Sept. 7-8 Sharpe/Oahe Report

[Hutch]

I along with 16 other guides fished the Pioneer Seed Company's Group for Pioneer representative Lonnie Smith from the Omaha Nebraska area. All of these 48 fellows were farmers from all over Nebraska with Pioneer showing them their appreciation for using Pioneer products with a combination business/fishing trip. Another example of a company taking good care of the people that support them and I along with all the other guides and the Outpost Lodge thank them for the work and the great time. Just a great bunch of guys and all of them caught at least 25 walleye a day with all the guide boats catching probably 75 or more walleye a day keeping a two lb. (18 inch) avg. fish for possession limits for all. Hard to believe but the bite on the river is that good and as far as I can remember for numbers of fish it hasn't been any better in the last 30 years. I attribute this to a combination of the river (Lake Sharpe) being closed because of high water releases in the Pierre area all summer and Bait fish coming threw the tubes drawing numbers of fish up from down river. These fish were caught by pulling plugs, Jig fishing or using bttmbouncer/spinner rigs with nightcrawlers. Most of us guides use these presentations because it is the safest way to catch numbers of fish and release the smaller fish. When catching fish on spinners or with plug's or jigs they are usually hooked in the front of the mouth so releasing them is easier and their survival rate better thus making these presentations better from my viewpoint. If fish swallow the hook on lindy type fishing and you want to release them cut the hook leaving around 6 inches of line to give them a better chance to survive. Lake Oahe excellent also from the dam all the way up river with numbers of around 14 to 15 inch being caught in 17 to 30 fow. Bigger fish on Oahe are harder to come by for the most part with a lot of these big fish hanging out in deep trees or chasing suspended bait. The weather has been beautiful with temp's in low 80's and very little wind so this September weather wise and fishing wise is as good as it gets. This whole summer has been( all around) as good as it has been for the fishing both size wise and numbers wise since the 90's. Next year could even be better.

Hutch