Lakes Oahe/Sharpe Pierre area fishing report for 7th ,8th. and 9th 2014

[Hutch]

I guided runner up NE state football champions the Brett Froendt group of Omaha Westside coach's for three days having a great time and getting all of their possession limits of walleye, some bass and some northern pike along with some real healthy meals of walleye while they were here. We fished from 5 fow to 25 fow on Oahe for two days catching an easy 75 fish a boat day with releasing 13 to 14 inch fish and keeping 15 inch plus the norm. They did manage to get some bigger fish with a 26 incher (Caught in NE John's Guide boat who was helping me) the largest walleye. We used both spinner/crawler rigs, minnow bouncer rigs and some gulp to catch the fish. Oahe is full of the smaller fish this year so if you like a lot of action it is a great destination. The last day we traveled to West Bend on Sharpe as they were going home and did great filling out the remainder of their limits with around a 17 inch avg. size walleye so Sharpe right now is a little easier to put a 3 inch or so better fish in the boat. We caught the fish on Sharpe mostly in 30 fow on crawlers but minnows/ gulp work. There is a lot of boat traffic on both lakes as there always is in June however if fishing around a crowd is not you thing it is easier to find that experience on Oahe. Most of the experienced angler that know the lake(both Lakes) are able to get all the fish they want away from community spots. On Oahe we saw maybe three other boats all day in the area we were fishing and after running away from traffic we fished all by ourselves on Sharpe. I am mentioning this because doing this is becoming more of a challenge every year. I am not opposed to group fishing as it concentrates most of the boats in 10% of the water leaving 90% open thus protecting a huge part of the lake and making for a lot better fishing experience if you like to get away from it all and just not have to look at big groups of boats. A side to this is finding the walleye (sometime's hard) and not just a bunch of boats is what has kept me chasing these fish for many years and the greatest fishermen in my opinion are the ones that can hunt the fish down in every lake were walleye live. Finding a bunch of boats is easy. Finding the walleye is the hard part. I do not mean this in any negative way but just as something for you to try if you find yourself fishing in a crowd as if you can learn how to find these fish by yourself you will have up graded your skills to a level that probably only 10% to 20% of all the walleye fishermen around get to. All of the great walleye fishermen that I have known over the years take particular pride in having developed this ability. It is very often time consuming hence taking the easy way out and group fishing seems to many the right way but smaller avg fish usually is the price tag along with an I am in the parking lot feeling. The lakes are full of fish and I promise you they are not all just under the big groups of boats. Leech's and plug fishing are all working. Just about any way you would like to catch a walleye right now works so if you have a favorite way to fish go for it.

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Hutch