New Town / "River" Area

FINALLY made it out on the ice.

Of course, with finally came wind gusts to 35 to 40 MPH but hey, gotta do what you gotta do.

Initially the trip was more of ice exploration.  In short, we found the ice to be 10 to 12 inches in most places.  However, there were areas of open water near shore and you could also find areas of 6 to 8 inches of ice near cracks and late forming ice locations.  It will be difficult to know those areas that froze last so the point is, be very mindful of changing ice conditions.  That is always important even on cold winters but it is crucial with this year's conditions.

Fishing was I suppose seen as okay.  Our Friday and Saturday locations were not the greatest.  Each day produced a couple smaller walleye/sauger.  We wanted to move to a different location but with ice conditions somewhat iffy and with wind blowing a mini dust storm off the beach we decided to hang where we were.  Not too often you have sand dunes building instead of snow drifts by the ice house!!

By the way, I challenge any Strikemaster or other serrated curved blade auger to a drill off.  Ice is full of grit!  The Strikemaster chipper blade worked great.

Sunday it was time to move.  We made the move and set up with almost instant success.  The rest of the evening bite was pretty active but it was a quantity over quality situation.  Short and sweet, a person needs to prepare himself for what is about to annoy boat fishermen all year.  The 08-09 and 09-10 year classes are showing up in 10 to 14 inch fashion (most in that 10 to 13 inch range).  We did have a couple bigger fish mixed in but nothing exceeded 18 inches.  Good news is the year classes are bringing life again to Sakakawea.  In the interim, we will be battling the attacks of perch and small walleye for a couple years.  Gotta take the bad with the good.  My brother landed a very nice smallmouth which broke the attack of the 10 inchers.

Jigging and tip-ups were pretty equal.  Depths were 10 to 40 feet.  Very wide range.

Last I heard the guys that stayed last night after I left iced 12 to 14 one pound shiners.  They came in hot and heavy stealing many minnows from their supply.  Would be fun and annoying at the same time!

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Going to try New Town area next week, maybe down at huntsalong, any body having luck willing to share some tips on a one day fishing trip to that area? Thanks

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I am about to Ron Burgundy Lake Sakakawea.

First off, yes the Van Hook Arm has fish.  If that place doesn't the world is about to end.  So those of you catching in the Arm, don't tell me the lake is back (had a stranger at the gas station tell me it is back).  It is just a bowl and fish factory of the big lake.  I hear catches are possible but not everyone is teeing off.  Which is odd for Van Hook...as I said, she'd be the king of Sakakawea.

Second, the fish have started a migration (which backs up the word on Van Hook) toward Deepwater and into Indian Hills.  About three weeks late but oh well, at least some fish are being presented for folks further down the lake than the "bowl."  Couple friends had decent to good success being able to get just their limit or surpass it by a little.  A sigh of relief!  But bad news for us up north.  Why are they migrating?  Tis natural but I think the smelt are on the move.  Good news is there is enough spots and perch to keep them from all packing bags.

Me.  Well, I'm enjoying my boat anyway.  She runs pretty darn good after $750 bucks in repair.  So that's the good news.  Bad news?  Fishing tough in the river portion.  Did a lot of drive time in the east portion fo the river area searching the depths and the shallows with the depth finder.  She was naked!  Not even balls of smelt anywhere from 4 to 50 feet.  It seemed what I did find was still a stronghold of spots in the shallows.  When I did fish I caught two and they were shallow.  But uffda it sure wasn't hot and heavy.  Last time I checked two fish in about six hours ain't too Sakakawea rebound supporting.  My brother and uncle were out and got six.  Their lines hardly left the water so they had a legit six hours of fishing time.

On the first day of the Skunk Bay cabin owners tourney one team came in with ten fish (you could weigh ten each day).  I think the stringer went about 20 pounds.  Which is basically staying true to the 2005 year class.  The next closest team was I think either six or 7 fish for around 9 pounds.  I don't know what happened day two but I suspect similar results.

On Sunday I had my lines in the water a little longer.  Managed to slam four walleyes!  Victory!  Three were "tourney grade."  I then did some drive time to scour looking for signs fish are moving deeper.  No smelt or bait doesn't make me feel they did.  But who knows, I have been in a slump and it appears to be continuing.  I think I saw a total of ten boats in two days.  Not good.

Water is clearing and dropping.  Could have some to do with the catching but I guess come on Tim, you've wrote several times why the lake the way it is.  Three years baby!  Until then oh boy is patience required!  Ha ha, oh well, makes a guy fish hard and learn!  And as it always goes, someone is always catching something!  I think I best head to the bowl and get in on the buffet!  But I can't...

Stay Classy Sakakawea...

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We fished out of New Town Marina on Tuesday, mostly north and west from Little Knife Bay to west of Beacon Island.   Lots of hammer handles everywhere but the walleyes were two throwbacks for each keeper.  Way in the back of Little Knife Bay near the road, the smallmouths were pretty active.    Our bigger fish were on cranks in 6-10 ft..

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Picked up a few walleye here and there in the bays, on crawlers in about 9-14 fow, tried the new town marina bay picked up 2 in the morning about 18 inchers, went down to reunion bay took the rest of the afternoon and tons of northerns and several busted spinners to catch three more.
Wasnt the fast and furious action that i was told about last week.
My son did however catch a 31 inch Northern on a crappie rod, was pretty exciting.
The end of the day we had 5 in the 18-20 inch range

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Time for the Tim Sandstrom book report.

Pre-Fish Weekend Before August 7
Wind was out of the south at a comfortable 10 or so mph clip. My uncle and I fished some areas bouncing around. We caught a few fish but found something pretty interesting (to his credit he had fished with a friend earlier over in the Hook). Pitched jigs up underneath cottonwood trees with their leaves still on them. Trees were in about 7 to 13 feet. Caught some fish doing this and a couple were nice (18 to 22.5 inches). I was hoping this would be a pattern dependable on for the upcoming tourney. Other fishing included cranking shallow and deep, baiting with spinners and lindy rigs in depths of 16 to 22 feet and some vertical jigging. Fishing was okay but far from great.

Pre Fish Thursday and Friday (August 5 and 6)
My partner Chris had his boat and I had mine. My uncle jumped in with Chris and they went their separate ways. To make a long story short each of our boats caught about two to three 19-20 inch fish each day. Mixed in with them was a few 15 to 18 inch fish (more 15 and 16s than anything). I was surprised at that given the Cup and DWC was dominated by 18 to 19 inch fish with very few smaller fish being caught. Tactics were from 10 to 21 feet with bait. Cranking brought up very few quality fish for me but there was a bite from 14 to 23 feet. The trees did produce another 20 inch walleye. A pattern was there with a south wind coming into them. Also snuck inside the trees close to the shore up toward the tourney headquarters. Only caught a couple fourteen inch fish and about two billion northerns.

Given the pre fish we had, prefishing reports from others who cared to share and the word of mouth that fishing was so awesome up in the New Town area Chris and I had a plan that we should keep nothing but 18 inch and above fish. Even keeping 18 inch fish was a question mark. Difficult to make such plans when you can only have six fish to play with, well, for the honest fisherman anyway. So that was the plan. I had three spots to catch fish with a couple uncertain backup plans. For the most part I felt fairly certain we would have a chance at competing.

Tourney Friday August 7
The forecast was for hot and calm conditions. To top it off a pretty good storm blew through the New Town area the night before the tourney. Like other anglers, I was a little worried fishing might totally change. It did...

Hit my first spot and was very pleased to find no one else in the area except a cranker further to the south about half a mile. I had about eleven poles waiting and ready including jig pitch rods, six crank rods, vertical jig rods and the bait rods. Chris and I put down the bait and went for about a half hour without a fish in my first spot. Then I caught a 15 inch fish and tossed it over. Worked the point and couldn't get anything to go nor could get anything on the graph. I figured they just moved over a point.

Worked that area and started catching a couple 16 inch fish. They all went right over the side of the boat. Then Chris caught an 18.5 inch fish. We talked about it as he unhooked it and almost threw it back but decided we better get the skunk out of the boat. After all, it was a pretty chunky fish.

After that we caught a few more 15 to 16 inch fish all of which went over the boat. Next decision came when Chris caught a plump 17.5 inch fish. I was dealing with a perch and was talking with Chris on what to do. We debated and there it went, over the side of the boat. It was a fairly easy decision given my graph still had fish on it and we were catching some. Well, a non-tourney boat moved in on me and they popped one they kept. After we caught a couple smaller fish my spot became a ghost town. I started to get worried with one fish in the livewell and it was about 11:00. Moved to another location and the same happened, we caught three 15 inch fish with two pushing about 16. They went over the side.

Dumb move. Wait, I mean, SEVERAL dumb moves. I'll save you all the whining and complaining I gave friends after the weigh in. Long story short, we threw over an estimated 8.7 pounds of fish and that might be on the weak side. Well, only another 5 as we kept two fish for 3.7. I panicked for a reason and it came true. After 1:00 pm we caught only 14 inch fish (if my memory serves me correct). I went the route of "quick" fishing trying to pull cranks in 14 feet of water looking for an aggressive fish. Then put leadcore on and tried out deeper. Our efforts were a zillion northerns, a few 10 inch saugers and one 15.5 inch fish we kept. It was painful coming into the weigh in but I wasn't feeling too bad. I figured everyone would have around ten to twelve pounds and it didn't matter we didn't bring our five to the scales. Boy was I wrong. The 7 to 9 pound stringers dominated and many teams had zero to 7 pounds. My heart sank and my whining vamped up.

Fish report. Best fishing was 18 to 21 feet with bait (spinners and lindy rigs). Cranks varied from 14 to 23. Like I said above though, I had a hard time getting fish to go on cranks (at least good fish).

Tourney Saturday August 8th
The leading teams had 14 and 13 pounds respectively with the next top weight lingering in the 10 to 11 pound range. As tourney fishing often goes half the field will flop. It would require a very big basket for Chris and I to have a shot.

With that in mind we kept zero fish in the morning. Fishing was NOT spectacular. In fact worse than Friday. However, we were doing completely totally different things and fishing areas I had not prefished. Well that isn't completely true, we stopped to fish my one spot and I think that only produced one fish.

Next move was the big run. Ran almost to Skunk to chase an old fishing report. It was a waste of time but who knows, right? We then started doing the scramble fishing and the cranks stayed on for most the day. Picked up a few 14 and 15 + inch fish and of course we were looking for that 14 pound basket. No fish in the well at about 12:00.

Stopped in an area and Chris looked at me and said, "Why don't we just keep fish for your dad?"

He had been wanting some fish so I said okay, the next keepers will go in the boat. So that's what we did. We threw in four fish from about 12:00 pm to 2:20 pm. Yup, my first tourney ever where I wasn't holding the throttle tight wondering if I was going to make it to the ramp in time (day one I made it with 45 seconds to spare...day two I made it with forty minutes). We skipped the weigh in and went directly to the fish cleaning station. We cleaned two saugers just under two pounds and two walleyes that were a little over a 1.5 pounds. Counting the fish we threw back in the morning I added on another 1.5 pounds to make our basket a five fish basket. I estimated those fish at 7.55 to 8.25 pounds. I talked to the team that cranked to the south of us. Said after we left our spot that they trolled through it and popped double 18 inch fish. Yeah, that stung a bit as Chris and I talked about pulling cranks through it after my graph went blank. That team had a good day but day two they skipped the weigh in as well. Here today, gone tomorrow.

So in the end Chris and I could have weighed approximately 16.95 and 17.50 pounds. Obviously not enough but it would have put us at least up in the top 20. Of course, what does that matter if you don't get a check? So I don't feel TOO bad but the pride issue still hurts. Topping it off, my issue though is I would have fished much differently day two if I had my 8.7 pounds to play with. The shoulda, coulda, woulda factor. Welcome to honest tourney fishing when you can only weigh 6 fish. Interesting how some teams seemed to have 6 fish in the livewell yet came in right at the fishing cut off for each day. I think I'm going to suggest we be able to catch 8 (or ten) fish and weigh 5. Just gives people a little more wiggle room and helps cut down the demon thoughts that people might actually be doing a little culling.

In the end, fishing was very slow. Interesting since you hear (heard) such great reports. I think what we hear is the here today and gone tomorrow reports. Folks that get into them one day go and say how fishing is so good. In reality, it was that day but trying to do it on a consistent basis is very difficult. Or out of 61 teams in this tourney fishing was just that bad two days in a row? Don't know, don't care. It's over and my boat is parked. Time to scout deer! Although, might have to get in the Tobacco Garden tourney comping up later. Maybe even the Indian Hills one. We'll see.

With that said, fish seemed to be on the move deeper but there were quite a few teams cranking up fish in 14 feet. My best depths were between 18 and 23 feet with crawlers and leeches. Some reports further toward the boundary and out to the Indian Hills area said fish were slipping much deeper. Tis the season.

Good luck on the water folks and congrats to the placing teams. Very earned tourney with that bite and hot flat water fishing.

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Snake, Get the Hoe!

You’d think it would be safe on the water, away from the slithering critters that give me the heebie geebies. Don’t be too sure.

Welcome to another glorious day on the water, brought to you by God Almighty. We had no idea of all that was coming our way but the awesome sunrise should have been a good indicator. 4 Bears Marina is one of those “got it all” places on the lake. Gas, bait, camping gear and most importantly stuff that goes in the cooler. Bring the RV or tents along and spend a week, as it will take a few days to get your fill of fishing the Badlands.

We throttled up to cruising altitude and after a quick run, brought her down just south of the Grain Bins along the bluffs. This area is the first outside bend of the old river channel south of 4 Bears. A quick check on Google Earth for New Town, ND will give you the big picture of the river tucking into the corner and making a straight run to Hunts Along Bay.

We marked plenty of smelt out deep in 30 to 50 feet but chose to stay shallow in 12. If I were to give my opinion, which I often do, it would be: “Start in 12, try something else if you have to, get it out of your system and then get back into 12 feet.” I don’t know why but 12 feet plus or minus a couple has been very good to me this year.

Reef Runner Rip Shads out 55 and Deep Little Rippers with 30 feet of line back was our best set up. Yesterday we used Blue/Chrome due to the clear water and no wind. Not an ideal walleye day but I have seen walleyes suspend on days like this. Sure enough we picked up several as we passed over deep water. Today with a south wind water was off color due to mudlines. A color switch to Firetiger was the answer.

Sakakawea Badlands meet the water right at your rod tip in this section of the lake. Primitive, pristine and rugged, not a sign of development anywhere. Trolling quietly south we would scan each new cedar draw with anticipation. I can’t get over how big the ears are on Mule Deer. Later, mid-morning we caught glimpses of a couple of coyote. We need more varmint hunters here. Where else in the world can you be staring at Mule Deer and reeling in fish?

As we passed another boat the cheerful greeting was, “Want to get a picture of a good fish?” Turns out Milton is having a pretty good day as he hauls out an 8.2 from the livewell. No doubt about it, there is a good bite going in 25 feet plus.

We can tend to over think walleyes and get too caught up in the depth rule. There is almost always more than one bite going on and at different depths. Walleyes are giving the smelt a workout in the deeper water and 25 feet is a good place to begin looking. Plenty of fishermen are proving the point with spinners or lindys and convincing limits, plus occasional big fish 8 and up.

I think many of those same fish end up in 12 feet and are looking for just one more snack. By staying shallow with cranks I can cover lots of water with short lines. A fast way to put fish in the boat. Are these shallow fish feeding on smelt? I think so; my livewell was totally plugged with regurgitated smelt at the end of the day.

The 2010 Walleye Cup is just a week away and with this kind of fishing my guess is big fish will be well over 8 lbs. Fact is in my opinion, told you this comes up often, more fish over 8 lbs are being taken from the 4 Bears area than all the rest of Sakakawea combined. I know my biggest fish so far is from south of the bridge. Interested in getting signed you can download an entry form and take a chance at $5,000. Geez, fish and money, maybe we don’t have to wait till we get to the other side.

WARNING: Following paragraph contains graphic material that may give you the heebie geebies!

With our cranks out the back and the little kicker moving us along at 2.5 we had plenty of time to admire the Cliff Swallows and their neat little holes bored into the sandstone cliff. I asked Levi if he could see any little units poking their heads out. “Ya, I see a couple Dad.” I marvel at nature more each year, must be the growing old thing.

Another pass, I look up and there it is. The next several moments are spent screwing my eyeballs back into their sockets. SNAKE! EEEE GADS, what is a snake doing hanging vertically on a sandstone cliff? Eating little delicacies that’s what. Never be surprised by where you find a bull snake. Dumb advice, what am I saying? I’m always surprised whenever I encounter a snake. Who would think you need a net and a garden hoe for a properly rigged boat?

GPS Google Earth Locations, Video and Pictures of this report please visit:  www.ndlive.com

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Saturday put in at the casino at 9:30 when the storm blew through. Kept 8 sauger and saugeye, biggest were 2  21 inchers the others were 15-17. Lindys and minnows. Off the water around 3:30 when the next storm came through. Sunday on the water by 7 caught a 2 man limit by 11:00 more 18 inch fish than Saturday, jigs with minnows were better than lindys. 16-24 ft. water temp 65-67. Good Luck to All.

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Prepare for War!

After reading Greg's reports I like to steal his approach and use one liners to open the report up.  By war, I mean northern wars and no, not Canada.

Fished Saturday.  Wanted to get out early and my brother and uncle were both up at the crack of dawn.  The issue, so was the weather God's.  It was raining, wind was blowing very hard and did I mention raining?  Instead, we trouble shot a wiring issue on my brother's Yar-Craft.

About noon we attempted to fish.  Was out for a while and struggling to find fish.  Caught some small sauger and then the weather started up again.  I spent quite a bit of time running to areas I could get cell reception to check the radar (that's where that HDS antenna would be sweet).  Storm looked like it was going to go south.  It did but the rear-end of the storm was uncooperative.  It built slowly and it produced enough rain to push me closer to the ramp just in case it really came down.  It never did but my rod tips started to snap, crackle and pop so that was enough for me to head to shore.  My brother came in shortly after and it was a good idea as it down poured where he was at.

We compared notes and had pretty much the similar things.  Ironically, the last twenty minutes of fishing before we got chased off showed us spots that might produce.  At about 5 pm or so we went back out.  Could have been later I guess but I can't remember.  Each went our own ways and we ended up boating four keeper saugers each.  We drifted slowly and jigged a point as the moon rose.  Pretty fun and there is something else goofy.  We celebrated by screaming at the top of our lungs as my brother vertical jigged a walleye up.  Or so we thought.  It ended up being a saugeye.  But the point is, there was walleye blood in it.  That's a first.

Sunday we fished again but this time three in my boat.  Compiled all data and made an educated guess where to start.  Plan was to beat the wind but fishing by 7:30 it didn't take long and the wind was blowing.  Oh well, that's the beauty about God's country. Lots of places to hide.  We fished from 7:30 to 12:00 and boated many small sauger.  We ended up keeping 9 sauger.  Half of them were "wow" fish as you netted them.  Pretty neat to see 2.5 to 3 pound saugers.

Depths over the weekend were from 18 to 28.  Slow presentations worked for us.  Thought about trying cranks all weekend but when a jig and a minnow works, why bother.  Although, I am really starting to wonder if the Lord is punishing me.  I still have yet to have a walleye in my boat this open water fishing season.

Water is staining and the temp, get ready for this, was only 65 degrees on Sunday.  Wow.  It appeared other fisherman were doing similar things, that is, fishing the same water column.  Maybe walleyes are up further north (evident by Team Lund).  It is go time though and there should be easy limits.  But there is not.  Maybe this warm week will do something?  All I ask is pretty, pretty please.

Oh and for the preparing for war?  All I'll say is folks that like to fish gators with tip-ups through the ice are going to get a work out this winter.  There are two to five pound pike everywhere.  Mark ten years down (or maybe a couple years less) and we'll have some 20 pounders available once again.  Until then, get ready for bloody finger tips (one of them slimmers got me good!) and lost tackle.  I'm already nervous my somewhat developing crank supply is going to go backward...

P.S.  Minnows were the ticket.  A couple on worms and one on a leech.  Gulp?  I tried it but I reverted back to dead minnows (which was all we had left after the little saugers burned through the good supply).

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