where are the bigger fish? OAHE

[Rowdie]

So for the past 5 to 6 years its been the same pattern in general. The bite picks up in May early June up and down the whole lake and all the fish are 14-16" fish. 5 years ago we were all saying, boy in a few years its gonna be great again. Year after year we're sorting through 50-60+ fish to keep 5 over 16. Now last year I caught more over 20" than the past couple, but so far this year its just the same 14-16" fish.

So what's happening to the fish we caught 4-5 years ago???

A. They're there, just not biting? Meaning they are mixed in with the schools of 14-16" just not as active, or smart enough not to be fooled.


B. They schooled up somewhere else in the lake, just not being found by anglers.


C. They're gone, died out or something.

D. They've only grown 1-2 inches in last 5 years.

I can't think of any other options. Now I'm not complaining about being able to catch nice eaters, but I'm just curious.

 

[Sum1]

My guess is you aren’t fishing where they are. Probably down in the trees in twenty feet.

 

[Traxion]

I think growth has been slow the past few years, and even with that the nirthern reaches have been best. According to the SDGFP smelt numbers are now at pre flood levels. If we can get warmwater baitfish to flourish ie gizzard shad we will be back in the good old days in a few years. That said, I think you are one of the few who use a tape measure regularly. Lots of guys claim 17 to 18 inch fish but my experience from Mobridge to the state line is a 16 inch average is a good day right now.

 

[Rowdie]

My guess is you aren’t fishing where they are. Probably down in the trees in twenty feet.

We spent a lot of time in 20 feet the last 2 days. Along with lots of other anglers. If they're out there, no one is finding them consistently. Tournament results don't lie.

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I think growth has been slow the past few years, and even with that the nirthern reaches have been best. According to the SDGFP smelt numbers are now at pre flood levels. If we can get warmwater baitfish to flourish ie gizzard shad we will be back in the good old days in a few years. That said, I think you are one of the few who use a tape measure regularly. Lots of guys claim 17 to 18 inch fish but my experience from Mobridge to the state line is a 16 inch average is a good day right now.

Ya its amazing how a 16 grows to 18 from the boat to the bar. We only kept >16" today and ended with 6 in Mobridge area. Threw a lot of 15.5" back but we stuck to our plan and taped a lot of close to 16" inch fish. Yesterday we hit the state line area, same results, but we did get a 19.75" yesterday.

Them FKN northern seem to be getting big.

 

[Lapper]

Buddies fishing down by Whitlock caught their first over yesterday in 3 days of fishing.

 

[LBrandt]

Increase bait size and add some vibration and sound to your presentation. Should bring out the bigger fish.

 

[Wallike]

The big ones didn't get big by eating your presentations! I pick "A".

 

[sdwxman]

We must have boated over 60 eyes on Sunday for Wolves on the Water. We did end up with a 25 incher and a few nice 18-19 inchers. Otherwise the rest were the standard 15-16 inche fish. Good eaters, fun to catch. Had many doubles and triples on.

Finished in the $ as well. A good day!

 

[Wallike]

We must have boated over 60 eyes on Sunday for Wolves on the Water. We did end up with a 25 incher and a few nice 18-19 inchers. Otherwise the rest were the standard 15-16 inche fish. Good eaters, fun to catch. Had many doubles and triples on.

Finished in the $ as well. A good day!

Where can I find the overall results for this tournament?

 

[sdwxman]

Results can be found here.

 

[Wallike]

Results can be found here.

Thank you!

 

[Lycanthrope]

Small fish have to be aggressive because there are a lot of smaller fish in any given system more competition and they need to put on size before something larger than themselves eats them! Larger fish tend to be more particular in what they eat and they eat larger food items less frequently. There are times large fish are aggressive, but not nearly as consistently as smaller fish. If you are using bottom bouncers and spinners, that is probably your problem.

 

[guywhofishes]

I often find the larger fish are shallower - much, much shallower.

My theory is that large fish that no longer have to be afraid of getting eaten go where they want when they want.

When the 10-25 ft range is chock full of "rug rats" I think the larger fish go grocery shopping up shallow where there's no competing rug rats to deal with (getting the prey paranoid). And the rug rats are afraid to go with because they could end up on the menu.

The nice thing about fishing shallow is that the fish up there are there for a reason - they seem almost angry about things. I love the savagery of the shallow fish.

Just a theory - it's probably all in my head.

 

[Rowdie]

I've tried shallow, and I use big cranks, small cranks, bb, you name it. When the system had a ton of bigger fish people caught them. Before the slots in the late 90's you needed a 5 lb average to place in the top 10 in tournaments. I'm starting to think they just aren't growing. Those millions of fish 4 years ago either disappeared or haven't grown much.

 

[shorthairsrus]

Food source may be one thing --- that size of fish requires a certain size of forage to grow bigger and its not available. When i used to fish Audubon they had the home of a pounder -- that was because they stocked to many into that thing -- i dont think that is the case with oahe -- i think it relates back to 2011.

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i think you just have a class of fish that are missing. Wait till these thin out and grow up --- boom

 

[Fishmission]

You may be screwed. I don’t think you have the all important 05, 08 yr classes... Da dum dum