Lake Waubay Turns On

 The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of that which is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.

My favorite lake at Webster, SD is Lake Waubay and on my last two trips, I was advised that the fish had really turned off.  That is disappointing, but there are at least 15 to 20 lakes withing a 30 mile radius to fish.  My usual method of studying the weather and watching the forecasts usually pays off. It seemed that here was an opportunity to smack a lot of fish in a short period or time.

My wife and I left on a Saturday after lunch and planned to fish the later afternoon and early evening.  That was when the fish were hitting according to the people at Sportsman's Cove in Webster, S.D.  We checked in at the motel on arrival and then down to the bait shop to check again if there was any change in their attitude.  It stayed the same.

When Pam is reading a book with one hand and fishing with the other, look out, she is about to catch one.

The bait shop had recommended fishing the south shore wherever any points stuck out into the lake.  I had a spot right away in mind that had always produced some action in the past.  Depth wise they recommended anything from fifteen feet to the bottom of the lake around twenty five to thirty feet.  That would depend on where you were, but the main thing was that the walleye were in the deeper water.

Looking at the point south of the boat ramp, this is the spot where we caught the majority of the fish. 

The lake had a clarity about it I had not seen for some time, and with the sun out and limited cloud cover a lighter lure would be the selection to use.  Our favorite, and especially my wife's favorite lure, the Flicker Shad, would not be used on this time.  Spinners and jigs were the order of the day and they would be tipped with a crawler.  Of course, we always use extra scent in the form of Berkley's Power Bait or Gulp Alive in a spray bottle.  I truly believe you get better action with the additive than without. When I have fished with other people, I generally catch 2 for their every one if I use it and they don't.

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On the point, we had soft hits but little takers.  There was a total of seven boats in our general vicinity and this fact told me that this was where the people were catching fish.  Wind was east north east, and while it would have been better to have it from a southerly to westerly direction, there was just enough light wave action to drift the boat and keep the spinners in the deep water.

In the twenty foot range we started picking up fish.  Most did not make the 15 inch minimum and were promptly put back, but we would pick up a nice keeper periodically.  We stayed within a 50 yard radius from the first fish we caught and held some consistency this way.  Moving out side of this zone, we scored nothing and both graphs showed 50% less targets.

Straight to the east of us about 400 yards were 4 boats all closely working together.  They either were on top of a big school or were just good friends.  We fished our way over to their location and began staying about 50 yards outside of their ring.  All four boats were anchored and they were all jigging off the bottom.  Watching them through the field glasses, they were all periodically catching a fish or two, but they were being put back.

Pam caught a really nice walleye here and a smaller one, both keepers.  That filled us out for the day.

We back trolled and drifted.  Pam picked up a couple of nice walleye, but it was really slow for us.  They must have been right above a school, because as we watched them they were getting some action.  Our action was light and variable.  Still we finished out with daily limits of small but legal fish and we were satisfied.

It stayed lighter much longer 300 miles north of Council Bluffs and at 9 PM we headed for the barn with the sun still above the horizon.  It was a really good experience.

Tomorrow morning I leave for northern Manitoba for the hunt of a lifetime.  I will be hunting caribou at Webbers Lodge at a remote outpost.  Stay tuned for some real excitement. 

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.  Hank

The Return of the Baltimore Oriole



 

They have appeared and we do not know where they came from.  A neighbor, who is really into birds told my wife to put out some grape jelly and we would see a beautiful bird come and feed on the grape jelly.  It is the Baltimore Oriole.  The oriole is a singer with a rich whistling song that echoes from tree tops and parks.  Now the birds are in our neighborhood.  We always thought this bird lived in the eastern states, but here it is in Iowa.  The male has brilliant orange plumage while the female appearance is much more subdued. 

Male Baltimore Oriole getting ready to have some grape jelly

Besides the Baltimore Oriole, we are also being visited by the Orchard Oriole.  A smaller bird, the male is brick red with a solid black tail. First year males have a well defined black bib. The female has a greenish yellow rather than the orange - yellow breast.  Their song is a medley of melodious whistles and flute like notes, quite different from the short phrases of the Baltimore.  They migrate in July to August, so we do not expect to see them much longer.

Male Orchard Oriole

Female Orchard Oriole

We live on a golf course and there are no great stands of trees in our neighborhood.  However, to the west of our location is a wooded area.  It is here, we assume, they have built their nests.  The female weaves a hanging nest from slender fibers.  We intend to hike over to the wooded areas and search for the nests.   

Male Baltimore Oriole at the grape jelly bowls.

The name of the bird is based on the crest of England's Baltimore family, and has the same colors of orange and black plumage.  The family also gave the name to Maryland's largest city.    

Male Baltimore Oriole at the grape jelly bowls

Their breeding grounds are considered to be in the eastern and east central United States.  Iowa is far from being considered east central, but here they are.  We continue to enjoy the singing of the birds and the brilliant colors of the male as they eat grape jelly from a feeder placed on our deck.  Besides the jelly in our feeder, they feed on insects and forage for fruits in brush and shrubbery.    We are very interested to see how long they will be with us, as they winter in Central America and will inhabit the coffee and cocoa plantations in those regions.    

Female Baltimore Oriole

Baltimore Orioles eat insects, fruit, and nectar. Some orioles in our neighborhood have been seen eating oranges that have been set out for them.  However, they seem to prefer grape jelly. Their preference for each food varies by season: in summer, while breeding and feeding their young, much of the diet consists of insects, which are rich in the proteins needed for growth. In spring and fall, nectar and ripe fruits compose more of the diet as these sugary foods supply energy for migration. Baltimore Orioles eat a wide variety of insects, including beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, moths, and flies, as well as spiders. They are also helpful in our neighborhoods by eating many pest species, including tent caterpillars, gypsy moth caterpillars, fall webworms, and spiny elm caterpillars.

The appearance of the bird has been a topic of conversation in our neighborhood.  When the first week of August came, they all disappeared.

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Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.  Hank

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A Bonanza of Walleye

 

I watched the weather as usual and picked a three day period to make a trip to Webster, SD to fish the glacial lakes.  I checked in with Sportsman Cove.  They said that Waubay Lake was out, unless I wanted to catch white bass.  Walleye was on the schedule and the owner of the store had two excellent suggestions.  The first was Swan Lake to the south.  That has been fished before and is a good producer.  The boat ramp is on the east side of the lake and the wind was out of the northwest and starting to blow.  I would be fishing by myself so handling the boat on and off the trailer would be difficult for one person. 

Looking southeast from the dock.

The next suggestion was Optiz.  I have never been there.  The lake is actually three small lakes hooked together to make a really nice body of water.  The people at Sportsman Cove told me there would be a lot of sorting.  That means a fisherman would be catching a lot of walleye below 15 inches, the legal length.  The ramp was on the western shoreline and sat down low below the tops of the hills to the north and south.  I could handle the boat in these conditions.  They repeated again that I would catch a lot of fish.  That was the good news.

Looking west along the south shore of the first of the three lakes. The fish were not in the trees or the shallows on the outside.  It paid to get out in the middle of the lake where they were schooled up.

Paving all the way out of Webster to the lake, made for a good ride instead of the washboard roads and pink dust you get going to some lakes.  The boat ramp was a total afterthought.  South Dakota has some excellent facilities, but this one rates right at the bottom.  The ramp was 20 yards from the highway.  There was no parking except for backing your trailor up a grassy hill to the north.  Then there was only room for a limited number of boats.  You need to get there early to get a good space.  You enter in from the north, drive south next to the lake for about 75 feet.  Here you can get your boat ready for the launch.  Then when no one is in the launching lane, pull in and drop your boat off. The dock stinks and the boat ramp is putrid. There are some iron posts to tie the boat onto. The ramp itself consists of horizontal slabs on concrete, spaced 3 inches apart and dropped into the water.  I did launch ok, but if you decide to fish this lake, bring someone along.  One good thing is it is fairly deep at the end of the dock so you do not have to worry about hitting anything with the motor.  It is not all bad, but almost.

This access to the lake is terrible.  S.D. has not invested any money in this access.  I think it is worse than the access on Swan Lake south of Webster.  

I had no idea where to fish or how to work the lake. I met a fisherman that was obviously local and he gave me all the inside information I would need.  He had just come in for a drift sock and in the first two hours he had landed over 20 walleye.  That was the good news.  The bad news, none of them were legal length.

I started out following his advice.  I worked in 10 to 15 feet of water using a chartreuse spinner with an orange tip.  I got nothing.  The good news was both graphs were just singing as I graphed fish in all depths.

This picture does not show well how rough the lake became.  I used the kicker motor to keep the boat sideways to the waves.  Since I was by myself, I put on a life jacket.  Not that is not a bad idea to wear one anyway, now was the time to get it on.

I moved out to 20 feet and stayed parallel to the shore, but had no luck.  I only tried this for about 30 minutes.  Taking the field glasses, I scanned the lake, and much to my surprise the boats were out in deep water and drifting with the wind.  I changed the position  and placed the boat in the center of the lake.  The plan now was to drift with the wind from northwest to southeast. The wind had become very substantial.  Dropping the line down till it hit the bottom in about 22 feet of water, I would then lift it off the bottom and let it fall back down.  Bang, the hits began.  Six to ten fish and hour.  They were very healthy, but all in the 13 to 14 inch range.  A few were 14.5, and if I would have stood on them, they would have made 15 inches.  That is a bad idea, and the DNR would not appreciate it. The lake began to really rock and roll and so I moved to the next body of water to the southeast. 

I took this selfie to prove to my wife I had the life jacket on.

I wanted to see what was along the shoreline in this new section of the lake.  It was somewhat calm.  A Flicker Shad was tried for about 45 minutes with no luck and not even one hit.  I was told there were some white bass in the lake.  I will take them anytime.

Here is another farmstead taken over by mother nature.  The home to the left of the picture was a really nice big two story that had to be walked away from.  This is the result of the glacial lakes expanding and destroying someones dreams.

Moving back out to the deep water the same process was repeated.  All I needed were two walleye 15 inches or longer.  The same thing happened again.  All the fish were small and I was running out of worms.  Pinching the worms into two or three pieces and spraying on some Gulp Alive kept the fish pounding the line. 

Not a good picture, but there is a baby walleye that measured about 12 inches when I lifted it out of the water.  Most of the fish caught were in the 13 to 14.5 inch range. 

The wind began to really pound and the lake was really whipping up with big swells.  I put my life jacket on and as proof, took a selfie to show my wife that I had done it.

Around 3 PM I threw in the towel.  Fishing had started about 7:30 and I had wasted about 1.5 hours just figuring things out.  After that, there was nothing but solid catching at the rate of 6 to 10 per hour other than the 45 minutes spent with the Flicker Shad. 

I never kept a count, but it had to be in the range of 40 to 50 fish boated and tossed back.  This did not include the number of strikes that took place where no fish was landed.  It has been years since I have caught walleye that fast and furious.

In the next two to three years, this lake will be a big producer as the fish mature.

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

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