I’ve split my time again this week on both Sakakawea and Devils Lake. Lots going on with the change in weather and a massive bug hatch on Devils Lake.

I’ll start with Devils Lake. The bite has been fairly tough and very inconsistent the last 4 or 5 days. Water temps dropped like a rock (roughly 10 degrees) and the bugs have hatched.

The combination of these two have made putting fish in the livewell tricky at times. A normal August bite up here would be lots of fish and fairly easy to catch. Not so much this week.

We have resorted to current areas (especially on the windy days) and the mud flats (where the bugs hatched) to catch some fish. For me slow death has produced the best results in the mud. Dragging over them at a slower pace seems to trigger a few to eat.

The current areas I’ve pitched jigs with leeches and crawlers and also a few different versions of glide baits. My boat looks like a disaster by days end with a land mine of JT Customs all rigged with different lures to scratch whatever we can get.

Moving on to Lake Sakakawea. The bite remains strong even with the cooler temps. Bigger body of water takes it a little longer to cool off. The bulk of the fish remain in that 22 to 28 foot of water. The mud section of the reservoir is starting to shine!

Still some really big fish up shallow if you want to reduce the numbers caught and go after quality.

I’m no longer booking trips on Sakakawea or Devils Lake for the season. I am however booking trips as I type for the Missouri River near Bismarck/Mandan for October and November (weather permitting) if the bite is half as good as last fall we should have a successful fall once again! Get ahold of me if you are interested in booking a Fall River trip.