Lake Oahe

[curtisce]

This may not make the Bucket List for smallmouth destinations but It is still a interesting lake to fish. My brother live in SD and since things here were on the hot side I decided to go up with him to Lake Oahe. He had a bowhunter shoot over the weekend which I stretched into a week of fishing. This lake is big. 230 miles in lenght, 2-3 miles wide. we stayed in a very small area of the lake to fish and covered 15miles of water. BASS held a tournament in early july of 2018 so I watched the videos of that to get some ideas. The winner was running 60 miles each day one way to his spot which was 5 miles from our caampsite. Basic pattern was finese either a ned or dropshot. Long points that do'n relate to any kind of shoreline structure extend far out from the shore. we would be fishing 1/2 mile offshore in 10 fow which would drop off to 50fow. wind would help but at times overpowered us. my 50" shaft on the trolling motor was in and out of the water and running near max at times just to hold position. We'd either cast and retrieve or if we caught them on the graph a quick drop near the transducer yielded several fish. these wide bodied fish were fighters. Anything 16" and up once you got them to about 6' they would turn towards the bottom and and would not yield an inch despite how hard you pulled on them. Our best day we got on a point that was full of big fish. Our best 5 went 15# . Never had any competition for our spots. Often we see a boat on our spot as we apprached as as we would get closer we'd find that they were in deeper water "pulling bottom bouncers" seeking a limit of eater walleyes. 

   A fun week despite a few days of wind that really punished us. If I went back I might bring some gear and try for some walleyes just for variety. 

[Quillback]

Looks like some good fish to be had.  I have driven over that lake several times, and watched that Elite series event and just never have been too impressed with that lake.  I always thought that during bird season, if a guy had a boat, you could get into some pheasant hunting that is away from the crowds.  

[curtisce]

5 hours ago, Quillback said:

Looks like some good fish to be had.  I have driven over that lake several times, and watched that Elite series event and just never have been too impressed with that lake.  I always thought that during bird season, if a guy had a boat, you could get into some pheasant hunting that is away from the crowds.  

Agreed, I first strarted thinking about a trip north when TR wasn't fishing real well and the heat was swelltering. Intally I was thinking Mille Lacs. Myt brother had this archery shoot oon Oahe so it seemed the easier choice. glad I went but maybe next time Mille Lacs.

[watermen2]

Some crazy good smallie fishing on the prairie.  You might have been one lake too far north on the missouri.  Oahe is deep and cold.