Lake Oahe Missouri River Fishing Reports Fishing Reports

We had pretty good success this weekend catching some nice fish through the ice.  We finally have enough ice to get out and move around.  The ice has been a little sketchy with the warm weather we've been having and still is in some areas, you really need to be carefull for pressure ridges and open cracks.  If a person stays away from these areas most of the ice is bout 12 inches thick.  We caught mostly Walleyes with a few northerns mixed in.  Most the walleyes we caught were in the 18 to 20 inch range but there have been some pretty big ones mixed in. I hate to say it and I should be careful what I wish for but we could really use a cold snap to freeze things up a bit.  From what I saw this weekend there's some good fishing to be had as long as we can get out there.  Be safe out there and Good Luck!

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Wow, these fish seem to  be getting bigger with each week that passes!  Spent a lot of time on the river this weekend with some easy limits coming Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  Even in the tough weather Saturday we got our fish, it was the slowest of the 3 days but we still managed 10 keepers pretty easy.  Sunday's nicer weather seemed to really make the fish aggressive with our 2 man limit in a couple hours.  Monday was a lot like Sunday with our 15 fish coming in just a few hours.  Most of the fish came on crankbaits in the 8-12 foot range and a few coming on a jig and a minnow, with the bigger ones caught on cranks.  Can't wait to see how the pro's do this week, there should be some impressive weights brought to the scale.  Hope everyone can get out and support this event and good luck to everyone fishing in the FLW Championship!

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There is a pretty good bite going up and down the whole system right now, with walleyes getting caught from the tailrace all the way down to the stateline.  I spent quite a bit of time south of Bismarck this past weekend with most of our fish coming on crankbaits, which is a big change from the jig bite we had going last week. All the fish we kept were in the 17-20 inch range with lots of smaller ones and a few pike mixed in, which keeps a person pretty busy. I'm sure a person could still get em on jigs but we decided to go with the cranks to cover some new water and see if we could find a few different spots.  It will be interesting to see what happens this weekend with the Prairie Knights Casino tournament, should be some good weights brought in.  Good luck to everyone fishing in the tournament.

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Fished south of Bismarck this long holiday weekend both Saturday and Monday.  Seems as if the fall bite may be starting a little earlier this year, with limits coming pretty easy both days. Most fish in the 15 to 18 inch range with a few bigger ones mixed in.  Most came on a jig and a minnow presentation and also heard  there are some fish getting caught on crankbaits.  If this is any indication of what is coming we should be in for a heck of a good fall!

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Fishing activity near Bismarck remains very strong with numerous boats out catching fish.  The Big Muddy Walleye Tournament was held yesterday and anglers came in with very impressive weights to say the least.  The winners brought in a limit that averaged around 6lbs per walleye.  Other top 10 teams averaged 5lb per walleye.  Most anglers are using jigging techniques with minnows and plastic to boat fish.  Others are also using crank baits, but the majority are jigging.  The tourney folks did another impressive job running a great event.  This truly has become one of North Dakota’s great fishing tournaments with a large following.  Fishing should remain consistent near Bismarck for some time and the lake will be picking up real soon. 

 

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And we're off.  The bite started up pretty hot and heavy last week with boats limiting easily for the most part.  Nice fish as well, many in the 20-23 inch range.  However, there still remains a great deal of uncertainty as to what the water is going to do over the next week with run-off still on it's way.  We'll have to wait and see.  Click here to look at a couple nice ones from last weekend. 

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Despite the bitterly cold weather that’s been passing through that last couple weeks, we’ve still had guys out fishing in their bigger shacks.  The bite remains the same around the Beaver Bay area with an occasional fair walleye bite(click her to see Saturday’s action) and we have a few holes that have had a consistent perch bite going along with some good pike action.  The pike seem to be everywhere there are trees.  The perch have made for some fun though.  Action all day and lots of them.  Been able to keep quite a few in the 9-11 inch range with some smaller and a few bigger ones. 

The pike bite should definitely keep getting stronger in the bays with spring approaching.  It will be interesting to see how many big ones are pulled through.  And, I haven’t been able to predict anything with the walleye bite this year, so I’m not going to go there.   Anyways, good luck fishing.

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 Walleye activity was pretty good around the beaver bay area and south this past weekend.  Seems as though some of the bigger walleye moved in and they were fairly active with some nice fish in the 18-23 inch range caught. There still were plenty of 10-13 inchers along with some nice perch, but made for great action.  We'll see what this low pressure system will do, but I would expect things to continue to improve as late ice moves through.  

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All I can say is I can’t wait for another two years to pass – we’ve had guys fishing from Beaver to Langliers steadily since first ice.  This is without a doubt the toughest ice fishing for walleye (keeper walleye) that I’ve ever seen.  Not a lack there of, ice fishing for walleye has seen non-stop action of 8-10 inch walleye with some big ones mixed in, but very few of them.  We’ve also been seeing good numbers of 7-9 inch perch and good numbers of decent size northern pike.  It seems as though the Mobridge area is seeing some of the best walleye action on the Lake.  The Beaver Bay area has seen the bigger walleyes, but a little more traffic as well.  So, if you’re on goo fish in these areas, hats off to you. 

Ice conditions remain very good.  A lot of people are driving on at Beaver, but don’t venture too far out on the main lake in that area.  There have been some reports of thinner ice once you get closer to the main channel as this part of the lake has some pretty fast moving water yet.  The further south you go the better.  I would feel fairly safe driving a vehicle on at Cattail, but I’m still going to give it a week or so.  Make sure to stay away from the pressure ridges.

P.S., I started typing this report a couple days ago, but never finished it.  Came to Mobridge yesterday afternoon for Christmas, went out fishing last night and the action was fast and furious.  I’m going to go give it another try in about an hour. 

Merry Christmas.  

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Ice fishing the North Dakota side of Lake Oahe and the Missouri River has officially kicked off with enough ice to keep us mobile to locate fish. We’ve been finding good numbers of fish from Beaver Bay and south. Best methods have been jigging using your electronics to figure out what’s going on. Best baits for us have been Lindy Darters with a minnow head when jigging and the small Lindy Slick Jigs on deadrods with a full minnow hooked at the tail. Jigging has out-produced the dead rods but you really have to work them. The nice thing is there is a lot of activity on the screen to keep your interest level high all day. We’ve been having good luck with numbers of very nice northern pike, a lot of six and seven inch perch which will make things interesting. And of course, some very big walleye for this time of year. Along with the big walleye will come a lot of little walleye – and I mean little. Things are looking great for ice fishing Lake Oahe and the Missouri River.

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Headed down to Langliers this weekend and that portion was still half open so we headed it back to Beaver Bay and there was around 3-4 inches on either side that we checked. The quality of the ice wasn’t that great as that portion was covered with snow. Fished it for about an hour or so and had three nice pike and one small walleye. Saturday we went south of Beaver and north of Cattail where ice conditions were much better and obviously had a clean freeze. There was 4-5 inches of really good ice. As far as I made it was about ½ mile from the shoreline so that area should be around 6-8 inches by this weekend. Again, we didn’t fish too much as we were more concerned about ice conditions. We did have two dandy walleyes that came unbuttoned at the top of the hole and a lot of 6 to 7 inch perch. The word was that the Fort Yates area was still open on Friday so use extreme caution no matter where you fish. It’s best to walk with an ice bar to check the ice and drill holes to get the best answer to the ice thickness.

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 Well, we didn’t think it would ever get back to the way it was in May and June, but just like every fall – it is. The walleye bite is one and lots of big ones. Easy limits are taken fishing around Bismarck pitching jigs with minnows and plastics or vertical jigging. Yesterday, we headed down to the Beaver Bay area and I was surprised to see clear water. My hopes instantly were at an all time high. First 100 yards of pulling cranks in 20-30 foot landed a 22 and a 21 incher. Another 100 yards landed a couple more 19’s. Fished for a total of three hours and ended with eight dandy walleye and had a couple nice ones come un-buttoned.

So, the main thing was water clarity and now that it is clear, and there are fish there, they’re going to be aggressive. Don’t put that boat away just yet. Check out the photo gallery for more pictures.

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Well, we didn’t think it would ever get back to the way it was in May and June, but just like every fall – it is.  The walleye bite is one and lots of big ones.  Easy limits of very nice walleye are taken fishing around Bismarck pitching jigs with minnows and plastics or vertical jigging.  Yesterday, we headed down to the Beaver Bay area and I was surprised to see clear water.  My hopes instantly were at an all time high.  First 100 yards of pulling cranks in 20-30 foot landed a 22 and a 21 incher.  Another 100 yards landed a couple more 19’s.  Fished for a total of three hours and ended with eight dandy walleye and had a couple nice ones come un-buttoned. 

 So, the main thing was water clarity and now that it is clear, and there are fish there, they’re going to be aggressive.  Don’t put that boat away just yet.  Check out the photo gallery for more pictures. 
 

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 Despite the cold weather we did have a couple boats out this past weekend. One fished down south out of Beaver Bay and one out of Bismarck on the river portion. The best action came out of the river despite poor water conditions with fast moving and dirty water. Last week recorded some of the most consistent strong wind days the state of North Dakota has seen.

For one boat, Saturday started out slow but when they finally found a pod of active fish, boating their 10 keeper walleye came in fast order with the biggest being 21 inches. Best methods were jigs and minnows and plastics in shallow water. The second boat had limited fishing down south but there are still mixed reports of nice fish coming in from the lake part down to stateline.

Sounds like this week should bring some warmer weather and hopefully that holds out. Still seeing a ton of pheasants out and it looks like a lot of crops are coming off so that’s good for the bird hunters. It’ll be interesting to see how many nice deer show up next week as well. Can’t wait for those pics!

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