This the most recent report I have for the Missouri River and Lake Oahe South of Bismarck North Dakota. The weather and wind is having a really hard time getting on the same page. Originally I received the green light from my wife to head up to Lake Sakakawea for the weekend to pick on the fish up there. Unfortunately the weather forecast didn’t look favorable to be on the big lake for any amount of time. We tucked tail and ran south of Bismarck on the much more protected Missouri River or Lake Oahe depending on where exactly you’re fishing. Saturday was a quiet day on the water as far as boat traffic. It was a high temperature of 48 degrees with 15-25 mph sustained winds. It was very cold out on the water. With the way the weather was it made more sense to troll. We put out 4 lines and started trolling some slack water directly adjacent to the main channel. On our first pass we landed 2 nice 18″ walleyes. We were off to a great start!! We proceeded the rest of the day on much the same pattern. We mixed up different styles of DH customcrank baits to fine tune the pattern until we had it dialed. We ended the day with 23 fish caught and many others lost or they would swing and miss when they would bite. We kept a great limit of 10 healthy walleyes and 1 pike. Day 2 allowed us to try jig fishing a bit. With the warmer temps and lower winds we jigged in the deeper holes first thing in the morning. I brought a scoop of minnows but all the fish came on jigs and plastics. We caught a few fish on each pass. The higher the sun got in the sky the slower the bite became. We quickly moved back to the trolling pattern as the winds kicked up. We continued to catch more fish with more proficiency than the jigs. It was a fun weekend on the water. The weather proved to be a challenge but we prevailed. If you can make time I suggest you get out and take advantage of the fall fishing if you can!I’m not sure how many more weekends we have before ice season sets in.
I’m booking for next spring on the river in Bismarck along with Devils Lake trips starting in the end of May and Sakakawea towards the middle of June. I have package pricing available at all locations. Let me know when you can get away on vacation and let’s make a memory!!