Weather has not been my friend the last week or so on the water. Way too many rain, lightning, and fog delays and inconsistent wind to really get a pattern going.
If I’ve picked up on anything the last week fishing Lake Sakakawea is the fish are moving deeper and tons of baitfish showing up! You drop out over 30 foot of water and you’ll think your depthfinder is getting interference off your motors the bait is that thick right now.
Jig raps are starting to shine a little more right now with these fish sliding deeper. What I have been doing is rolling over the marks a few times with slow death and propeller rigs. Hope to catch a couple. After a few passes I anchor lock on the marks, and drop the jig raps down hoping to get another one or two.
Colors again seem to lean towards whites. Makes sense since these walleyes are gorging themselves on smelt. I know the ND Game and Fish has put out an alert to keep an eye on the fish you catch out deep. 30 foot seems to be the danger zone and certainly anything deeper should probably be kept. Bring the fish in slow and this helps the fishes chances of being able to adjust to the pressure change.
With this goofy weather I’ve had to relocate a couple times down in the spillway. You can still catch fish down there but the weather has even had an affect on the fish in there as well. I have one more day this week on Sakakawea and I’ll be back over on Devils Lake over the weekend. Keeping my fingers crossed for stable weather. I’m taking bookings for September and October right now. The fall bite is gonna be solid! Get ahold of me at mikepelusooutdoors@gmail.com to book a trip! You can even mix in a little hunting while your here! Lodging also available up at Devils Lake!