Missouri River/Lake Oahe – August 2nd 2018

With the higher flows a few things are happening on the Missouri River both north and south of Bismarck.  Lake Oahe down by the state line is just beginning to show a lot of promise for the fall to come!  I am super excited to begin my search here in the upcoming weeks for the Casino Cup Walleye tournament to be held on Lake Oahe.  Always a fun time trying to break the code of what the walleyes are doing at this time of year.  Another major player to pay attention to is the tailrace below the Garrison Dam.  They will be opening up the spillway for the first time since 2011 to test the work they did on this structure.  My guess it will draw fish up towards it and fishing will be good!  The tailrace itself right now is very good also with a little timing.  Don’t be afraid to run 3 way rigs with cranks and crawler and or larger jigs with plastics that mimic smelt and drift the midsection towards the east.  You can also find fish right now downstream behind the structure.  Look for the river here locally to start up sometime in September and we will be out there chasing and following these fish up river!  Fall for me is one of the most exciting times to fish.  Less traffic on the river with lots of opportunity to catch fish and to catch some really big fish.  I am calling it now, but the State Record Walleye for North Dakota will be broke here locally most likely next spring.  We saw quite a few walleyes caught this spring between 13 and 15 pounds.  All these fish that were caught were healthy and growing!  With the high water we have had I believe lots of things spawned for these walleyes and other fish to eat!  They will be putting on the weight this off season for sure!