The Call of the Glacial Lakes

 

 I followed eastern South Dakota weather and it never seemed like good fishing weather.  Wind, warm to hot temps and frontal activity.  Then it hit.  Down came a cold front from Canada bringing cold weather, rain, and storms.  I should have been there before the front hit, but it was not possible.  The plan was made to head up after the frontal passage and hit the lakes for a couple of days as the forecast looked great. 

The night before leaving, the temp in Webster, South Dakota was 45 degrees and this was after July 4th. It was down right cold with light northerly wind.  The sky was a typical bright blue as it usually is in the Dakotas and after frontal passage.   They have low humidity and that makes it really comfortable. Whether it is hot or cold plus the beauty of the prairie meeting the blue sky, it is absolutely picturesque.

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I checked in at the Galley Motel and then went down to Sportsman Cove for bait and advice.  The weather had not warmed up much.  Leeches and crawlers were the live bait of choice according to the owner of the bait store. I would be fishing Waubay Lake.  What disappointed me was that no one he knew was catching fish pulling plugs.  My favorite has always been the Berkley Flicker Shad and it has been really successful for walleye when nothing else was working.  We did not discuss depths much, but the feeling was that 10 to 15 feet was probably in order since the cool weather and cool water temps would bring them closer to the shore and in more shallow water.

After launching the boat, the light breeze was just perfect for walleye.  My plan was that if I could nail a quick limit, I would go after white bass which had become plentiful in the shallow waters.  White Bass are excellent table fare and with a good coating of your favorite fish batter, it is excellent.  The plus to the White Bass is the limit was high and there was not a worry about going over the limit.  I had also picked up some Small Mouth Bass on the previous trip, but there was a slot that would be hard to fill.  Small Mouth Bass eat really well.  I will take all I can legally catch.  I had caught all three at Breskey Bay.

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The big front had gone through yesterday evening and figuring that the blow out period was already over, the fish would start to feed heavily again.  An old fisherman told me that after frontal passage, 12 to 24 hours is the blowout period where the fish have gone deep and quit feeding.  In the past that has proven to be somewhat true if it is a cold front and really severe.  This was a tough front.  After the wait of time they will start feeding and move to the shallows.  I believed this was what was taking place.  I started at the 10 foot level and moved out to the 15 foot depth pulling a chartreuse spinner. The spinner was not on the bottom, but pulled about two feet above the bottom.  I would let it fall till it hit, then reel up about two to three feet from the bottom.  The theory is that suspended fish are feeding fish and fish lying on the bottom are not feeding.  This pattern was worked for an hour, and but not one hit was felt.  It was time to try another method to catch some fish.

After moving back to the 8 foot depth, a 3/8 red and white jig was fastened to the line.  A leech was added for flavor and the process was started.  The jig was allowed to fall, strike the bottom and then lifted up about two feet and dropped again to the bottom.  This process was repeated over and over again.  From 8 feet out to 15 feet not one hit was felt on the jig.  If the walleye were soft biters I was not feeling them.  Rods were then changed from a light weight rod to an ultra light rod.  From the 15 foot depth, I back trolled to 8 feet jigging off the bottom as I went.  I should add, the graph was  showing fish, but not a lot.  The old saying is, "Let your graph be your eyes."  Fish have been caught when not showing a thing on the graph.

By this time frustration had risen.  A couple of weeks ago a limit was reached in the same amount of time invested at this spot.  That does not include the fish that were thrown back.  It was time to move on.

 
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Along the north shore of Waubay Lake before you come to the old school bus point, there are a couple of islands.  It was in this area that the staff at Sportsman Cove told me to work in at least 15 feet of water.  A little more breeze had come up, and there was a better ripple on the water than before.  This might have been the past problem.  Going back to the spinner and crawler, the islands were trolled staying within the 15 foot areas.  Going between the islands  was some deeper water, but it produced nothing.  I tried changing rods to an ultra light but kept the spinner and crawler on.  The theory was that walleye will mouth the bait, not smack it, when they are not actively feeding.  When you feel the weight, you release the line and feed them several feet of line.  Slowly tighten it up until it is tight again, and then set the hook.  This has worked for me in the past.  That is the good news.  The bad, was that not one light biter took the crawler. A point of caution; there have been times when the hook was set on a snag and a rod was broken.   It was time to move on.

To the east end of the lake there is a bay that on the south side is a wild life refuge.  It is well marked, and over the decades the lake has been fished.  The urge was to cross the barrier and fish the wildlife refuge.  It was not going to take place today as visions of a big fine surfaced, and my boat being confiscated.

The plan was to work parallel to the marker line and start off with a Flicker Shad.  The plug will go down about 8 to 10 feet and it has a nice rattle to it.  For me, I have found that the plug will trigger fish to strike.  The fisherman that tipped me off on the plug said to pull it around 2 to 3 miles per hour.  The plug was worked for about one hour from 8 feet out to 15 feet trolling in a straight line then in an s curve fashion going from shallow to deep.  I was getting hungry by then and it was past my dinner time.

It is called fishing, not catching, and it was time to throw in the towel.  Tomorrow is another day, and I intend to fish a new lake.

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

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Hammering the Walleye

I studied the weather patterns for a week in eastern South Dakota waiting for the right time to pounce.  Then it happened.  No T storms, steady winds, clearing skies and a high pressure.  If you don't grab hold of those conditions, you have made one of life's mistakes.  That is if you are a fisherman.

Since it was during the week, motels were not full and a hungry fisherman could take his pick.  My wife decided not to go.  I told her she was missing an opportunity that does not come very often, but she had other things to do, so I was off to Webster, South Dakota for two days of fishing.

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Leaving early on Wednesday, the traffic was light even through Sioux Falls and I made the trip in 5 hours.  South Dakota has now raised the speed limit on the interstate to 80 mph.  Pulling my boat, my speed was 70 mph and the cars and truck were almost blowing off my doors as they sped around me.

Arriving at Webster, my first stop was for lunch.  Then I checked into the Galley Motel.  The final stop before hitting the water was bait at Sportsman Cove and I visited with the owner.  As I walked in the door, he recognized me right away as I have been fishing this area since the store opened 15 years ago.  He does not know my name, but always recognizes my face, and that is outstanding customer service.  This is where I get the facts on where to fish and what to fish with.  My plan was to use my favorite lure, the Berkley Flicker Shad, and then  use live bait.  Spinners are my preference, and any live bait will work.  This time the recommendation was either worms or leeches.  No one was catching anything on minnows.  Also he said to fish between 8 to 15 feet of water.  The shore lines in spots had a lot of standing weed and moss and a fisherman needed to get on the edge of the weed lines and deeper to catch the eyes.

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Three spots were recommended.  Out of Kanago access, take a right and head to the arm of the lake that heads southwest to the trailors.  Halfway there look for boulders along the south shoreline and start a zigzag pattern in 8 feet of water to 15 feet.  That pattern was worked for about 100 yards and there was not one strike.  Over 90 minutes of time was down the drain.

Next, the boat was moved up the south shore line to a spot where the land jutted out into the lake.  This spot was not on the recommended list, but I've had luck there before. Boulders lined the west side.  Fish had been caught here in years past and more time was invested.  I did not get one hit or even a weed.  That was really disappointing because success had happened here when other spots did not produce.  I was fishing with a chartreuse spinner and decided to switch baits.  Next was the Flicker Shad trolled from 19 feet to 8 feet, but nothing was produced.  At some point a person must remind himself that it is called fishing not catching.  The time had now come to move.

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The second spot was northeast of Kanago access and it was recommended to work the northwest shore line at a spot where one of the hidden boulders stuck up from the bottom. It was about 150 to 200 yards from the boat dock.  I did not like this area as it was a good location to hit something with the lower unit.   I have torn up enough props and prop shafts in my old age.  I also switched to a chartreuse jig and crawler.  I worked from the submerged boulder out at a 90 degree angle to the bank but no action developed.  I worked the area at about 100 yards out for about 90 minutes changing to a spinner, and then to a red and white jig.  No runs, no hits, no errors. 

Well, now it was time to move to spot number 3.  This was just outside of Breskey Bay on the northwest corner of the lake.  I was to look for a large tree trunk sticking up at a point along the shore line.  It was easy to find.  I was told to go on a line straight out from the tree to about 200 yards.
Walleye had been hammered there before.  The wind was northeasterly and blowing directly towards the tree trunk.

The boat moved into about 10 feet of water and then, Wham!  It felt like a big fish.  It was not, but the bite was aggressive and that was a good sign.  Still moving out at a snails pace, fish were starting to be picked up, but they were all less than 14 inches.  That is the legal size for Waubay.  It was not long before a keeper was picked up and then a 15 inch fish was boated.  The deeper I went the bigger the fish.  So, the boat was moved out to about 12 to 15 feet of water.  The hits were more sparse, but when one was landed, it was a keeper in the 15 to 16 inch range. By 7 PM I had my daily limit and headed for the barn.  The next morning, I knew where I was going.

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Up early the weather could not have been better.  I was really excited with the weather. There were thick low dark clouds, heavy fog, and a moderate wind just enough to put a good ripple on the water.  How lucky can anyone be.  This was walleye heaven and I was going to participate in this experience.

At the boat dock there was not one vehicle so the boat was quickly launched and headed for Breskey Bay.  This time, fishing was started at 8 feet and it was Wham! Wham! Wham!  One fish after another. All I had to do was to catch, check size and pitch.  It took some time to catch a legal limit, but who cares.  When you are catching fish after fish and throwing them back it cannot get any better than that.

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Slowly the fog lifted and the sun began to poke through the scud clouds covering the lake. It was not long before the catching began to slow, but I was done by then and was totally limited out in 1 hour.  I continued on catching and pitching just for fun for about another hour.  The sun finally began to appear and above the clouds was a clear blue sky.  The wind slowly went down and the lake was like glass.  Time to go.

If you have read past blog posts, you know I don't always catch fish, but this was not one of them. Periodically you hit that moment when you just hammer the walleye and catch them by the bushel basket. This was one of those times.  I can only hope it will happen again this year.  I am waiting for the next near perfect weather pattern to make another trip to Webster, SD.

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck. Hank 

 
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