OK, let’s get this in alphabetical order. Catfish-Northern-Sauger-Walleye-White Bass.

Reports have been good in the Williston area. In a normal year the upper section of Lake Sakakawea slows but this is no normal year. I’m guessing these fish never made the usual early summer migration into the Van Hook Arm. Only reason I can figure is it’s better living closer to Williston. With food available and plenty of water why leave?

Lewis and Clark State Park is our starting point today. The park is set into the scenic, rugged country that still has much of the same original beauty as when the famous explorers made their fishing expedition here in 1805. Greg, the park ranger, has an office with two big windows looking out over the lake less than 100 yards away. I’d never be able to do it. A man can’t sit and look at all those potential fish and be expected to get any work done. As for the park, well you will just have to come and see for yourself but I will tell you this much, fish are waiting both directions from the ramp. 

I have never fished this far west on the Missouri before so all new water at a time of the year when traditionally, fishing is slow. Nothing slow about today! First bit of good luck came at the ramp when a boat load of young fishermen offered advice on a couple of good places to get started. Thanks guys. The next encouraging information came from the screen. Walleyes in 15 feet, so that is where the fun began.

Jesse, my oldest son started getting lines ready and I dug through the cranks to find the appropriate tool for the job. It’s a quick transition from line in to fish out. Fact is, that quick transition was the theme of the day. The real surprise was the quality of the fish. Significantly bigger than what I’ve been experiencing on Sakakawea this summer. White Bass take 2^nd place to no one, not even Devils Lake and I know as I caught my share this spring with the kids. Catfish on a crank is nothing new but always catches me off guard. Jesse is amazed that it talked. “Take me to the water; put me in the river.” That we did.

I’d love to fish here when the walleyes are in a good mood, I can’t imagine the fun. Ya, we caught one right after another and often two at a time but were they ever sluggish. To get the best response I had to drive slow, 1.6 slow. When they took a crank instead of hitting it, clicker screaming and firing off with line, it was just dead weight, exactly like snagging junk. Other thing was no one crank had it over another and that went for color as well. I tried a dozen types of cranks from tiny Salmo #3’s to Reef Runners and had about the same luck with each. One lure type and color would work for a while then another would come into play. So if the bite is this good on an off day what could you expect when fish are fired up?

Water this close to the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri can be dirty with silt coming down from the Powder River which drains the badlands west of Glendive. You would expect it to be especially bad this year with high water running in but not so. Water clarity is at least as good as in the Van Hook area. The water temps are actually better than in the main lake where I feel they are way down from normal. 73 degrees here as compared to 66 last week in the Parshall area. Depth today ranged between 9 and 15 feet with no one depth being the best.

We are a no cull state meaning, “What goes in the live well stays in the live well,” so you may want to release some of the smaller fish as well as some of the larger fish. In my opinion it’s better to keep a 14 than a 24 as it’s quick and easy to grow lots of 14’s with that bigger fish still swimming. Conservation is something we all benefit from and may save us from more “regulation over education”, the current government standard.

The mid day radio report includes a fishing tip that I try to fit with what I’m learning that day. As I thought about today and the different things I was reminded of in terms of catching, an old philosophy came to mind that nestles in for a perfect fit here in western ND. I would far rather spend two extra hours in the truck getting to good fishing than stop short for an extra two hours of mediocre fishing. In fact you could double that, make it 4 hours, as in less than 4 hours we had two limits of walleyes, countless white bass, sauger, northern and catfish. Lewis and Clark State Park, Williston, ND. It’s not too far to drive. “Take me to the river, put me in the water!"

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