Sak Van Hook is Hot!

[Vollmer]

Three of us fished the hook this morning. We put in at Parshall Bay, then cruised out to graph some of the island shorelines. We had luck on Probst, Moore, Fox, and a couple of others. We were sitting in 6-10 fow and casting to the shallow side. Some of our fish were in 2-3 fow. We started the day having better luck with jig/minnow, but before long the jig/plastic was the better option.

Water temp in the morning was 70ish. The water is still a little bit dirty, but getting better.

Heard of guys catching them trolling in 12-15 fow as well.

Good luck, this weekend!

 

[701FishSlayer]

Forgot the net the other day too. It made things interesting. Only lost 2 at the boat I thought we were doing good considering it was nuts. Tripples, no net, fish flying everywhere.

 

[Vollmer]

Forgot the net the other day too. It made things interesting. Only lost 2 at the boat I thought we were doing good considering it was nuts. Tripples, no net, fish flying everywhere.

You did better than us. I think we lost 3-4.

 

[NJL]

Thanks for the update, good to know the hook is on. Wasn't sure if i should hit up parshall tomorrow or go out west since i had good luck out by white earth last weekend. Atleast now i can save those extra miles coming from Minot. Woulda been out there this morning but i had to spend the day dinking with the carbs because it wouldn't idle.

 

[Vollmer]

Thanks for the update, good to know the hook is on. Wasn't sure if i should hit up parshall tomorrow or go out west since i had good luck out by white earth last weekend. Atleast now i can save those extra miles coming from Minot. Woulda been out there this morning but i had to spend the day dinking with the carbs because it wouldn't idle.

Good luck, tomorrow. Looks like it’ll be a nice day.

 

[Vollmer]

We were out again this morning. It was the same program. We start the day side imaging shorelines, looking for a pod of shallow fish. Once we found that, we situated ourselves upwind and started casting at them. We were, typically, parked in 6-8 fow and caught our fish in 3-9 fow, casting. Jig/minnow and jig/plastic were about equally successful, today. For us, we seemed to do a little better today with less aggressive tactics. Barely popping the jig, or even simply dragging it back to the boat, slowly.

With the South winds of late, we have been finding most of our active fish on south side shorelines and structures.

 

[Vollmer]

 

[Vollmer]

It was, pretty much, the same program to finish out the weekend. We continued to find our fish in 6 fow and less. We used our livescopes to find fish, then cast to them, but fan casting the area would have been very productive as well. Jig/minnow and jig/plastic were about equal for productivity.

Water temp was in the low 70's. There were some logs floating in areas, so have your head up for that if you go out there.

I had some buddies that were pulling bottom bouncers with minnows and crawlers in 5 fow and the fish were almost jumping in the boat.

 

[NDwalleyes]

Can confirm that Vollmer is not exaggerating on how good the fishing is. You won't find a better time to go. Seems Van Hook and all of the points east to Dakota Waters are holding fish. In the morning we pitched the 3-5 foot range and then slid out to 6-8 when the sun popped-up. Jigs with minnows and plastics worked just as as well. Color didn't seem that important. We had the kids with us one day, and so to avoid casting we pulled spinners in about 8-10 feet and actually did quite well.

Of note, there were several spots we fished where the side scan didn't show a lot of fish but we found a lot of fish. I suspect they are tucked down in the rocks, so don't be afraid to actually go fishing. Lot of guys driving around looking for fish with electronics that are missing really good spots to fish. If you suspect a spot will hold fish then fish it.

 

[Greenhorn]

I have no experience fishing VanHook. Is it mostly bays and shoreline structures or are people fishing the islands and whatnot this time of year? Thanks.

 

[Vollmer]

This year, right now, you can fish almost anywhere in the hook and be successful.

I have no experience fishing VanHook. Is it mostly bays and shoreline structures or are people fishing the islands and whatnot this time of year? Thanks.

 

[FightingSioux]

I have no experience fishing VanHook. Is it mostly bays and shoreline structures or are people fishing the islands and whatnot this time of year? Thanks.

Everywhere. Shorelines, bays, flats, islands, submerged islands. All is productive