South Dakota is walleye country by charter: the Missouri River reservoirs (Oahe, Sharpe, Francis Case) form a 400-mile fishery where limits are the expectation, smallmouth thrive on every riprap, and salmon swim the cold water below the dams. The glacial northeast adds a hundred prairie lakes that quietly produce the state's biggest fish.
Reports current for Friday, October 23
Every one of the 13 South Dakota waters we cover has a live read this morning. 6 are scoring 4 out of 5 or better, and none is slow. Water runs 47 F to 62 F. Pressure is falling on most of them, the trend our model scores highest. Wind touches 27 mph on the roughest of them.
Best right now: Angostura Reservoir 4/5, Lake Oahe 4/5, Lake Sharpe 4/5
Live verdicts from this morning's reports.
South Dakota's 231-mile walleye highway, with salmon below the thermocline.
The glacial riser: a prairie-pothole lake that tripled with the wet cycle and stacked itself with walleye and jumbo perch.
The prairie ghost lake: South Dakota's risen giant, drowned farmland turned walleye factory when the wet cycle rewrote the map.
The deep one of the Glacial Lakes: Waubay's risen sister, where drowned groves drop into 40 feet and the walleye run heavier than the neighbors'.
The Missouri's forgotten middle: 107 miles of walleye water behind Fort Randall, where the crowds thin and the smallmouth took over the rocks.
Lake Sharpe: an 80-mile Missouri River reservoir from Oahe Dam to Big Bend Dam, where walleye lead the catch and several ramps have silted in.
Angostura Reservoir: a 1949 Bureau of Reclamation lake on the Cheyenne River near Hot Springs, stocked each year with walleye fry.
The Missouri’s shallow reservoir: Lewis and Clark Lake holds walleye and catfish between two states.
Pactola Reservoir: an 825-acre Black Hills reservoir west of Rapid City with stocked rainbows, lake trout and a new kokanee program.
Orman Dam water: Belle Fourche Reservoir holds walleye, pike and perch on the northern plains.
Eastern South Dakota's river: the Big Sioux runs walleye, pike, catfish and bass from Watertown country through Sioux Falls to the Missouri.
A Forest Service lake on Spring Creek southwest of Rapid City, stocked with rainbow trout and walleye, with largemouth bass, perch, crappie and bluegill.
Eastern South Dakota’s big natural lake: Poinsett is managed for walleye and yellow perch, with smallmouth, pike and white bass alongside.
Species activity across the state's covered waters. Peak of the year: April.
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.
Seasonal surface curve for this state's dominant water type (estimated).
| Water | Type | County | Live gauge | Peak month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Oahe fishing report | Reservoir | Hughes | USGS | Apr |
| Waubay Lake fishing report | Lake | Day | modeled | Apr |
| Lake Thompson fishing report | Lake | Kingsbury | modeled | Apr |
| Bitter Lake fishing report | Lake | Day | modeled | Apr |
| Lake Francis Case fishing report | Reservoir | Brule | modeled | Apr |
| Lake Sharpe fishing report | Reservoir | Lyman | modeled | Apr |
| Angostura Reservoir fishing report | Reservoir | Fall River | modeled | Apr |
| Lewis and Clark Lake fishing report | Reservoir | Yankton | modeled | Apr |
| Pactola Reservoir fishing report | Reservoir | Pennington | USGS | Apr |
| Belle Fourche Reservoir fishing report | Reservoir | Butte | modeled | Apr |
| Big Sioux River fishing report | River | Minnehaha | USGS | Apr |
| Sheridan Lake fishing report | Lake | Pennington | modeled | Apr |
| Lake Poinsett fishing report | Lake | Hamlin | modeled | Apr |
Oahe is the flagship: scattered walleye schools, big-water trolling and chinook salmon by the dam. Sharpe below it offers the best shore fishing (the spillway and Big Bend tailrace are legendary), and Francis Case rounds out the chain. The rhythm is seasonal depth: shallow points in May, 25-40 ft flats by August, back shallow with October's bait.
The glacial lakes (Waubay, Bitter, Enemy Swim) exploded during wet decades into perch-and-walleye factories with flooded-tree structure. Ice season is the region's crown: December perch and walleye through two feet of clear prairie ice, sleeper houses on every named bay.
The tailraces: below Oahe Dam at Pierre and Big Bend at Fort Thompson: are among the best walleye shore fisheries in America, especially April-May and October.