Black Hills Region Fishing Report
With the colder temps, all the areas small lakes are frozen over and many ice fishermen and women are hitting the lakes in search of the early ice bites. A good majority of the larger lakes are still open although many bays are starting to ice over or are walkable for the more intrepid ice anglers. Another warm up is on the way though so caution would be advised if looking lakes that just iced up as well as those lakes that have 4″-5″ of ice on them. Be sure to wear ice picks, bring a buddy, and have other safety equipment at the ready as well as wearing your float suit or, at the very least, a life jacket. And with no snow cover, the frozen locations also have extremely slick ice so make sure you have boot spikes on. With these conditions in mind, here’s the current report:
The walleye lakes (Angostura and Belle Fourche) are still wide open although the boat docks have been pulled. Some skim ice was reported at Belle Fourche by boat fishermen, but the coming warm weather will keep both open for a while longer. Walleye are on the chow though responding well to pitched jigs with minnows on them. Pactola Reservoir is still wide open, although 5″ of ice was reported back in the Jenny Gulch area with a decent big rainbow bite happening. A few lakers being caught from boat fishermen, but lake is in a holding pattern until it ices up. Sheridan Lake is still wide open although Chipper Bay in the southern end as well as the 385 bay are frozen over and ice anglers are getting on about 5″ of solid ice with lots of panfish around. A few small northerns and big trout are showing up as well. Stockade Lake is totally iced over, with the west side having 6″ of ice and a decent crappie bite happening. 4″-5″ of ice has been reported on the northern and southern areas of the lake. Small red or chartreuse jigs are working tipped with waxies and small shrimp plastics as well as the new Clam Outdoors Tikka Flash lure. And Deerfield Reservoir is still mostly open although the west end and a majority of the bays are iced over with 3″ of ice, although no reports of anyone getting on them yet due to the high winds that have been hitting the area and keeping it open and breaking up the ice at the main openings.
The trout lakes (Sylvan, Mitchell, Center, Lakota, Horsetheif, Bismarck) are iced up and lots of ice anglers are hitting them. A good trout bite is happening across most of them. Fish are responding to pink and white jigs tipped with waxies or small plastics. The Tikka Flash is also working out very well on these lakes. One of the bigger trout lakes, Legion, is iced over with 4″-5″, but use caution on it since the last report from a week ago said the ice got a bit thinner the further out you went. As with any early season, use your safety gear and always bring a buddy with you. Been reports of plenty of guys going through the ice in Minnesota since they are having a strange warm-up like our region is so better to be safe than sorry. Bring the ice picks, spud bar, float suit/life jacket, safety rope and keep them with you! Tight lines all and have a great Christmas!
Scott Olson
dr.auger81@hotmail.com