oahe??

[ratherbefishn]

Hey guys, I have a chance to head out to Oahe and have never fished the system before. I am just checking to see if anyone can point me in the right directions with depth and presentations have been working. Whats the water clarity like out that way??? Thanks a ton for any help. I fish the Croix and Sippi quite a bit but doubt its very similar

[Tyler Holm]

Joe,

Oahe is a huge and vast river system. It’s hard to give exact details unless I know where you’re launching from.

Dragging 6' lindy rigs with a minnow is producing fish right now. If you find the fish aggressive, try a spinner and crawler behind a bottom bouncer. There are several flats where pulling #7 shad-raps can produce numerous fish. Smelt, perch, and gold (carp colored) have been some of my favorite. As for depth, that will vary. I don't think you'll have to go much deeper than 20'. Its always different, but traditionally 8-18 feet should do the trick.

There river has many points that hold fish. Also try the 2nd or 3rd point inside the bays or inlets.

One last word of advice/caution would be to be careful out there. There are literally hundreds (thousands in some area) of tree stumps that may or may not be just under the surface. Also it’s much different that the croix / sippi in the fact that it gets dangerous when it’s windy.

If you give the location your fishing, I might be able to suggest a few spots to try. Good luck.

[ratherbefishn]

Thanks a ton Tyler, I have never been out there but I love fishing new water. We would be launching out of swan creek launch. What the water clarity like?

[Tyler Holm]

The Akaska area is a fun area to fish. There are monster pike taken out of the swan creek area in the spring. The walleye fishing can be fantistic as well. I heard some of the tournament winners of a recent Mobridge area tourney went clear down to Akasak for their bags. I have no idea on the water clarity, but guessing it will be faily clear with 4-5' of visibility with human eyes on a calmer day. As the wind blows, the water will dirty and fishing mudlines can spell disaster for the fish. Sometimes it's just not fair for the fish! Have a good one.

FYI: I think you need to pay a park fee at that ramp of about $5 per day or $23 annually.

[ratherbefishn]

Thanks Tyler, let me know when your back in the area and Ill help you out! I am really hoping I can make it up there with these guys it sure sounds like a good time. Its either that or I spend the weekend camped out on the sippi chasing kitties and eyes but I can do that any day. Agian thanks for the help.

[percherman]

Joe: A friend of mine that guides out of lower Oahe has been going up north quite a bit also. He was out fun fishing by himself with live bait and found crawlers worked in the back bays in warmer water and on the main channel humps and points he used jigs and lindys with chubs and minnows.

Bigger fish came off the main channel points in 20-40' using chubs. You might want to use a stinger on those chubs if you choose to use.

He was using a owner 6'snell red hook with green glow bead and a half of a crawler.

Remember to bring along some kind of deet repellent for the deer flies, they will eat you alive if it is calm, they are vicious.

Good luck and stay safe, that's big water up there and it can change in a heart beat.

[Mike Walerak]

ratherbefishing,

Look out, Oahe can be mighty addicting as I am hooked for life. I think everyone pretty much covered the basics you need to know to put some fish in the boat.

I have been fishing your haunts the last few nights as I am working on learning Pool 2. Tonight I found one of those kitties you speak of.

mw

[bigchub]

I have been hearing Mobridge area has been red-hot over the last week! Should be worth checking out!

[Tyler Holm]

I also heard the Mobridge area is on fire.

[sloughshark]

We'll be headed out to fish Oahe north of Bob's in the AM will hopefully have a good report when we return!

[ratherbefishn]

Thanks for the info guys!!! I am still in the air on the trip. My uncle is out there now and I may go but it would be a solo drive. I dont mind the drive at all but the $$$ may keep me on P2 this weekend.

Quote:

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I have been fishing your haunts the last few nights as I am working on learning Pool 2. Tonight I found one of those kitties you speak of.

mw

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Good to hear Mike!! Channel or flat???? I gave it the 1st go last night and olny ended up with 3 channels and no flats I will be out tonight and hopefully in SD for the weekend but well see how it goes. Good luck guys and thanks for the info!

[SDHNTR]

Yes, the Mobridge area has been very hot. Pulling plugs has been the most productive. The best spot has been on the humps on moose flats but they are biting almost everywhere right now. Most of the fish being caught right now are in that 17" to 19" range. Lots of guys are doing good with lindy rigs or spinners with a crawler. But plulling plugs is producing much better. Just a couple of days ago a boat of 4 guys limited out in less than an hour. So good luck to you.

[percherman]

Has anyone been out of Bush's or Cow Creek Landings yet, or are they even open? I wanted to spend a couple of days with granpa and the kids over the 4th,and these have always been our favorite spots this time of the year.

Thanks for the help!!!

[walleye69]

Percherman,

I have fished both of these areas in the last 3 weeks. Both ramps are in good shape. The question you need to ask yourself is quality or quantity. The Spring and Cow Creek area are not putting out as many fish but they are really nice fish. We fished out of Spring Creek the weekend of June 17th and 18th and we released 8 eyes 22 inches and over and kept another 10 in the 17-21" range in 2 full days of fishing. I fished out of Bushes Landing last weekend and catching fish was not a problem. We limited both days pretty quickly on 15-21" fish. The fish are running smaller at Bushes but the catch rate is much higher, or at least thats what I've experienced so far.

Hope this helps.

[percherman]

Eye69: Thanks for the help! Hopefully we will have enough action to keep the kids busy and out of Grandpas hair. Oh, wait a minute, Grandpa doesn't have any hair!

Is the river safe to travel down to prarie chicken? Or is that pretty much high and dry?

Again, Thanks For the help!!

[walleye69]

Percherman,

You should have smooth sailing. I have traveled up that way a couple of times this year and have had no problem getting there and back other than the wind coming up the first time i was up that way. I have been hearing some really good reports coming in from up there the last few days. Might try it for myself this weekend. Good luck to you on your trip out here.

[percherman]

It was a great trip being with my boys and my parents up at Bush's, but the weather didn't cooperate with us. The first day was so calm you would have had trouble shaking a fart out of your pants. The deer flies drove my kids absolutely insane even with all the deet I put on them. They whined like little orphans all day which put grandpa and myself at our wits end and snappin like a couple of pit bulls in a box. We did manage to keep it together long enough to find a point of the main channel that held fish and did not have a single boat on it(WOW)!!! We pulled six off that point in short order before that bite faded, tried deeper without any luck.

We decided before there were any accidental slipping off the bow with the anchor tied to the leg accidents , we had better call it a day.

We got to the cleaning station and looked into the boat and low and behold the fillet knife was not, I repeat, WAS NOT in the boat AGAIN. I am not even going to go there about who cleaned the boat, DAD, who took the knife out of the boat, DAD, who did not put it back in, DAD. Boy I am going to sleep a little better now getting that off my chest.

Day 2 Winds were perfect mom came along today, she has a bad back, could only go over to Fairbanks and fish there because off the waves fished for about 4 hrs to much for her and fishing 5 out of a 1850 especially 2 children and 1 mother is a real challenge. We had a ton of tangled lines to much line out things like that. We did manage 5 and headed in.

Well I guess sometimes our expectations of a trip shouldn't be placed so much on the harvest as much as the time spent with the family.

I just turned 40 and I am still working on that thing called PATIENCE!!!

[Tyler Holm]

I'm kinda at a loss for words, but sounds like an interesting trip. Glad you found a few fish. OK, now to the real point. I'm pretty sure the statement "calm...shaking...fart...pants" is one of the better ones I've come across on this site. WOW! My finace is going to hate on the next calm day when I whip that statement out. Holy Carp thats funny.

PS. I hate deer flies.

Thanks for the laughs Dean!

PSS Happy "Over the Hill" Birthday

[percherman]

Anyone out on lower Oahe this past weekend? Wondering how the bite was.

I am trying to choose between three places for thurs and friday.

(A) Lower Oahe.

( Waubay.

© Pease creek or southern Platte

Does anyone have any good reports on these areas or are they all slumping right now?

Any reports good ar bad wanted.

Thanks folks.