South Dakota Angler Reports Submitted By Anglers

Here's a chance to share your SD fishing experience. To have your report posted, please include:

Patrick, Omaha, Neb. – 5/7/08 -5/10/08 – Fished Lake Francis Case north of Chamberlain up to the dam. Experienced foul weather conditions – Rain – Cold – Wind (the unholy trinity) for all but one day. Caught many fish under 15” and 4 between 15” and 16” in about 5 hours fishing in 13 to 15 feet of water on a ledge that dropped off to 20 feet. I used minnows and tried Gulp 4” Smelt on a bare hook. The minnows worked better at times, but the Gulp made me into a believer – drifting or slow trolling – no need to re-bait! The walleye bite was slow, but speed was a trigger. Most of the males we caught were milking and all were under the size limit. I lost 2 keepers at the boat. Our group fished all day with a total of 7 keepers, the largest of which was 18”. Got caught in that storm that blew thru on 5/10/08 – Rained for 20 hours straight. We packed up and went home early.

Rick Niezwaag, Parker, S.D.--From August to late fall fished the James River from Milltown to Wolf Creek. Went every weekend with the wife and kids. I have fished this for as long as I can think--first with my father and now. But this year was a great year for it. When we did go we would get no less than 5 fish at a time and we would only be out for 3 to 4 hours at a time. The smallest was 1lb., on average 2lbs. The largest was 8 1/4 lbs, all on stink bait. We had so much fun this year we didn't want it to stop. In the past it wasn't as good as this last year. All I can think of is the water was running higher and they were eating good. The best time was just before a rain storm in the early morning and evening on spin cast stink bait using a bait basket fishing off the bottom with a 10-inch leader.

My name is Matt Seabird from Rapid City. Me and two friends fished Stockade on Sat. Dec. 29 and

Caught 5 Northern Pike using big shiners. Nothing huge, 2-3 pounders. Missed several good bites, also. The ice was about 8 inches thick.

Dwayne Allen, Box Elder, S.D.--I ice fished Horsethief Lake on 26 Dec 07. Fished from noon til 3:30pm and only caught 2 trout using nightcrawlers. Ice was about 8 inches in the coves but another person fishing there said the side next to the road had open water a week before. When I was there it was all covered but I didn't go to the other side to check the ice thickness. The other person caught 2 trout, also on nightcrawlers.

Kelly Mernin, Hartford S.D. Tried Ice Fishing on Lake Yankton and Lewis and Clark on Dec. 24th, used grubs and minnows. Caught one 2" perch with a grub on Lake Yankton (south end of lake) In about 10' of water. I was on the lake for 2 1/2 hours starting noon and as far as I could see there wasn't very much activity anywhere on the lake. I moved around a couple of times and there seemed to be about 8-9 inches of ice on the south end. Lewis and Clark was dead fished in front of the handicap pier next to midway beach in 18- 25' of water for about 1 1/2 hours and never got a bite. The ice fishing reports I got from Norm's bait shop were about the same SLOW, SLOW, SLOW. The only good report I got was they were catching walleye off the dam. Seems there is still open water below the dam and they are having some luck there. Hope to see more ice fishing reports from others in the future. Good Luck

Frank A. of Box Elder: On Oct. 24 upstream of the Cleghorn Fish Hatchery I caught one 17-inch rainbow floating night crawlers. The water was very low and clear. Missed two others.

My name is Justin Meier and I am from South Dakota. I fished with a new guide service called DD Trophy Deer on Aug. 25, 2007. They are located out of Rapid City, S.D. They took me to Orman Dam near Belle Fourche. We caught all kinds of walleyes on plugs. We used leadcore line and fished in about 22 feet of water. We used shad raps, walleye divers and tail dancers. We fished from about 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. We threw back AT LEAST 60 and kept our limit. We had two fish around 5 pounds each.

Report received on Friday, July 27--Fished Lake Vermillion, caught tons of bullheads and that was about it. If going for bullheads, the lake is overrun with them and they are easy to catch.--Derek Laska

I caught (and released) a channel cat 9 or 10 inches long on Lake Herman about 2 a.m. on July 5. I was fishing from the north shore with a minnow on a slip bobber rig. I thought you'd might be interested in a report as none of the fisherman with cabins on the lake that I talked to had heard of a catfish being caught at Herman. Caught a dandy walleye too, just had him for dinner. But later on the 5th while trolling with my cousin I snagged one of those huge Herman carp. So huge that I couldn't keep him from swimming under the boat in spite of using 20-some pound spider wire. He broke the line before I had a chance to release pressure and swam off with my brand new Shad Rap! Fun while it lasted though.--Jon Green, Sisseton

Fished Lake Oahe West Shore the late afternoon of May 23 about 100 yards north of the boat ramp. Sunny, occasional light shower winds 10 -15 from NW. Tried using minnows with single hook and float letting the line drift over a hard clay point with no luck. Switched to heavier tackle and cut smelt using single hook and float with the same drift pattern over the same point. This resulted in two nice 2 to 3 pound channel catfish and one really nice 15.58-pound northern pike (had the pike weighed at Shel's in Pierre). --Barry Higginbotham

New Wall Lake - Fished there Sunday, June 10 and did well. I caught one 16 in walleye and 4 real nice black crappie, about 1 1/2 lbs apiece. Also, one nice northern about 24 in - threw it back. Lots of small bass and perch pulling crank baits -Andy

Chris Dalldorf, White Lake, fished Lake Francis Case, south of Chamberlain. There was a light breeze and sunny. Tried jig and minnow and single hook rig with minnow, leeches and crawlers. Caught lots of 10 to 14-inch fish, with four keepers between the four of us. It was a great day for fishing. Minnows worked best.

Tim Wagner, April 21 2007. I fished the inlet and the dam at Belle Fourche Reservoir for catfish. Tried smelt and stink bait and didn't get a bite. Is it too early to catch catfish?

South Dakota Angler Reports
Reports directly from the anglers themselves.

Current Missouri River fishing/hunting info is available at:
1-800-445-FISH (3474).
**(This number has fishing/hunting info April - Oct.)

South Dakota Angler Reports Reports directly from the anglers themselves.

Current Missouri River fishing/hunting info is available at: 1-800-445-FISH (3474). **(This number has fishing/hunting info April - Oct.)

South Dakota Angler Reports
Reports directly from the anglers themselves.

Current Missouri River fishing/hunting info is available at:
1-800-445-FISH (3474).
**(This number has fishing/hunting info April - Oct.)