Lakes Oahe/Sharpe Pierre area fishing report for April 19th thru the 22nd 2015

[Hutch]

Lots of wind days so cross your fingers if you are heading over to our area. The fishing is just starting especially when you can land on those spring days with favorable weather. I took a couple of rancher's from around Alliance fishing for northern/catfish on Lake Oahe in 20 to 25 mph winds. Gary Taylor and his friend Mark topped their catch off with one northern pike around 18 to 19 lbs. along with a couple of smaller northern and a nice pile of channel catfish averaging around 3 lbs. for some nice meals back in Nebraska. We caught these fish on smelt/slip bobbers in 3 fow in the back of two creeks both with running water .Haven't heard of much of a bite for walleye yet on the big lake but Lake Sharpe east of Pierre all the way down to west bend is starting to go with some walleye limits coming in along with some smallmouth bass. Around Pierre expect to have to throw a lot of 14 incher's back to work you way to a limit. Water temps in the high 40's to low 50's are getting the fish moving around. Jigs/minnows are the bait of choice however bottom bouncer/minnows will catch fish also along with pulling shallow running plugs. For the most part target 6 fow or less .Remember to pull the plugs on live wells and boats before you leave. You can trailer to fish cleaning places nearest the boat ramp but after that new regulations call for draining live wells and boats. Check out http://gfp.sd.gov/fishing-boating/rules-regs.aspx site for more detailed info on this if you are not familiar with the new regulations designed to prevent movement of invasive species.

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Hutch