Once again I’m happy to report the wind bite has been good. Lots of keeper size wind gusts ranging anywhere between 20 and 40 mph. You can get wind pretty much every day you step outside.
Amazingly enough, I have been able to get on the water. It hasn’t been easy to say the least. I’ve had to move around quite a bit to keep ourselves somewhat out of the wind. The main places I’ve spent time here recently, have been south of Bismarck on the river and also up on the tailrace north of Bismarck.
I breezed (no pun intended) through my last report and so far what I predicted would happen is happening right now. The bite was super strong as soon as the initial waters fell drawing a lot of fish out of the back bays, flooded trees, creek channels etc. lots of those fish hit the livewells and we are seeing a slower bite as of now. Don’t worry however, I am seeing a migration of fish moving now from down south. The side scan is indicating a pretty decent fish movement.
Cranks along with jigs with minnows off the main drag of the old river channel have been best. The fish are healthy looking, and nothing beats that punch on the jig for me personally.
I would anticipate, weather permitting, our river bite to continue to get better and better. Water temps are still hanging in there and as soon as the water temps dip near 40 degrees I think we will see a good solid bite all the way until freeze up.
Hard to give a good report on Sakakawea right now. Again, the wind has kept us off of the big pond. Tailrace is decent under the moonlight, but be careful at the launch, the water gets extremely low and loading and unloading has been a problem.
I’m taking bookings now for ice fishing up on Devils Lake. Don’t hesitate to contact me at mikepelusooutdoors@gmail.com to reserve your spot this winter.