Salmon in Lake Oahe are healthy and experiencing good growth due to an abundance of rainbow smelt, gizzard shad, and lake herring.  Stockings will be made annually to continue the salmon fishery. The 2008 salmon fishing season should provide anglers with good catches and sizes of salmon available that will provide many hours of enjoyment.  June and July are typically the best months to catch Chinook salmon.  However, early spring can also be a good time to fish for salmon.  If you after larger salmon try fishing in the late summer and fall. 

Salmon Fishing Techniques

To effectively fish for salmon on Lake Oahe, an angler needs to remember salmon are cold water fish.  The warmer the water gets, the deeper salmon tend to go to find food.  In the spring and fall, in the lower portion of the lake, anglers can do well trolling with spoons and plugs.  During the warm summer months, salmon tend to concentrate below the thermocline, in the cold water layer and downriggers equipped with plugs, spoons, herring, dodgers, flashers and squids are used to get fishing lines down to where the fish are.  During the fall, shore anglers can do well casting spoons and plugs from shore around Whitlock Bay when the salmon are preparing to spawn.