Made the voyage back over to Lake Sakakawea this week. Fishing has been ok…not lights out but decent. Maybe a skewed perspective, especially how spoiled I’ve been this summer up here since early June.

He fish have definitely moved out deep. I’m sure you’ll start hearing the term barotrauma. It’s definitely a real issue this time of the year with most of the fish being caught in 25 foot or deeper. Prepare yourself to keep what you catch (no matter the size) and stop fishing deep. You may think the fish swam away and made it if released. Unfortunately they do not.

The ND Game and Fish has done a tremendous job of keeping this a world class fishery. Now it’s are duty as anglers to help the cause by making sure we are responsible anglers. I’m seeing way too many anglers throwing fish back in way too deep of water.

The walleyes are on the move right now. The lake levels are dropping and all the young of the year spawn is on full display. This puts the larger fish on pause mode a bit. You’ll see them on your electronics but getting them to eat consistently is another story.

We have been catching our guide fish on slow death and bouncers. However, jig raps, glide baits, cranks etc will produce a few bigger fish for you.

I still have sometime left up here and I’ll be switching gears to the river south of Bismarck, especially cone October and November if weather permits. You still have time to book a trip if you are interested!