FISHING REPORT LAKES OAHE/SHARPE PIERRE AREA FOR AUGUST 2ND THRU AUGUST 11TH 201

[Hutch]

DEEP that is the word for Oahe. Walleye are being caught in depths of 30 fow to 50 fow all up and down the lake. For a lot of fishermen that is not good news however the reason so many of the fish are down that deep is great news. The lake seems to be having a smelt comeback with live wells of fish leaving smelt floating in them. I am not sure all the bait that I mark down deep is smelt but when you get out in 50 fow the lake is just full of bait fish and I hope that a lot of these are the rainbow smelt. I helped guide the CENTRAL VALLEY AGRICULTURE GROUP for their annual 4 day fishing trip for the OUTPOST LODGE and as usual the picture board got filled with mostly limits of fish in the 1 pound range but get this. This group has a company tournament with all the guides weighing there best 5  fish all four days and, the winner of all four days was Guide Paul Steffen (Steffen Ranch) and his crew. They had a weight of over 21 lbs (5 fish) each day just walking away with the whole 4 day contest. Yes that is a 4 lb avg walleye weight with 5 and 6 lb fish in their bag every day. They caught these fish as most of us did fishing deep so the bigger fish are around if you are able to find and catch them. It is not a fluke when you come in with these kind of fish for 4 days in a row. If you can talk Pauly into divulging his methods more power to you, however, I am going to leave telling that up to him. I am also hearing news that the Salmon bite is improving and that would make sense if the lake is full of smelt/bait again. I know of several of these fish in the 25 to 28 lb range being caught in the last couple of weeks so more salmon boats are out and from what I hear the depth avg of 80 fow is where most of the action is. Sharpe at WEST BEND is still putting out eater limits for most boats and on both lakes many methods work with my choice of bait still crawlers, but minnows, deep running plugs, jigging spoons and leeches are all producing. I just got done guiding the Gary Bruchett group from around Nebraska City to limits of eaters at West Bend and they made me think of something to mention. They had bought a family license and were unaware that even though it is cheaper it only entitles you to one limit of fish. Fortunately we could keep my limit so we came back with 16 fish but be aware of that limit restriction if you go the family license route. Once again I would like to thank the CVA corporation for the return of their annual trip affording all of us guides and the Outpost lodge the work along with showing their employee's a great fishing trip. Just great guys and a great company. Lots of fly's around (long Pants and bug spray) and plenty of hot weather so water/gator aide etc. are priority items.

HUTCH'S GUIDE SERVICE

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