Greenhorn requesting help

[Spintix]

Hey guys, I just joined the forums today. I am currently going to college here in ND and am new to fishing walleye, pike, musky. I have experience fishing the typical large/small mouth bass, trout, catfish back home with spinner reels and fly rods. Please let me know the typical shore fishing setups you guys usually switch between so I can get a better idea of what to buy and practice. Up here I have a 7 ft with 3000 reel (cheaper combo Kastking Centron) and a very old barely used 8ft with 6000 reel (Quantum XR6 Longstroke). I felt it would be best to post here besides the constant youtube video searches that iv'e been doing. any information is useful and thank you for your time.

 

[Trip McNeely]

Crawlers on a plain hook or jig on the bottom will produce fish most anywhere in nd this time of year. Early morning or right before dark are the best times to get on the game fish and can generally catch rough fish all day. Took the kids camping at beaver bay last weekend and caught 3 wallys, 4 drum, and a 5lb cat all on a 3/8oz jig with a crawler just laying on the bottom. Sit in lawn chair by fire. Insert beer in mouth and wait for the bell you put on your rod tip to go “jingle jangle”.

 

[mikef]

Crawlers on a plain hook or jig on the bottom will produce fish most anywhere in nd this time of year. Early morning or right before dark are the best times to get on the game fish and can generally catch rough fish all day. Took the kids camping at beaver bay last weekend and caught 3 wallys, 4 drum, and a 5lb cat all on a 3/8oz jig with a crawler just laying on the bottom. Sit in lawn chair by fire. Insert beer in mouth and wait for the bell you put on your rod tip to go “jingle jangle”.

this^ or use an egg sinker with a floating jig with crawler or leach maybe 12" off the bottom

 

[SDMF]

this^ or use an egg sinker with a floating jig with crawler or leach maybe 12" off the bottom

For "Set it and forget it" from shore, the floating jig/lindy is pretty hard to beat.

 

[deleted member]

Where u at?

 

[Spintix]

Also wanted to add a few other questions. I currently have silver steel leaders on the lines but through my searches I heard black is going to get more bites and better than that would be fluorocarbon leaders. Is this true? And where is a good place to fish close to Bismarck? When I was at new John's lake yesterday I felt like every area I wanted to fish had a camper and I didn't want to be invading anyones space. I was drawn to the lake after hearing it has over 10 species of fish and massive muskies.

Last thing, the 3000 reel is only running 10lb Berkley trilene and the 6000 reel is running 17lb of the same brand. For these waters I feel like I need something that can carry 30lb test. Can you recommend a good quality Rod/Reel combo? thanks again guys

- - - Updated - - -

Where u at?

Bismarck

 

[Trip McNeely]

Forget the leaders unless you are targeting pike or mushkys. The river is an obvious choice if you can fish with current but if you are looking for lakes. New johns, heckers, west park josephine are good places to start.

 

[tikkalover]

I have 6 and 8 pound Fireline on my 2 shore fishing rods. I jig with the 6-lb one and use an egg sinker with a floating jig and minnow/ crawler on or cast cranks with the one that has 8-lb on.

 

[Spintix]

Forget the leaders unless you are targeting pike or mushkys. The river is an obvious choice if you can fish with current but if you are looking for lakes. New johns, heckers, west park josephine are good places to start.

Are there any places along the Missouri river close to Bismarck that you would recommend this time of year? Or possibly heart river

 

[johnr]

If you catch any mushky just toss em on shore. Saves future walleye that way.

 

[Allen]

Are there any places along the Missouri river close to Bismarck that you would recommend this time of year? Or possibly heart river

Anywhere you can find shoreline access next to calm'ish waters. Check out Misty Waters boat ramp area, Hoge Island boat ramp area, Fox Island boat ramp, Hazelton ramp, etc. One of the more important aspects to catching walleye from shore on the river is time of the day, there's usually a witching hour that starts about an hour or two before dark where the catching is far better than the rest of the day. So start with finding a slack water spot in an eddy, mix in timing and tackle as already mentioned, and you should be able to catch a few fish.

Don't be afraid to pitch a 3/8 oz jig tipped with gulp or a minnow into an eddy and just let the current do it's thing with it. As the jig settles into the current/slack water interface, there is usually something lurking around looking for an easy meal. They can be really light biters tho that will frustrate the hell out of you.

Some 16 years ago when I moved to Bismarck I had to learn the above from an older fella that fished right beside the ramp I'd put in at on a regular basis. I kinda got tired of him always having more fish from his couple hours of shore fishing than I'd have after 4 hours of being on the boat, so I gave in and learned from him.

 

[KDM]

Greetings. My advice from 40 or so years of fishing rivers is to first learn about current seams, eddies, backflow currents, upwellings, confused water, flat water, and other aspects of reading moving water to locate possible fish locations. Then take the time to learn how current will affect your presentation. To become a good moving water fisherman, one MUST learn to work WITH the current and not against it. The current will ALWAYS win. No amount of weight on the line can overcome the current. You will be hung up every time you try. Realize that the current moves trees, rocks, and tons of soil every day so your little 1/2 oz weight or less is nothing. The last piece of advice is to NOT get frustrated. Know you will lose tackle, get hung up, break off, fall in the river, and generally wreck some shit. However, you WILL catch fish and over time will start to automatically pick apart any section of water and know where your top spots to find fish will be. Find some "Muddin' Minute" videos on here. Hopefully, they will give you some of the basics for river fishing. Good Luck!!

 

[Trip McNeely]

Great advice from KDM and Allen. The rifle range boat dock has a nice hole and eddy next to it. Plenty of catfish and walleyes get pulled out of it yearly. We used to catch walleyes and sturgeon with jig and crawlers off shore at the desert. Plenty of options. All you gotta do is pick a spot and start exploring.

 

[dukgnfsn]

Not saying you will not catch fish on the river locally but if definitely slows down around Bismarck in the heat of the summer and this year could be tough with the high water for the summer. Things should pick up this fall on the river in the Bismarck area. I am not saying don't try, go out and give it a go and you may find the magic combination and enjoy the outdoors. Another thing is to go into the ND Game & Fish site and go to fishing and where to fish some great info on there to study for options. As stated by Trip the Glencoe boat dock area and Kimball areas are great places to start and put all the above advice together and give it a go

 

[BrewCrew]

This thread is why I like this site - nice work with the newbie fellas - great advice and help. That is what this should be all about. Thank you for putting a smile on my face and a little warmth in the new ticker!

 

[Sluggo]

And for some reason, just about every dock in the Bismarck area has 2 names....this confused me for quite a while. Here's how they match up: MacClean Bottoms = Rifle Range or Gun Range, Kimball Bottoms = The Dessert, Grant Marsh = Expressway Bridge, Graner Bottoms = Sugar loaf, Kneifel = Misty Waters, Little Heart Bottoms = Schmidt bottoms

 

[Allen]

LOL, while knowing that already...that's useful info there.

 

[JayKay]

My friend, hit me up between Halloween and Thanksgiving and I can show you some shore-fishing things...

Yours truly...

Boatless in Bismarck

(Jaykay)

 

[camoman]

Listen to KDM, that guy knows shore fishing rivers better than anyone I’ve ever met.