Action Shot.  Smaller fish remain the primary action on the Missouri River in and around Bismarck, while larger walleyes are holed up in Lake Oahe right now. DEO Photo by Mike Peluso.

By Mike Peluso

Well, the good news is I got out in a boat a few times this week for walleyes; the bad news is that it wasn’t that nice out on the Missouri River. However. However, this week’s forecast looks promising.

I was hoping the walleyes had moved into the river just a little bit better with the layoff. That did not happen unfortunately. Fishing was still okay, but not fast and furious. We did catch our fish each time out. Nothing big, just solid eater size fish.

The big walleyes are all held up in the lower portion of Oahe. If you are looking for a personal best, that is definitely the place to go play right now. It almost seems to be an endless string of 10 pound plus walleyes all the way up to state record size. Congrats to Aaron Schuck on his behemoth 16 pound plus new South Dakota state record walleye. Simply awesome!

For me in the Missouri River around Bismarck, it’s still jigs and minnows to catch the walleyes we’re finding. When we fished down south of Bismarck it was more vertical with the dirtier water. Up near town where the river is much cleaner, we could only get them pitching out and away from the boat.

I plan on fishing every day this week with the forecast. I’ll report back next week in hopes I see a migration of fish push into the upper reaches of Lake Oahe and the Missouri River. 

Mike Peluso is a Dakota Edge Outdoors contributing writer and a licensed ND fishing guide specializing in walleyes on the state’s premier waters.