September 1st to 10th Lake Oahe and Lake Sharpe, Pierre SD Fishing Report

[Hutch]

I have been out of pocket for a few days so got a little behind on the fishing reports but not a lot has changed in the first week of September. The bite down on Lake Sharpe is still very good in the Pierre area with limits of walleye the norm. Most fish are coming in 10 fow or less and relating to weed lines and sand bars. I have been fishing with spinner/bouncer rigs using either gulp worms or night crawler however plug fishing and minnow's for bait are both good. Oahe fishing is much harder for numbers of quality slot fish but plenty of over 20 inch fish are still being caught. A lot of the fish are deep along ledges near the main channel chasing bait down as deep as 50 foot or more but I heard of some fish starting to come back up around 18 to 20 fow so it makes finding them tougher as they are all over. I helped guide a large group of real nice guys and gals for the Outpost taking the boss of the group Bob in my boat and we did alright on the lake and also on the river catching limits both days with the biggest a 24 1/2 incher Bob caught on Oahe in 70 fow. I then guided the Jim Beck group of guys from the Omaha area to limits on Sharpe. These fellows are repeat customers of mine and we just had a great time and caught some real nice quality walleye's keeping an easy 17 inch avg size fish both days. We caught them in 7 fow along weed lines with spinner crawler rigs. We had at least 10 fish a day over 18 inches so if you get in the right area's around Pierre you can take some nice fish home. A tip Just keep traveling until you run out of boats and try and fish areas that have had less fishing pressure. It will pay off in much nicer over all size fish and for me it is much easier fishing when you don't have to look out for other boats to avoid. Can be hard to do on week ends but if you are willing to put out a little more gas money it sure can be done and there are fish all the way down Sharpe clear to the bend area. I think we are going to have a very good fall bite on both Oahe and Sharpe. As the fall weather starts to cool water temps and bring the fish back up shallow on Oahe it should get real good again especially in the big spawning arms as fish stage for the spring run. I will continue to report on more of an every 3 to 5 day period as the season winds down but will report any big changes more often if needed.

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Hutch