I'd have been embarrassed to even admit it.  When I finally nailed the 17 incher, it was like a huge burden was lifted off my shoulders.  Ok, maybe not that bad but come on, 6 trips to get the first walleye........really?  It was really hot on Thursday and the sun was brutal.  I have started wearing long sleeve fishing shirts that are actually very comfortable and this year decided to buy one of those head/neck protectors that you can slide up over your ears and nose to keep the sun from burning too bad.  Yes, they look goofy but they also work pretty good.  Also I wear my inflatable life vest all the time, either my belt one or the full over the neck one.  The new boat can really move and at 60 years old, I doubt my ability to tread water is for very long.  After a while you never even notice they are on, especially the CO2 type with the automatic inflators.  I look like one of those muslim guys in the boat........thank God we didn't have any border security on the lake!  Friday was an OK day, not as productive as we managed to catch 7 walleyes from the same area as Thursday, up the Moreau.  On the other hand the cat fishing was phenomenal as they loved the slow nightcrawler presentation for sure.  On Saturday the wind decided to come howling out of the west with gusts to 35 mph.  We had 3 - 3 1/2 foot waves coming straight down the Moreau and would be the first true test of the boats ability to handle this rough water.  It was amazing as we easily cut through the waves skipping just the tops as the new Evinrude E-Tec G2 never skipped a beat via the new RX4 4 bladed prop that powered us through the roughest conditions (sounds like a commercial huh!).   We were all impressed by the almost Cadillac like ride, much better than I ever dreamed. The high winds proved challenging as we only ended up with 5 walleyes which put us at 23 for the entire trip.  As we said before the allure of Lake Oahe is the interesting variety of fish you catch, the completely different location and scenery, as well as the company, I'd definitely go back for sure. We ended the trip with a nice hunk of prime rib at a resort up the road as Akaska, SD leaves something to be desired in the steak department.

I am off on Wednesday for my annual fishing trip with Chuck Teasley and this year Dan Hoene is going to join us again.  We always have a great time and in 15 years I have only missed it once. This weekend has been a scorcher with very high humidities.  The tomatoes and cucumbers are growing like crazy as everything is pretty early, I've already made 8 gallons of my refrigerator pickles.

Lake Oahe, Part 1.

Good Looking Crew from Missouri!

Our much anticipated fishing trip to Lake Oahe, a reservoir on the Missouri River began early Wednesday morning.  After picking up Mark at his house around 6:45AM we headed back to the pole shed to hook up the boat, load everything up and wait for my brother Steve to arrive.  Lucky for us he was also early and by 7:15 we were heading west.  It's been a scramble getting ready for the trip as I finally got the boat dialed in but felt because of the standing trees that still remain after the dam was built I should have a spare propeller so Monday night I ran back up to Frankie's to buy an aluminum prop.  There were some concerns that the right hub was not available however I paid for the prop and decided to look around on Tuesday morning.  After being on hold for about 40 minutes I finally got someone to answer and 15 minutes later they confirmed, no hub for the E-tec G2 aluminum props, dang.  I looked for aftermarket because I don't believe Evinrude makes their own props but works with one of the major aftermarket companies like Michigan or Solas to design a prop for their specific requirements.  Solas claimed to have one but there was no time left. Arriving at around 2:00 in the afternoon we unpacked our stuff and headed for the landing 10 miles from our cabin.  It's really different country and the drive to the river is very nice.  After paying our $6.00 daily pass we got on the river and headed south to a few known spots that produced in years past.  The problem was that the water levels were up almost 15 feet from 2 years ago and the whole dynamics had changed.  Really it meant fishing closer to shore for the most part.  About the only thing we caught of any significance was a small walleye and I nailed a nice 29 inch channel cat (unfortunately I took my boat to the dealer and left the camera in it) which I will have to post next week.  Anyway on the way out of the landing/camping area there was a couple of trucks parked by a tent sight so I drove over to introduce ourselves and to say hi.  The were 5 guys from Columbia Missouri, had been there a few days, and were getting fish!  Interestingly they were not shy about where they were catching walleyes as well as their presentation, trolling crankbaits in 8 - 12 feet of water.  We really didn't have much of a crankbait strategy, especially without a kicker motor but it was worth filing away about where the fish were.  The next morning we headed to the lake but had to stop on the road so my brother Steve could take care of some critical business over his cell phone while we still had service.  The guy in the nice blue fishing shirt was driving back to town and was kind enough to stop and see if we needed help.  Naw, Steve forgot he was on vacation was our answer however I noticed he had a bunk missing on his trailer, that wasn't good.  Agreeing to pick it up off the road if we see it sure enough it was about 4 miles further so we grabbed it and put it on the picnic table by their tent.  These guys certainly knew how to camp as they had 2 freezers plugged into the electric outlets as well the tents had 2 air conditioners on one end, that was amazing.  I gave them a Fishin' With Dave card and hopefully they check it out as I would like them to know how much we appreciated their help with our success.

Thursday's catch

So what was that success?  On Thursday we drove the 14 miles or so up the Moreau River and starting scoping out the activity.  It's easy to see the guide boats out there because for the most part they are all big pontoons with 150 - 250 hp outboards and 4 - 6 guys. Their strategy is quite simple, rig the lines with relatively heavy bottom bouncers, a 3 foot leader with a spinner and a night crawler, or better yet use the newer "slo death crawler hooks"with a crawler threader. I had an interesting conversation with a guide named Rick at the bait shop/tavern in town as we discussed the nuances of guiding in Minnesota vs Lake Oahe.  There it is simply about how many guys in the boat as they get paid by the person.  He was gracious enough to give me a ride back to the cabin but not before we stopped at his garage and checked out the boat, a 27 foot custom 3 tubed pontoon made in Poskin, Wisconsin with a 150 hp Honda 4 stroke and seating fit for a king with full captain chairs that recline.  There must have been 12 -14 rod holders on the rails as they basically drop the weights down and back troll with the big motor.  Those pontoon ends really will slow a 150 hp down enough to control the trolling speed to around 1.5 mph.  Fast enough to attract walleyes but too fast for catfish and sheepshead, which we soon discovered was a correct statement.  His rigs were pretty slick and he showed me his enormous collection of Slo Death rigs which were quite impressive.  My friend Bill Lundeen sold me the stuff needed to rig these a few weeks ago but I had forgot about it so the next day I dug it all out. Although Rick never let in to his secret spots, as I said before it's pretty easy to spot the guides and where they fish.  We left his garage as he gave me a ride back to the cabin to check out my new E-tec G2.  I'm not sure he would trade in his Honda but he was impressed.  We had ended the day with 9 walleyes, 1 nice crappie that Mark had caught and a smaller sheepshead that because fried fish was on the menu for the night, we decided to keep one and try.  Admittedly it was pretty good!  With a day and a half of fishing behind us, the next two days would be interesting.  Up to this point we used mostly jig heads with a half a night crawler dragged along the bottom and caught at least 10 catfish for every walleye we kept.  Up to this point my opinion was that the fishing was pretty slow but admittedly Lake Oahe is a very interesting waters to fish as the shorelines are completely undeveloped as you have the sense of being somewhere very special.

Monday morning I brought my boat back up to the dealer to have my 9.8 hp kicker motor installed as it came in while I was fishing.  We sure could have used it for trolling but we got by ok.  Along with the kicker installation there is a recall on my power steering on the main motor, a possible new GPS board in the Motorguide i5 electric motor, and a few odds and ends that need to be taken care of.  I am not sure what the weekend will bring but with a solid time in South Dakota and a planned trip with my friend Charlie next week on Mille Lacs, it will not slow down.

Running Hard

A couple nice crappies

Things are starting to come together for our trip to Lake Oahe this week so my post is early this week. One of the most important items I have been waiting for is my new RX4 20P prop that has been on order for a month now.  It finally arrived last Friday so I picked it up and at the same time learned that my replacement kicker motor should be in this week.  I never like surprises and my friend Pete called to see if I wanted to go and fish Lake Osakis on Sunday with his guide friend, it seemed like a great time to try the prop and see if I could finally land a walleye in the boat as it's been pretty uneventful in that department.  Pete claims his friend has been getting 20 - 30 walleyes a day using crawlers.  After getting the chores done around the house I put the new prop on and Sunday picked up Pete at his river place in Monticello.  Pete is a very accomplished fisherman who owns and operates River Run Guide Service specializing in fishing the Mississippi River upstream from Monticello, MN.  Check out his site, Pete does exceptionally well.  After stopping at McDonald's for breakfast we launched the boat at the southern end of the lake, right in the town of Osakis.  I have always wanted to fish the opportunity so this was a first for me.  First things first, we checked out the prop performance and it was excellent, great hole shot and it spun over 5800 RPM's which is just perfect as the motor's peak horsepower is at 5750 RPM.  From there we hit the first underwater hump and right away Pete got bit off by a northern.  He was using red tails while I tried crawlers.  The second drift ended with Pete getting bit off again while I landed a small northern which made shreds of my crawler harness. Unfortunately the walleyes were not cooperating at all.  Pete's friend Scott, who guides on the lake was done with his morning trip and stopped by the boat to see how we were doing and confirmed that it was a tough bite today and they didn't get one walleye either.  Deciding to try something else as Osakis is famous for it's big crappies and bluegills we headed to the calmer side of the lake.  The lake has a pretty deep weed line even though I wouldn't say the water is that clear, you could see the weeds in 15 feet of water.  While Pete tried a small piece of night crawler I pitched a small twister tail and did get 2 really nice crappies.  Usually crappies school and where there is one there's a number of them.  Unfortunately this was not the case Sunday but what the heck, it was fun to fish a new lake and for sure I'll definitely be back to Osakis.

Storm Damage to Keith's Place

On the way back from fishing on Sunday it was obvious that we were going to be in for a storm later in the day.  Being hot and exceptionally humid for the last couple of days and a cold front coming down from Canada, it's a recipe for some excitement for sure.  Although the maps were showing the storm front mostly to the northwest of us, and seldom do storms come in from this direction, it seemed to develop along the line heading right for the Twin Cities. Fortunately for us, the storm came after the sun went down which took much of it's energy away however it was a different case in Brainerd.  Striking the area a few hours earlier, the straight line winds tore up Brainerd International Raceway, the big resorts on Gull Lake, and my friend Keith Holtan's house on North Long Lake, just a stones throw from BIR.  Keith is in Alaska right now dealing with his own issues regarding the King Salmon fishery on the Kenai and I am sure this wasn't a welcome sight yet like he said, we are still have our health and that says alot!  Oh well, just another exciting week for sure.  With that in mind we head off tomorrow morning for Lake Oahe, SD which is a large reservoir on the Missouri River.  The last time I was there was 2 years ago when after the flood of 2011 swept 90% of the key forage fish, the rainbow smelt through the dam in Pierre.  In order to balance the situation at the time, the state increased the daily walleye limit from 4 to 8 and change the possession limit to 24 per person.  We did get a great variety of fish including walleyes, northerns, smallmouth bass, perch, freshwater drum, carp, and striped bass.  This year the water is up, and the limits are back to normal (4 walleyes, 8 possession limit) and because the lake is still feeling the effects of the reduction in smelt, the fish tend to be shallower where their current preferred forage the gizzard shad hangs out. This should make the fishing somewhat easier but I know it's still going to be hot as it always is in the middle of July in South Dakota.  We'll probably drag crawlers as our main method of fishing, it's a lot of fun.  We are staying at a rented house in Akaska and it's very reasonable for the 6 of us that are going which includes my brother Steve and friends Mark Applen and Russ, who has done all the arrangements.  

July 4th and the Blue Angels

Navy Blue Angels in Eau Claire.

After a busy week of being in Boston, fishing for Stripers, and coming back to a desk full of work I decided that the 4th of July weekend is one to get caught up on a few things around the house and if I had a chance, maybe get out and do a little fishing.  With Friday the 3rd being our official work holiday it was time to get the lawn mowed and the garden hoe'd. Saturday my wife Lyn and I were invited to her cousin's house for a 4th of July picnic with the benefit of having a front row seats to the Chippewa Valley Airshow at the Eau Claire Airport featuring the Navy's precision flying team, the Blue Angels. I love big machines and because my dad was in the Air Force, I love airplanes.  Our hosts Mindy and John live in her father's old house right on the corner of the Eau Claire Airport so we had as good of seats for free as could be!  I would have loved to pay the $30 to go inside but we were at a family event and that probably would not have been too smart, never the less our sight lines for the airshow part of it were  fabulous.  First to perform was an acrobatic biplane and these guys are crazy.  I can only imagine how difficult this is being in an open cockpit high powered single engine plane. The next plane to fly by was a F-16 jet doing some low altitude fly bys.  It was quite interesting as the jets flew by the noise was earthshaking yet if they were coming toward you, because of the speed you would not hear anything until the jet was almost on top of you and of course when they passed was amazing.  The team with the F-16 also had a WW2 class long range fighter/bomber plane, a P-51 which is usually regarded as the fastest propeller plane made.  It was almost impossible to get pictures because of the

An Official Photo

speed and angles however both planes came flying by, the P-51 in top and the F-16 on the bottom flying upside down, belly to belly. They were at the same speed and I can only imagine how difficult this was.  Of course the stars of the show were the Navy's Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Squadron which put on a 30 minutes, precision flying demonstration that quite honestly, if it didn't make you feel like a 10 year old kid again, you probably don't have much of a sense for excitement. It also stirs that Patriotic emotion which rise to the top and in my case it's impossible not to be proud to be a citizen of the United States of America!(Ok, enough flag waving!) As stated, it's difficult to get real pictures of the jets as they flew by but I did manage one that gives some idea of the closeness they fly.  One interesting aspect of the sky conditions that still exist into this week is the haze generated by forest fires in northern Canada.  The wind continues to blow smoke into our area to the point where on Tuesday the air quality in Minneapolis was the same as in Beijing China. Personally I doubt it but it was pretty bad! Anyway the show was fabulous, the food was great, and I did enjoy spending time with the boys, John, Greg, and Bob...I guess you would call them cousin-in-laws!

Knee high plus by the 4th

With almost perfect growing conditions with adequate rainfall each week has giving me a break from watering the lawn and garden, with the exception of my onions, and they are looking fabulous these days. Actually the garden looks really good this year with the corn pushing over 4 feet and starting to tassel, so far for knee high by the 4th.  The potatoes are starting to lay down and the tomatoes love the hot and wet weather we are having. My first crop of raspberries are doing well, just about everything is looking great.  The only issue is having to mow so often so I cut down on the fertilizers this year hoping to extend the need to cut the lawn by a day or two.  A few phone calls and finally my RX4 x 20P prop arrived at Frankie's, the third prop I will have tried.  With a peak horsepower rating at 5800 RPM's my first 22P prop only spun at 5400 RPM. The second was the 3 bladed 21P that turned at 5800 RPM but the handling was different and frankly not acceptable. With a little research and calculating, this 4 bladed 20P should turn close to 5900 RPM and really improve the hole shot and handling, we'll find out this weekend.  I will probably go to Lake Osakis on Sunday to try everything out before heading to Lake Oahe next Wednesday.  Because of my schedule the postings for the next couple of weeks might be a little out of wack but I have big expectations there will be some nice fish pictures.  As a follow up to last weeks post on the striper's, I put some on the grill and they are as good as any fish I have prepared and ate.

Lake Oahe, Days 3 and 4

 

Mark with a nice northern pike

The tropical heat of Thursday gave way to a complete switch in the wind, now coming out of the north at a pretty good clip.  Our strategy had completely switched from sorting through the walleyes to accepting the fact that 90% of our fish were going to be under 15 inches.  Liberal limits were set to help reduce this specific population as the floods of 2012 washed a significant amount of bait fish out of the lake, leaving the predator to prey ratio way out of proportion.  It would be nice if the Minnesota DNR was so diligent!   With 2 days behind us we had some catching up to do and decided to again head down river to fish our new spot, Nodding Horse Bay and continue into the main portion of the river.  Although we didn't get much action in the bay, the mouth and areas to the south came alive.  One of the nicer catches was Mark's northern which went about 36 inches.  It's interesting fishing the river as you never know what's at the end of your line and this fish surprised us.  Maintaining a controlled drift with the wind the action was steady.  Slowly the live well began to fill up with fish, enough that I started the front live well to keep the fish as fresh as possible.  Our drift consisted of moving up and down a deeper edge, staying in the 22 - 28 feet range and moving around a point, maybe about a quarter mile of water to fish.  Mark noticed a fish had followed his bait up then decided to stay under the boat.  It was a nice smallmouth bass, one that was smart enough not to fall prey to our jigs.  Mark threw a leech within a few feet and it just inhaled it.  Smallies are excellent table fare and it joined the already growing cache of fish destined for the cleaning table.

A Success Day's Catch

 By 4:00 we were counting and double counting our fish, making sure we did not go over our boat limit of 24 walleyes plus our bonus fish.  An impressive catch for the day, we did have some nice walleyes but the majority were under 13 inches, they would still make a great meal.  As you see in the picture, the South Dakota Parks Department provide a very nice cleaning station at the boat landing area.  Complete with water, Teflon cleaning surfaces, and a huge fish grinder, its a perfect place to clean and dispose of what's left of your fish.  Heading back to the house we were staying in, it was time to vacuum pack the fish and get them in the freezer.  South Dakota does not require one to leave any skin on the fish for transport.  Their only stipulation is that a piece of filet counts as 1/2 a fish.  Cut a large filet in half and it counts as 1 fish.  Because the average fillet was small we put 4 in a bag and sealed it flat so they could be counted.  In the end this pretty good as the fish froze perfectly and would not require any further processing when we got home. Now that we had everything figured out, the last day should be a breeze.

25 inch walleye, best of the trip

On Saturday we woke up to a cool 55 degrees and an east wind blowing into a distant thunderstorm. Because our spot had been successful we decided to return to the area we learned was called Slide Hill.  Almost immediately we began to catch fish.  On Friday we depended entirely on the live wells to keep our fish fresh, this time we bought a bunch of ice to ice them down if the fish turned belly up.  It was a great idea.  Up to this point the largest walleye we caught was 23 inches, a few in the 18 inch range and the rest under 15.  I was jigging my 3/8 ounce VMC Neon Moon Eye (NME) with a Powerbait paddletail tipped with a half a crawler when something smashed my lure.  The fish hung to the bottom, shaking it's head just like a large catfish, it didn't want to come up.  Convinced it was Mr. Whiskers, there was no need to hurry with the net as catfish usually hook themselves pretty good in their fleshy mouth and require surgical techniques to remove.  A few minutes later I could pick out a light colored shape, yep, must be a catfish.   Just as it surfaced the white tip of the tail became evident and we landed the largest walleye of the trip, a fat 25 incher.  These fish remind me of lake trout as when you clean them the cavity has literally rolls of fat inside them.  It was a great addition to a pretty good week and a nice reward for the last day of some serious and hard fishing.  Again we ended the day with our limit of walleyes as we headed back to the landing to clean our catch.  Sunday we packed up and by 7:00 we were on our way.  Some final thoughts: Night crawlers worked as good as anything and offered the greatest variety of fish caught; The water is very hard as it has taken 3 days to get the white film off my boat; My jigging skills have improved significantly with back to back Canada and Lake Oahe trips; It's great to be with the people you care about.   I have a feeling this won't be my last trip to this fabulous fishery.


A sign from Eric

In the meantime I did get my tractor put back together, began to weed my infested garden, picked the last of my raspberries, and headed to Eleva for our annual Fagerland Family Reunion at Jim and Kristy's on Saturday.  An extra special surprise was seeing my great Aunt Florence Olson, sitting in a chair looking as good as ever.  She is 101 1/2 years old and I must have talked to her for over an hour.  My Dad's favorite aunt, he made her adopt him after his mother (Florence's sister) died back in 2002.  Amazing articulate, we talked about everything including her hearing, loss of sight, and memory things that I have started to experience!  I guess I have a long way to go to catch her.  We did stop at Blueberry Ridge and picked 4 ice cream buckets of blueberries which I am enjoying every night.  Feeling somewhat lazy I decided to give my friend Bill Lundeen some berries and drove my motorcycle to Mille Lacs on Sunday.  Returning home my neighbor Lory was picking choke cherries for wine so I grabbed my ladder and helped.  We picked about 17 pounds.  Wednesday evening I head up to Mille Lacs with my good friend Chuck Teasley, he joins me every year about this time.  Although the fish bite has slowed down, it will be a great day as always.  I will leave you with a pretty cool experience.  While trying to catch a fish on the third day at Lake Oahe, we had not even come close to filing our limits.  As we arrived at our fishing spot on Friday a dragonfly landed on Mark's sleeve.  His son Eric, who past away 12 years ago as a teenager often shows his presence in the form of a dragonfly.  I tried to get a picture on his sleeve but apparently it wasn't talking to me!  Giving Mark the camera, the dragonfly flew down and landed on the boat, just next to him, allowing it's picture to be taken.  Our success immediately changed as we took full advantage of the sign given to us.  All I can say is it worked.

Lake Oahe, Days 1 and 2



Steve with a nice Striped (white) Bass

Not unlike my trip last month to Canada, last weeks adventure to Lake Oahe was a return to a 22 year old memory of the last time I fished with my friend Roger Weber, of Aberdeen, South Dakota fame.  Besides re-living memories, our host Russ Praught let us on to the increased daily limit of 8/day and possession limits of 24 fish for walleyes caught on Lake Oahe.  Because the severe lack of baitfish has threatened the populations of walleyes, a special regulation was put in place to help reduce the numbers of predators in the system.  Of the 8 per day, only 4 could be longer than 15 inches, with only 1 over 20 inches.  The ideal catch of the day would be 1 over 20", 3 at 19" and 4 at 14.5" per guy.  The actual catch would prove to be productive however not as optimistic.  Russ and his group left at 4:00 however we weren't as anxious as my brother Steve, Mark Applen, and I headed out at 6:00AM.  Arriving 7 1/2 hours later, we were on the water by 2:30 and immediately found Russ, Nate, and Gary fishing in the bay.   Oahe is a large reservoir on the Missouri River that extends over 230 miles above the dam in Pierre, SD.  The fishing locations consist of finding flooded points and flat areas that offer structure to hold fish.  For the most part it is flooded canyons and sharp drop-offs that mark the old river channel, and often dropping to 90 feet deep in less than 50 yards.  My Lowrance has an Insight function that is helpful in determining structures as well one can sometimes figure out what's below by looking at the shoreline to see, is it steep or sloping?  Reservoir levels can

Mark in Striper Heaven!

fluctuate considerably so the reference depth contours of my map chip are based on the full pool.  With the water level down about 20 feet and assuming some inaccuracies,  the contour lines were off by up to 30 feet yet were good enough to provide an great reference for what was under the boat.  Russ was fishing in 25 - 40 feet of water in the bay and catching a few.  We decided to move to the Moreau River area around an island to try our luck.  We did catch a number of 12 -13 inch walleyes but through them back, looking for larger fish.  The plan for a fish fry that night didn't look so good as we only had 5 in the live well.  It would soon become obvious that if you wanted fish, those 12 inch walleyes would start looking better.  As the boat worked our way back up the shore line we entered a mud line (caused by the interaction between the waves and the current) and immediately I got hit. This was no walleye and soon I hoisted a 18 inch striped bass.  Looking at Mark who was in the front of the boat I yelled....ANCHOR LOCK as the Terrova can hold the boat in one position, I knew these fish school up and it could be a frenzy.  I was right!  Steve and I traded our jigs for crank baits and we were catching a 17 - 19' striper on at least 9 out of 10 casts.  Mark was going crazy as he had never experienced a hot striper bite and couldn't get over the amount of triples we experienced.  I took a video and uploaded it on YouTube, you can check it out on this link: Striper Fishing.  The action lasted for over an hour before we were forced to leave, my guess was we caught close to 200 fish.  We used to catch these fish on Lake Pepin but never this big and for this long.  It was a great day to end day 1. 

23" Walleye

Day 2 brought the hottest day of our trip, over 100 degrees by early afternoon.  Determined to stay cool and protected a long sleeve Simms fishing shirt and long Cabela's fishing pants were my choice of clothing.  The new modern fishing clothing are amazing even on a miserable day like Thursday turned out to be.  After deciding that yes, the Moreau River was nice, the walleyes were small and challenging to locate.  One of the features on my Lowrance Map software was fishing tips for areas and after reviewing a few notes about a bay south of Swan Creek, we decided to try a few areas before settling in on Fielder Bay.  As we entered the bay Steve noticed something moving on shore.  Needing a little break we motored over to the far shoreline only to find 3 horses standing at the edge of the water and shaking their heads up and down.  The oddest thing we had ever seen I took a video and again uploaded on YouTube, check it out on this link: The Nodding Horses .  It was as though they were saying......Yes, Fish Here!!!  Well, within a few minutes I landed what would be the largest walleye for the first 2 days, a 23 inch fat pig.  The horses were right, Fish Here!  We did get a few more walleyes however as it got warmer during the afternoon we needed to find something a little more productive.  Moving out of the bay and into the main river we noticed a boat fishing just south of an area called Slide Hill.  With my contour map I could see that it was working an underwater point in the 22 - 26 foot range.  The wind created a perfect drift as we started fishing somewhat shallower that our previous target depth of around 30 feet.  Immediately we started catching fish.  Walleyes, northern, sheepshead, catfish, smallmouth bass, perch, crappies, stripers, one never knew what you would pull up once the hook was set.   Still being somewhat particular with the size of our walleyes, it just didn't seem right to keep those 12 inchers but man, this was the majority of what we were putting in the boat.  It was a lot of fun catching a variety of fish and admittedly those larger catfish put on quite a fight, we still fell short of
our limit of walleyes despite the liberal limits.  Something was not right and we finally figured it out, it was us!  As we met Russ and his 2 partners Gary and Nate Fischbach back at the landing meeting at the very nice cleaning station it was obvious, if we were going to catch our limit it had to include a significant number of small walleyes.  As we talked to the locals who fished the area often, they acknowledged that the population of walleyes were skewed to the under 

Second day limit from Russ, Gary, and Nate

15 inch fish and the regulations encouraged the harvest of the smaller walleyes.  If you have ever fished Lake of the Woods in the winter, you will soon figure out that a 13 inch sauger is an average fish and fair game.  Setting our standards at about 14 inches cost us a day and a half of our possession limit and going forward we relaxed our expectations.  Besides, a 13 inch perch was always acceptable, tomorrow would be different.

Our first 2 days proved to be our exploratory phase of the trip.  Getting our bearings and fishing memories from 20 years ago, we needed to step it up if we were going to bring home any fish.  I always like to leverage myself with the locals as they can shortcut your strategy considerably.  Akaska, SD is a friendly town of fisherman with a great sense of community that is tied to fishing.  Cleaning my boat a couple drove by with their golf cart, the preferred mode of travel, asking how we did.  Explaining the small fish I was assured that the under 15 inch fish made up the majority of the population and we should really start keeping these. As well I related my story of fishing 20 years ago with my friend Roger and his home town friends the Kessler's, when George Kessler hosted Governor Mickelson of South Dakota.  The guy remembered the day the Governor came to Akaska, an effort from the local supporters to get the 9 mile stretch of gravel road from town to the boat landing paved with asphalt.  The shore lunch we had off a bay south of the landing was the inspiration for what now is known as Governor's Bay, named after that event.  It's interesting to realize that I was there for a small piece of history that was significant to the local area. Governor Mickelson tragically died in a plane crash on April 19, 1993 as it was a sad day for my South Dakota friends.  My experience was special as our shore lunch was spectacular, eating fresh fried walleyes and all the fixin's while the Governor told stories of the wild west, South Dakota style.  Later he offered to buy everyone a drink at the local saloon as we walked down the boardwalk to enjoy a beer with him.  Today that saloon is gone, the road is still maintained, and the memories are as they happened yesterday.  This week is family reunion time and I have much more to share for day 3 and 4, it will have to wait.

A Quick Note Before I Head Out



Front end work



Tomorrow morning at 6:00 I head out to Lake Oahe.  The weather is hot and here's hoping the bite will be as well.  It's been a scramble the last 2 days with the 3 inches of rain we had on Friday night to celebrating my niece's birthday on Sunday in Wisconsin, there's a lot to get done.  I did decide to take the front end of the Ferguson apart to replace the pivot pin and bushings that had worn out.  It came apart pretty well but soon discovered that the bushings I had ordered 6 months ago were the wrong ones.  The right one should be in by the time I get back and pending any further problems should be back together by next Monday.  It will be just perfect as the back of the field is getting pretty long and needs mowing.  The other issue is that its parked in front of my jon boat and the river is slowly making its way to a more normal flow after our very wet and late spring.  Hopefully I can get out on the river next week and catch a few smallies or catfish, if I am not fished out from 4 days on the Missouri River..........not!

Ben's 23 inch Walleye


With little time to write anything of substance this week, I will end with a picture of my good friend Ben Taylor and his 23 inch walleye he caught out of Platte Lake this weekend.    I'm sure that it provided a great start to a fish fry later that evening.  Ben's chomping at the bit to get up to Leech Lake with us for opener and become an official Team Walleye member.  With catches like this, I'm not sure we want him!  I think he'll fit right in.  Here's hoping we'll have plenty of pictures and memories for my next post.

Fishin' With Hondro



Hondro with a 27" walleye looking pretty dapper!

It's been over 15 years since Hondro Zeller has graced the front of my boat but after a few false starts we finally were able to connect last Friday, July 5th.  Originally he was going to try and find a camping spot on or near Lake Mille Lacs for the long 4th of July weekend, a seemingly impossible task only a few weeks before.   Settling on the 5th, it would give me some time to get things done over the weekend and enjoy the lake on a less crowded day.  Along with Hondro was his son Anders.  Both met me at my pole barn at 8:00 AM, maybe too early considering the evening before yet I managed to be ready on time.
Upon arrival we loaded everything up as he introduced me to his son Anders.  I thought I heard right, like the first part of my last name but quite honestly I wasn't too sure what I really heard!  A strapping young man, had just graduated from college and it would be exciting to hopefully show both of them a great day on the water.  By the looks of things there was going to be some wind on the lake as it was blowing directly out of the south pretty good for 8 in the morning.  The last time I fished with Hondro was in my Skeeter 135T.  Back when 3 Mile Reef was a great walleye spot, we had spent the day fishing the area and it was pretty rough.  Remembering our ride back to the landing, we hit a wave and my rear trolling motor bracket broke.  The only thing that alerted me to the situation was a slight hesitation in my boat as the motor hit the water.  Held on only by the power cord, I looked back to see it bouncing on the water at 25 mph.  Slowing to an idle the motor sunk sunk to the depth of the remaining cord as I pulled it up, set it in the boat and continued on.  Luckily Minnkota did a great job fixing it back up.  Making the usual stops we had the boat in the water by 10:00.  The south wind didn't seem so intimidating at the landing yet I knew it was only going to get worse.

Anders with a nice fish.

One can probably gather that I usually have a strategy as I work my way further from the shore.  Sherman's first, 7 Mile second, 9 Mile third, Plan B fourth.  Sherman's proved difficult as the wind blew perpendicular to the edge.  It can be rather easy to quarter along the edge but with a number of guys hovering an area on the edge, it made positioning rather difficult.  An hour later and we didn't have a single bite.  Next stop was 7  Mile, again a number of guys hovering but at least the north/south drift lines were better.  Still nothing.  Next stop was 9 Mile and to my surprise there was no one there.  Maybe we just hit the flat when the fish turned on but whatever, we proceeded to start catching walleyes.  The first one was a 19.5 inch fish, perfect for the live well.  Unfortunately it would prove to be our last keeper fish.  As we drifted a better north/south line, we continued to catch fish, often 3 per drift.  Motoring back to the south end we could easily keep on a line that stayed at the edge of the flat.  Eventually another boat showed up an promptly worked the area right in the center of our drift line.  9 Mile Flat is big enough to get away from the interference and still be on fish.  After 4 hours of working the flat we had over 16 walleyes, 1 in the box, a surprising 2 under 17 inches, and a 27 inch walleye, Hondro's personal best.  The wind had started calming down somewhat but that was temporary as it began to pick up speed again late in the afternoon.  With a desire to head back closer to shore I decided to show them how to deep water troll using both lead line and planer boards.  Trolling from 9 Mile to 7 Mile would not take that long as I had heard the basin bite had started.  We rigged the planer with a #11 Tail Dancer in a purple color, 150 feet of line out, attached the in-line planer and started trolling.  The next 2 rods were lead line with my new Suffix 832 lead core which was suppose to sink and extra 2 feet per color.  3.5 colors out and it became a waiting game, but not too long.  The first rod to double over was Hondro's lead core with the #5 Shad Rap.  We reeled that one in and reset just in time to see Anders planer board flag to drop.  Another  nice walleye at the end it was my turn.  I didn't have to wait too long as my lead core folded over.  3 nice walleyes in less than an hour trolling, seemed pretty good to me!  At 5:30 we decided the wind had taken most of our energy and we headed in.  Loading the boat we stopped at Bill's to give him a report, bought a coke and headed back to Dayton.  It was a great day to get out, the wind proved to be not much of a determent to our success, and after quickly cleaning the 19 1/2 inch walleye we did keep, Hondro and Anders had supper in the bag.  Admittedly I did ask for clarification on the origin of Anders name, a name I had never heard of.  They laughed and explained it was really Alexander and it was simply a derivative.  As I get older my hearing isn't so good so it was a relief to know that I was hearing it correctly!

Caught on Lead line

So next Wednesday Mark Applen, my brother Steve, and a few other friends are heading to Lake Oahe for 4 days of fishing.  It should be pretty exciting as the Fish and Game Department in South Dakota has raised the possession limit of fish caught in Oahe to 24 walleyes.  Our fearless leader on this trip is Russ, and he has found a place to rent for $30/night/guy....not bad.  It's a 7 hour drive from home with only about 4 miles being freeway.  Like getting ready for Canada, I have been busy stocking up on the right presentation as I am sure the walleyes will be found in much deeper water.  Bottom Bouncers were made for this type of fishing as we will probably pull a lot of night crawler rigs.  I head out to Cincinnati on Thursday for a business trip and the weekend weather looks like thunder storms, it might be a good time to finally fix the pivot pin in the front end of my tractor.  The "back 40" is getting awfully long and needs to be cut with the brush hog.  I would like to get the front end fixed before doing any extensive work with the tractor.  Although the fishing season started slow and late, I've made most of my time on the water up and then some!

Walleyes with Weber

Last weeks fishing report from Mille Lacs was nothing short of phenomenal.  My good friend Jon Bathke conveniently takes off Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of each week during June to take advantage of the potential post spawn bite.  Reports from Jon included over 50 walleyes caught each day last Wednesday and Thursday.  Of course that talk gets my repaired heart a going and I knew that Sunday would be the day.  As luck would have it my old neighbor and friend, Roger Weber was working in the area last Friday and called to meet for lunch.  Never passing and opportunity to spend some time with Rog, we headed over to the new restaurant next to work, the Mango Tango.  They say that nothing will ever replace your experience with the first neighborhood you live in.  This was certainly true with my first house.  Being young and inexperienced, we counted on each other for help and support.  As neighbors, we each had our talents, me an electrical guy, our neighbor Troy, an excellent bricklayer, and Roger, enthusiastic laborer, we counted on each other for help and support.  As most things go time changes things and we all move apart.  Roger, Troy, and I continue to maintain contact with each other as there were too many good experiences to throw the friendships away.

Roger Weber and I had a lot in common as we both grew up working our way through the teenage years in a full service gas station.  Although Roger wasn't the most proficient fisherman I knew, he sure had connections.  Growing up in Aberdeen South Dakota, he was good friends with Tim Kessler and his family.  Bob Kessler owned the largest independent Super Valu store in the Midwest and had made a comfortable business for him and his family.  In 1989 and 1990 I had the great opportunity to be invited to fish Lake Oahe, a large reservoir on the Missouri River, west of Aberdeen.  Our 1990 trip was the most memorable as we were to fish with then South Dakota Governor Mickelson for the unofficial Governors fishing opener.  This was a private affair with the Governor, the Kessler family, Roger, a good friend Nels Johnson, and myself.  Staying in what I describe as the Kessler Compound, a house and 3 cabins moved to Akaska, South Dakota, it was a fascinating experience.  Akaska was a small town south of Mobridge, about 10 miles east of Lake Oahe.  Basically a one bar, one gas station town, at one time a cattle drive destination town,  it served well as a fishing camp.  At that time the Missouri was still experiencing the effects of the 1988 drought and the levels were down over 36 feet.  I found interesting was the boat landing was originally made to be usable as the lake first filled up, it became critical serving us as the levels went down.  Fishing was good however the lake had a 15 inch minimum size limit for walleyes.  One of the governor's staff came by my boat asking "Any Luck".  Responding that we were catching many walleyes however they were below the 15 inch minimum size.  I will never forget his next remark.............."Well you had better start keeping some of them, the Governor wants a shore lunch!"  I was more than happy to oblige and a shore lunch we had.  Being pretty proficient at cleaning the fish, that was my duty while the rest of the guys got the fire going and started cooking the potatoes, beans, with all the fixins.  I could not ever remember a better time eating fresh caught walleye, sitting on the banks of the Missouri River, and listening to the incredible stories Governor Mickelson shared about the history of the region.  Being a respected historian, we sat around the fire mesmerized by the tales of the days when cattle drives were the norm as the railroads forever changed the life in the west.  Unfortunately Governor Mickelson was killed in a tragic plane crash 3 years later, I feel lucky to have met such and interesting individual.

Meeting me at the house at noon on Sunday, Roger and I along with my good friends Tom McAtee and Mike Schuenke headed up to the pond.  After a stop at Lundeen's to get the latest info, we landed just north of the casino and fished the west side.  What ever the conditions causing the walleyes to go crazy earlier in the week had all but disappeared.  Maybe the cold front affected them as well the lake was like glass.   Fishing Rolands Flat, Sherman's Flat, the 20 Footer, excellent June spots prove fruitless.  I did get this nice smallmouth on Sherman's Reef, 20 feet of water in the rocks.  That's a lot deeper than I would have expected.  Heading to 4 Mile Gravel, we tried bobber fishing as one didn't even need an anchor to stay put.  There I nailed a nice 17.5 inch walleye, one for the box.  Deciding to finish the night back on Roland's, we anchored as Roger hooked this nice 20 inch walleye.  To big to keep it went back in the water.  The hit coincided with the wind picking up and after an hour we decided to leave with our single keeper.   Tom's boat had one as well, not the best day of catching, but a great day of fishing.  Spending the day with Roger reminded me why we have stayed friends for all these years.  Hopefully we can do it again.