Glacial Lakes of South Dakota

Take I- 29 north out of Council Bluffs, IA or Omaha, NE to exit 207 and go west about 25 miles to the town of Webster South Dakota, and you are in the middle of about thirty different lakes to fish.  They are full of walleye, northern, crappie, and now small mouth bass.  The fishing is great depending on the weather.

You will need a boat.  But first before you leave, check your trailor tires for proper inflation.  Then check your spare to make sure it is fully inflated. 

It was 7 PM and just south of Brookings, SD, when a vibration was felt.  At first, I thought it was the highway.  South Dakota has a lot of road repair, and this time on the trip up, so did Iowa.  You are constantly traveling through construction zones.  The vibration should have been the warning that a tire was being lost, but so close to Brookings, I continued on. 

Boom! The rubber flew off the left rear trailor tire.  We headed to the side of the road.  Not a problem, but it soon became one as after the tire was changed the spare was flat as a pancake.  Fortunately, right in front of me was the highway maker, and after a quick call to the South Dakota Highway Patrol a tow truck came and inflated the tire.  Of course, there was a fee involved.  The moral here is to make sure your tires are all fully inflated, and if you start getting a vibration, check the trailor tires.  Stopping earlier when this was first felt would have saved me time, grief, and money.  My wife never uttered a word.  She did not have to. This was the first time I have ever lost a trailor tire.

We tried out a different motel this trip and stayed at the Circle Pines in Waubay.  No particular reason, it was just different.  The rooms were clean, and like all the motels in Webster, they were dated.  There was an outstanding fish cleaning house with plenty of freezer space.  That feature is always appreciated.  After catching, comes the cleaning and storing of your catch for the day.

Early next morning we headed down to Swan Lake.  The turnoff was located about 15 miles south of Webster.  It was a cool crisp morning and we were the first boat on the lake.  Immediately we started fishing in about 12 feet of water just to the right of the boat ramp.  The lake was still in the shade as the sun was just coming up on the horizon.  As we moved closer to the shore we ended up in the weed beds.  We wanted to stay on the edge and into fifteen feet of water.

My wife Pam enjoying the nice cool morning.  She caught the biggest fish on the trip.

Wham! Northern pike made the first hit of the morning.  It was a nice size fish of about 30 inches and went into the livewell.  Moving out to deeper water, there were the walleye.  At first the fish were small, but as we moved north along the shoreline they got bigger.  Average size was about fifteen inches with a sixteen or seventeen incher picked up periodically.  The majority of the fish caught were small walleye and were thrown back.  We fished from the dock north for about 300 yards and then worked back toward the dock.  This must have been a popular place as more boats soon joined in the activity along the bank.  As the sun came up, and the shoreline became engulfed in sunlight, my wife and I both commented about the slow- down in activity.  It was time to pick up and move.

To the left of the picture is our second location.  I have caught fish there before.

From the dock we motored southwest to a point that was just out from the shore with submerged standing timber sticking up.  At this location we needed to stay out from the timber.  In ten to twelve feet of water, we would be snagged  on branches and other obstacles under the water.  We fished this location starting in fourteen feet and moved out to eighteen feet.  Working in this depth kept us from getting snagged all the time, but it produced no fish and only a few soft bites.  We did graph fish at this location. 

It was 11 AM and we decided to clean the fish and grab some lunch before we went out again.  Also, a short nap was on the agenda.

Back on Swan by 7 PM, the wind was still moderate out of the west so boat control was not a problem.  We headed to the southwest corner of the lake.  I had on a previous trip limited here.  We lost a lot of lures in standing timber at 10 to 12 feet, so we fished from twelve to sixteen feet.  Boom! boom!  We picked up a couple of keepers.  After an hour of fishing in this location nothing else happened, and we moved. 

Straight from the southwest corner, we headed northwest to the easterly side of a small bay.  At this location we fished in ten to twelve feet for 90 minutes and picked up two more walleye to fill out the limit for the day.  Also we picked up some small northern that were thrown back. 

The water in this lake was outstanding.  There was no algae and the lake had a high level of clarity.  I highly recommend Swan Lake south of Webster for some excellent fishing.


Good size Northern for Swan

Good fishing, good hunting, and good luck.   Hank

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The Jewel in the Crown

Swan Lake is fifteen miles south of Webster, South Dakota.  The bait shop just kept saying this was the place to go for quantities of walleye.  Also, it has northern, which always adds to the excitement.  This turned out to be a jewel in the crown.

Since I was fishing during the middle of the week, traffic on the lake was light.  I headed out the next morning to give it a try.  About fifteen miles south at the top a hill on the right side of the road stood a grove of pine trees.  Right before I reached the trees, there was a turn off.  I missed it the first try and had to back-track.  The road to the lake was narrow and it dropped very quickly downhill to the lake.  On the left the DNR had cut out parking spaces in the trees and the area to park was down at the bottom of the hill. It was limited.  One must get there early.  I  pulled my vehicle and trailor nose first against the side of the lot.  It was steep here.  I would recommend four- wheel drive to pull out on the slick wet gravel.  The ramp was two steel ramps for each wheel.  There was room for one boat only, and a flag marked where the ramp ended.  I had to be careful. The dock was adequate and padded on the sides, but there were steel poles supporting the dock on the sides and the end.  I was careful. 

This is the second worse boat ramp I have ever been on.  Be careful.  It is steeper than it looks and you can only put in on one side. Additional parking is up the hill in between the trees.  I found out later to fish along the shore to the north of the ramp.  That would be to the left side of the picture. Excellent northern were in eight to ten feet laying in weed beds.  Walleye in twelve to fifteen just off the weed beds.

I was told to head southwest toward the trees and tall banks. It was recommended to fish in about fifteen feet of water.  Moving in toward the shore, weed beds were encountered around ten feet.  Just off the weed beds, I picked up small northern.  That was great fun as the smaller fish really put up a fight.  They were marginal, so I threw them all back.   Moving back out beyond  to the deeper water produced some hits. 

Timber southwest of the landing ramp at Swan Lake.  Fish either side for walleye.





I was fishing a new spinner advertised in all the sporting good stores.  Pictured below is the lure and it is available in different colors.  The one pictured here is the one I used as the water was very clear and it was a sunny day.

Northland Fishing Tackle Baitfish Image? Holographic Spinner Blades - #5 - Silver Shiner



In the deeper water 14 to 18 feet, I began to score.  Smack smack!  They liked the color and the taste of the crawler.  I also added some Berkley's Powerbait for Walleye to give it just a little more flavor.  None of the fish I caught were over fourteen inches initially.  Moving out to deeper water, I picked up a sixteen incher.  The bigger fish appeared to be in the deeper water, but they were few and far between. 

Further southwest along the bank was some standing timber in the lake. It was here that I picked up a couple of keepers in the fifteen plus range.  They were very healty fish and nice and plump.  I also lost several spinners in the timber.  It never fails, you get too close and you get tangled up.  I fished with ultralight rods with six pound test line.  Backtrolling with the kicker motor, the goal was to fish as vertical as possible. Split shot or a good lead sinker will weight the spinner down.  In that way, I can find the bottom and then lift the lure up into the zone where the suspended fish are located. Keeping the spinner in the zone with the suspended fish generally produces results.  With all the junk and grass on the bottom, I stayed away from jigs.

From the boat ramp looking south west. Head for any standing timber on the bank or in the water.  Weed beds line the shore out to ten to twelve feet of water.  Northerns lay in the weed beds, but the walleye are out a little farther in fourteen feet.  To the northwest (right side of the picture) is a bay. Fish the entrance and the northwest bank starting from the tree to the east.  Walleye and northern abound.





By 2 PM the wind had gone down and the lake became dead calm.  There was not a cloud in the sky.  The sun was burning me all over and it got really hot. 
Time to leave.  It was a great morning and early afternoon until the wind went down.

A break was taken.  I went back out on Waubay for a couple of hours, but produced nothing.  It had gotten really hot and there was not a breath of breeze in the air.  With the lake totally placid, and the sun on the horizon, I headed to the dock.

Swan lake is a real producer and with the right weather pattern will provide some excellent fishing.

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.   Hank

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Here Come the Smallmouth Bass

The Missouri River flood of 2011 totally shut down my fishing plans for the spring and summer.  The Corp of Engineers announced they would be dropping the river starting August 1st. This was good news and the best part was there were no levee breaches in and around Council Bluffs.   Seep water was dealt with, and if you look on the front page of the website there is an excellent picture of some of the work done.  It appears it is slowly coming to an end.  The people doing the work and those in charge have done an outstanding job of protecting the community and surrounding areas.  Plus the state dispatched the Iowa National Guard to patrol the levees.  Seeing these young people on the levees and the surrounding areas leaves a person with a stong feeling of confidence knowing they are on the job. 

The weather patterns in southwest Iowa have been hot and hotter.  Checking up north to Webster, South Dakota, the nights were looking cool but the days were warm.  I have always experienced low humidity in the glacial lakes area so warm to hot might not be all that uncomfortable.  With the forecast for southerly to westerly flow, I headed north to South Dakota for some walleye fishing.  Late in the season, it was reported that a good bite was still on.

The bait shop recommended trying Swan lake just 15 miles south of Webster and Bitter south of the town of Waubay.  Waubay Lake was my first choice as I have fished it for fifteen years and know the lake well.  Since it was Wauby the first day, it was recommended to fish south of the old school bus point and the southwest shore line. 

On the lake by 7:00 AM it was up to school bus point.  The old school bus has been gone for many years, but the area still remains a good spot for walleye with lots of structure on the north shore and standing timber on the south.  Using one of the new spinners, it was smack, smack, smack.  I was getting little sharp hits on the lure, and that had to be small fish or small perch.  The perch were starting to get really active I was told.  Back trolling out from the point into 20 feet of water, the pattern was repeated several time.  Nothing was boated, but some good hits were recorded. 

I moved to the south shore out about 30 yards from the standing timber.  Getting snagged  was a major problem and I moved out another five to ten yards.  This put me between fifteen to eighteen feet of water.  I could see a lot of algae, but the lake looked really great.  Boom, boom, I picked up a walley, but it was really small.  I picked up a couple more, but again they were really small.  All three of these fish were caught in about sixteen feet of water.  In addition, I had pulled the lure off the bottom, and was running it in about 10 feet.  That was well above the snags below, and looked like on the graph it was right in line with the bait fish. 

The wind was out of the north to northeast.  Just like South Dakota.  The weather service had called for a southerly flow, but this was far from it. All the years I have fished this area, the forecasts are seldom correct.  Five to ten mph was the wind speed and it was just enough to put a good ripple on the water.  Staying south of school bus point, I worked up northwest along the tree line in 15 to 20 feet of water.  A smack here and there and by noon I still had not boated a keeper walleye.  It was time for lunch and with the sun up high and no clouds, I decided to take a four to five hour break and be on the lake again by 5:30 PM.  The sun would be at a lower angle to the water, and that in itself should improve the fishing. I was back on the lake at 6 PM and immediately headed toward the south point.  Walleye success was always found here, but not in great numbers.  Working for an hour produced nothing.  I then headed into the bay to the southwest.  The bait shop had recommended this area.  The graph showed the bank to slope quickly out to seven to ten feet with a lot of standing weed and then gradually into fifteen feet.  Finally bottom was found around twenty feet. 

Starting at eight feet and back trolling into deeper water.  It did not take long.  Wow, I thought the rod was going to be torn out of my hand.  It was big.  Fishing with an ultralite and five pound test showed that there was more fish here than rod, reel, line and fisherman could handle.  I got it up to the surface, and it was a small mouth bass, and it was a really big small mouth.  I had only seen one this big mounted on walls.  It went back and fourth, out and in, down and up, and finally it moved under the trolling motor.  I stood there in the boat, it laid under the motor.  I shifted the rod to my left hand making sure the butt end was up against my forearm.  This would provide leverage.  Next a net was grabbed, and a small gaff was laid beside me.  I did not know if the fish had tangled itself in the motor.  If that was the case, all would be lost. 

Then it was time to move.  I could not stand here the rest of the day while the big beast rested.  I hit the button on the lift and the motor came up out of the lake.  It was not tangled, but it sure did not like that move.  Off it went, with me hanging on.  Then a leap out of the water, and a plunge.  Back up again it came.  This fish was far from worn out, and then it threw the hook.  I am sure people could hear me screaming all the way to Sioux Falls 150 miles away. 

The rest of the evening was uneventful.  I boated four small mouth bass that were considerably smaller and a couple of sixteen inch walleye in the eighteen foot range.  The smallies were a blast to catch.  I hooked a total of nine including the giant, but only was able to boat the four.  They were warriors.  This turned out to be a great day.

Just a side note.  If you fish Waubay with catching small mouth bass in mind.  The state has a slot limit.  You can keep fish under 14 inches and over 18 inches.  In the slot, you have to throw them back.

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.  Hank.

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