So a lot has changed since my last report. Notably the Missouri River south of Bismarck. For those of you who have ventured south, you have seen a massive drop in water levels. Like I had said in previous reports, the initial drop in water late September was really good for the fishing. Lots of walleyes moved out of the flooded vegetation and backwater areas into the mainstream of the river. This made the bite really strong for a couple of weeks. However, this second drop in water levels has really put the brakes on the migration. The fish we were seeing showing up basically stopped, and most likely retreated back further south into the lake region of Oahe. We have some major sand walls out there right now, and if things don’t get better by spring we will see these sand walls slowing down our spring migration as well. My hopes are we get a massive amount of snow in the Rockies to hopefully replenish the water levels.
Moving up to Sakakawea now has been a tale of two lakes these past two weeks. Once the water temps started to drop during our first cold snap, we had the fish really putting on a feeding bender! The fish were aggressive and sliding up shallower making them easier to catch. Things were getting exciting and people including myself, were catching fish. Fast forward to some warmer weather coupled with a full moon and those extremely obese walleyes have slowed their feeding frenzy down a bit during the daylight hours. Early mornings and late evenings these past few days have been decent, but it is a short window of opportunity and you needed to be in the right spot at the right time to capitalize on them. The exact same story up on Lake Sakakawea, we need to keep our fingers crossed for a ton of snow in the Rockies this winter. The corps has pulled the water levels way down, and I’m a tad worried if things stay somewhat in a drought it could be an interesting future on the big lake.
With this being probably my last open water report for 2020, I want to remind people if your looking to book an ice fishing trip on Devils Lake or a spearing trip on Sakakawea to please get ahold of me and secure your dates. Email me at mikepelusooutdoors@gmail.com
