I’m going to group two reports into this one report. The first part I’ll talk about the fishing I did during the University of Mary College Fins and Feathers. The second part is of the hunting that took place. I have to say the Fins and Feathers event is such a fun day/night. I say night because we kicked off the derby up in the chutes at the Garrison Dam tailrace. We managed a limit of walleyes, two salmon and one 8.5 pound Walleye that won the grand prize for largest Marble Eye. Also fun reeling in a fish like this and believe me it never gets old! We were drifting 3 way rigs with floating rapalas concentrating on the current seems and watching closely to the flows and activity around us. After we were done in the chutes I motored over to Nelson Lake in hopes of crappie and bass. Each category has specific rules and minimums and each fish that your able to keep it worth a point. After arriving I figured out in a quick hurry something was off. Well, literally they were not pumping the warm water into the lake sending those fish into a trance. So I loaded up and headed to Harmon Lake. Never have I fished Harmon by boat, so I was very intrigued. After fishing shorelines for over an hour I decided I needed to do something different. I idled out into the basin just looking for life. I stumbled onto large schools of crappies and panfish. I had to chase these fish around with my partner but we were able to get our limit of crappies for our team. All in all the fishing portion went well. On my journey from the tailrace to Nelson lake I was able to find a coyote. My other fishing partners were able to round up some roosters and the rest of the team were set up hunting waterfowl. I believe we took second place overall, but we won the fishing portion of the event plus we had the largest Walleye. So much fun and I would recommend anyone looking to have a totally different outdoor experience this is the one to lean towards! I also won a couple raffle prizes. My hands however are extremely sore from cleaning all the fish for folks that participated. Great day to be a True North Dakotan!
ND Fishing Report-September 17th, 2023
My lake days on both Devils Lake and Lake Sakakawea are slowly winding down. I still have the rest of September booked, but mostly Sakakawea before I drop down to the river near Bismarck for October and November, weather permitting. We did have a great first half of...