Eyes4life

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I did real well on whitewood on saturday. My dad and i caught 25 nice perch. We also watched the nice f150 ford, loaded go right through the ice 100 yards from us. Just happened to be from Minnesota, couldnt believe the trucks out there, only 10 inches of black ice, not very smart

Some parts of the lake are closed in the winter, not sure which part. The warden watches that place real hard

You wont find a map for opitz. Also you have to have a small boat because you have to launch off the road. Also as you venture back to the big part of the lake you have to be very carefull. You have to go through a channel that is 1 foot deep. Everytime we went there we brough waders and pushed through it. Also how did you find out about opitz?

i understand that. If i was u i wouldnt waste my time on the refuge. This time in the year the refuge sucks cause all the bait fish move out. You can find them there but you have to walk so far out and that sucks. If you do try it let me know how you do. The refuge will start going again when the ice starts to deterioate. Good luck, the ice is about 24-26 inches and real safe

It takes a little more then fishing next to the crowds. You need a map and need to understand where the deep and shallow water is at. Any joe can fish next to the crowd, the real fisherman will be away in his own spot catching fish. Sometimes the crowd is the place to go but you will never find me near the crowd. If i was you i would fish the south lake, i did real well out there on friday and saturday in 21 foot of water. Look around and find a good spot, it does not have to be in the crowd.

Jan 22 works for me, I think Bitter will be better than Enemy Swim. A week before the outing i will fish hard to find the best fishing spot if we want to choose a lake a week before the outing, also i did real good on pelican and that might be closer for others, doesnt matter to me.

You can drive on pelican the ice is plenty thick but use caution. Remember the lake is only 7 foot deep so the secret is to be quiet. Drill lots of holes and use a jig and a minnow, also a kastmaster works great because the fish are huge and agressive. Good Luck

There is a henry slough right out side of the town of henry, 30 minutes from Sioux Falls. They only catch perch out of there but they are big. They dont catch a lot but when you catch one it is 12-14in. Lake Henry by Desmit has some good walleye action, but nothing like back in the day. When henry froze over it killed everything. It is on the way back but the Eyes are 14-16in or smaller, ocassionally a big one, but the perch are having trouble reproducing. the northern action is good and that is what is hurting the perch.

we got out there at 8am and diddnt catch a fish till 12pm, we caught them one after another till 4pm and then we left. we caught them in 6 foot of water by the rock pile. Remember there is 2 rock piles and we only caught them by one of them. Good luck

Enemy Swim is not the best place to have an outing i think. The Gills are pretty small and prettty boring to catch i think. If you stay all night and fish with chubs you can catch 8-10lbs walleyes. I would put the outing on Bitter because the walleye bite is great all day and you can get some dandy perch.

Fished Pelican lake today the 10th and did real good. Two of us caught over 15 walleyes, the smallest was 19inches. We kept 8 walleyes all at or over 20inches. We also released 2 fish over 5lbs. The fishing was great, we used genz worms and a minnow. We drilled 20 holes until we found the fish, but when we found them we slaughtered them. good luck.

Sorry, i was having a bad day. I just hate it how so many people lie or accuse people of lying on here. Was out on Wuabay this morning from 6-9 and found some good walleye action. The perch are starting to pick up i heard. I will be out on friday on OPITZ.

Fish in bresky's bay on the east side, do you try to point out mistakes to make me look like i dont know what i am talking about, maybe i shouldn't give a report, i only live 5 miles from waubay,

I went up there and used the perch patrol, it was like 200 bucks for two days fishing with a guide. They did a good job, also after one day with the guide you know where to go, also you can just follow there trucks the next few days because they really know what there doing, i think we caught 60 perch in 1 day. Also we caught a lot of big walleyes, the only access to the spots we fished was snowmobile for the Big Walters. Devils Lake is A Blast and try Perch Patrol There Great. I think it is Perch Patrol.com, not sure.

Poorbiker, you should be fine, most of us have been fishing Bresky Bay which is on the South End, kind of on the east side. The ice is 4-5 inches. You can also see where the water was open a few days ago and the ice is bad so be careful. Its not like it just appears you can see it. The bite is good, with late first ice the fish are going strong, Be safe. I will be out there on Friday, I reported earlier that bitter was okay, but i talked to a guy today who said this is the first day he has seen the whole lake frozen over and he lives right by the lake so i would stay away, go to Waubay or enemy Swim

I will be fishing on Friday on Waubay. The better ice is on bitter. I havent been there but everybody says its better ice then Waubay. waubay haas a better day bite also, i will Send you and E-mail ATM, Its perfect today, no wind

Hey Mike where did you fish. I was out on waubay today and did okay. The ice was about 3-4 inches on the south bay and 3-4 inches on the north side. I caught 10 walleyes or so and 4 perch. The ice was okay but not the greatest, the wind really made it choppy. Tonight it is calm and the low is suppose to be 0-5, should make some good ice tonight and the rest of the week. Heard of some guys who did well on bitter and said there was 5-6 inches of ice, not for sure on that but that is what i heard. Should be doing good by the weeekend, be safe

Hey Jerknperch, i was out by waubay lake today and saw a lot of ice. the wind did hurt conditions but it will help in the long run. The ice was okay but not the best, now that some has opened back up it will freeze better. Tonight it is getting down to 10 degrees and tommorrow night the same with the wind dying down to 5-10 mph. The next 7 days are going to be cold. If your comming this way next weekend dont forget your gear, we will be fishing.

Ice on the North And South side of the lake. Drove around today and noticed a little change in Ice conditions because of the wind. It is Cold Tonight and will be for the next week. Hopefully ATV action by the weekend if not earlier. Nobody fishing today. Going to fish Tomorrow and Tuesday cause i have the Days Off.

Just wanted to let everybody know that up north people are fishing, bitter, Buffalo, pickeral and waubay. Stoped and talked to the guys out on waubay. They were fishing 300 yards from open water, but had 3-4 inches of ice. They caught a few walleyes and 1 perch. Good News, Everything should be in full swing by next weekend. I drilled a few hole myself on waubay and it is decent ice. Its been real cold at night. Good Luck and Be safe.

There is some, up north they have been fishing on buffalo lake about 3-5 inches of ice. Swan was looking good but the wind,duck,geese, are keeping it open. Some of the sloughs are fishable. I am just leaving now to go check on some ice. I know waubay is open though, some ice but not enough. I will report back, heard pickeral had some good ice.

Your nuts to go fish out of the boat. It is going to be nice like 48 or so but the wind is going to be terrible, good luck. I'll be on the ice

Thanks WxMan nobbody in this forum ever seems to respond to me. I live in webster and do a lot of fishing considering it is right in my back yard. I talked to a lot of guys at work that were all planning on going fishing this weekend. It could be real good.

I would think so, the temps have been getting down in the low 20' and high teens. Lots of lakes have ice on them, but you have to be real careful. By this weekend i think you will see a lot of people out. I would bet pelican is safe, if you look at the National Weather Service it is not going to get above freezing and will be in the teens for the next week.