Recent update?

Hey guys just wanted to see if anyone has a hot bite going up in Eastern SD? Being from SW IA we haven’t had safe ice yet this year so looking at making a trip north. Will be our first time going up blind so any suggestions would be great. Not looking for spots as much as I am an area. If you wanna PM me instead of post on here feel free. Thanks a lot!

Ice has been 8-12″ depending on the lake. Little snow on most lakes. Further north towards lake city seems to have a bit more.

Thanks for the info! We will be in portables and pulling by hand so that’s plenty of ice for us. Just hoping to find a good perch and eye bite if we can make it up there

Bites are pretty sporadic. 8-12″ of ice.

We did ok last week on waubay for perch and eyes. Perch were 10 to 12″ with a 13″ once in awhile. Eyes weren’t much bigger. Biggest I got was about 17″ but no length limit so everyone was keeping 13″ to 14″ eyes. Had to drill alot of holes then once you find them keep them busy or there gone. We walked a mile and a half south of buckshot landing there were a ton of people out there. Had 8″ of ice Dec 30th you might be able to drive now but stop in to Sportsmans Cove when you get into Webster and Doug is way good about helping you find the bite. I also heard there’s a pressure ridge forming on waubay so ask about that too. I’m thinking it’s off the Grenville boat ramp. Hope this helps and good luck!

I didn’t realize the no length limit was on Waubay too, thought it was just bitter

State wide is no minimum length. Only the lakes specified have a minimum length. Otherwise it’s just 4 walleyes with 1 over 20″.

We fished Bitter Lake at Waubay Sunday afternoon, Monday and Tuesday morning.
There were vehicles and wheelhouses on the ice, most appeared to be on the bays and perimeter areas. We traveled with wheelers and 2 man flip shelters and the fishing was pretty good considering the arctic air. We caught quite a few walleyes ranging from 12″ to 18″. Most in the 14″- 16″ range. We caught a few large perch with 14″ being the biggest. Our best depths for walleyes was around 18′ and for perch 23′. Dead sticks accounted for about half of the fish with a variety of spoons and jigging raps making up the rest.

Looks like we are heading up to Poinsett this weekend

Thanks for the report. I’ll be getting to Webster tomorrow night. Were you able to get many during the day or was it an early and late bite. When I fished Waubay right after xmas the day bite was slow and then about 3 pm the perch and walleyes went crazy.

We caught fish throughout the day but morning and evening were best. During mid-day we moved deeper and did find some nice perch then moved back shallow for the evening bite.

Any recent reports? Looking at possibly going up this coming weekend! Thanks

I was on waubay this weekend. Plenty of walleye action. Only 2 perch, little buggers can be elusive.

Any new reports guys? Looking at possibly going up this weekend for the last trip if the year.

If you come up I wouldn’t drive on. Not sure if a wheeler will still be safe or not. JMO. I’ll be walking out for sure.

Jeff is right. Accesses are getting soft with a lot of runoff on the shorelines. If the shorelines hold up this weekend, next weekend looks much better for access with lows in the teens next week. But we all know how quickly that can change…

Talking to buddies today I would use a wheeler or sled, truck might be dicey – QB