Fishing Report Lakes Oahe/Sharpe Pierre area for the 11th thru the 14th Septembe

[Hutch]

The river around Pierre(Sharpe) is still muddy from recent high water discharges from the dam stirring up silt. That along with run off and wind make conditions unfavorable for anyone that doesn't know their way around. I helped Dave Spaid guide some fellows and struggled all day. Until this settles down either Oahe or the West Bend area are probably better choices for most anglers. One thing that is easier around Pierre is cat fishing and that is excellent from the dam down to the bad river. Dead smelt drifted on around a 1 oz weight works along with many other baits. Nice catfish from 2 to 10 lbs. are common. I then spent 3 days guiding on Oahe getting my customers all limits of nice walleye some northern pike and lots of smallmouth/white bass. Danna Van Dyne, wife Laurie and son Logan are repeat customers and along with friends from Nebraska we caught nice limits of around 17 inch avg walleye. I then spent two days fishing Tony Spader from Sioux Falls and his whole family on Oahe. A great bunch of guys and every one caught fish and had a great time. We spent day one fishing walleye on Oahe then day two fishing smallmouth bass on Oahe with nice weather and in my boat full limits of walleye/bass with a few 20 inchers along with a good number of 18 to 19 inch fish in the bag. The smallmouth avg was and easy 17 inches with several bass around 4 to 5 lbs. We caught all of the above walleye in depths of 15 fow out to 30 fow and the same for the smallmouth. The walleye were about 50/50 on either bottom/bouncer minnow or crawler rigs with many fish coming on spinner rigs. Oahe right now can be challenging for inexperienced anglers or even very good anglers if you miss the main bite so try to get as much good info as you can before you hit the water. Many of the well known fall hot spots are different right now as the water level is close to the all time high. The lake has more bait fish from the little bend boat ramp north to Mobridge. Weather is always a factor in the fall so if you are coming to Pierre hope for the best.

Hutch's Guide Service

Hutch