The good news is I’ve been able to limp out on the water for short stints here this past week.  I’m still not in guiding shape so when I get tired or don’t feel good I can get off.  

The good part about not being out on the water long right now is the fish are biting and you seem to get your fill of catching them in pretty short order right now on Sakakawea.  

I was thinking the dog days of summer would be upon us, but they haven’t shown up and from what I can tell, I don’t think they will! 

Fish are trending deeper.  I’ve tried hard to stay shallower than the barotrauma threshold of 25 foot of water.  You can definitely find fish up there just not as many and they don’t seem to bite as fast.  

When you slip out deeper they bite but you absolutely should keep those fish because the mortality of them is extremely high.  So I just tell myself if they are 12 or 24 inches you have to keep them.  I’m seeing people throwing fish back right now in 30 to 50 foot of water and those fish usually look like they swim away, but chances are they will die.  

The game and fish have done such a tremendous job of taking care of this resource i would hate to see it jeopardized.  

For me I’m still concentrating on pulling slow death with heavier bouncers.  Mark the fish in an area and work them over.  The bigger fish are mixed tight in and the best thing I’m seeing is we have a ton of different year classes right now.  Lots of food for those year classes so I future is bright! 

I’m hoping I get the green light from the doctors to start working again here at some point.  My goal is to hopefully be ok to start fall guiding here in the river near Bismarck.  As soon as I know I’ll begin to book some trips. Fingers are crossed! Again, thank you to everyone for all the support and the kind words on the water!