ND Live Fishing Reports

Fishing reports are updated every Friday and follow the ND Live radio program heard throughout North Dakota

Greg Schoneck

Legend has it

In the deep past a regular scene at Tobacco Gardens was of a man walking through the mist lugging equipment down the steep rugged badlands to get to the water. Once on shore Floyd would set back and patiently wait. Legend has it Floyd caught more fish from this point than anyone, including the swarms of anglers who would boat in from all directions to challenge his status.

Cabins, camping, slips, gas, bait, tackle, oh and a selection of my favorite lures for Sakakawea. Welcome to Tobacco Gardens. Peg has the bacon frying along with anything else you could want for a homemade breakfast. She keeps it all together on top of being cook, gracious host, lawn care specialist, the list goes on. If this was my place things would be different. It would fold the first season. I like to fish, not work.

I woke up at 3 am to the sound of rain. The next time my peepers opened it was 5 am and you could still hear the sound of rain. At 6 am driving through New Town it was darker than when I got up, except for the lightning. I pulled into Tobacco Gardens at 7:30 and rain was beginning to let up as skies lightened. That’s when the crabby old lady showed up with the wind, Mother Nature.

With east winds at 27 the plan was to head into the waves to the beacon and then drop in cranks and coast back. The plan had one flaw, no fish. There was a backup. Move from the 15 foot range in shallow and see if they were up feeding. They weren’t!

Hey, didn’t Peg mention something about soup. I don’t want you guys to start thinking I’m getting old and gotta go in for lunch but how can you let down a sweet, gracious ND gal trying to make living. I think at the end of this pull we better make the run back to the restaurant. Just then, God in His infinite goodness rewarded our sacrifice with a fish for Rex. See it pays to think of others first.  

Back out for more fun as temps are dropping and wind is increasing. I don’t normally fish in 30 + wind and at some point common sense should kick in but we do have a semi-protected area to fish. More of the same is not working. Cranks deep, cranks shallow, cranks fast, cranks slow. How about we try the jigs?

I love to jig but not when crabby is trying to rip the rod from my hand every time I relax my grip. I can’t even tell when I’m snagged let alone sense a subtle walleye bite. The electric is cranked and we are just coming to Floyd’s favorite rock when a decent sauger somehow attaches itself to my jig. Let’s see, that’s about 1 fish for every 4 hours. You sure you want a limit?

Floyds point is textbook perfect. Rocks cover the shoreline and bottom out to 12 feet. There it takes a plunge into 20. Somewhere I read this is what the experts call a feeding shelf. Maybe if Floyd was still alive he could tell ya for sure. No matter what you call it, it’s a great walleye location that you should stop at when heading out to the big water from Tobacco.

The woman can’t quit till she’s made her point. At 35 mph it blows water loose from the surface and keeps a refreshing mist cooling any exposed skin. Like it ain’t cold enough already. Show off Rex quietly hooks his second fish of the day, another sauger. I think 3 is a limit, ain’t it?

Don’t let me scare you off. Even though I have to constantly remind myself of this fact it is still true. If you are a fisherman, wind is your friend. Just need to learn how to use it to your favor. You know, the walleye chop theory. I’m developing a theory of my own, about a crabby old lady that needs anger management classes.

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Remember fishing is a learned sport. More you practice the better you get, so better get fishing!

Greg Schoneck for ND Live