By Steve Weisman
Ice, ice, ice…enough! By last Tuesday (March 18), I had had enough. Word from friends was that the river was open all the way from the dam at Ft. Thompson to Chamberlain, SD, and the walleyes were biting.
The only problem, pick a day that was relatively nice without strong winds. That seems to be a tough task, especially this year! Well, I looked at the weather forecast and Thursday’s forecast showed low 60s with a light southerly wind less than 10 mph. Friday was to be a different story, but at least one day looked good.
Since my son, Curt’s birthday was on the 19th, I decided to see if he wanted to go out there. A quick check on his work schedule and affirmation from his wife, and we were set.
So, I called Garry Allen, owner of Allen’s Hillside Motel in Chamberlain and a longtime guide on the Missouri River. Since our boats were both still in storage, we decided to see if Garry could guide us. He said, “Sure, we can make it work. Be out here as early in the morning as you can, because the bite has been better in the morning. I’ll have the boat ready to go.”
By leaving at 5:30, we could be at Allen’s by shortly after 9 a.m.! The ride out, as it always is, was filled with anticipation and watching to see if the wind really would stay down for one day!
Day 1: perfect weather
Thursday turned out to be an early spring delight. The wind never did get more than 5-10 mph, and by mid- afternoon, the temperature reached 62 degrees.
We were glad that we were using Garry’s boat and his expertise, because there’s lots of fishing area between the dam and Chamberlain. Each day the bite is just a little bit different and the hotspots change. Since we only had this one-day window of good weather, we didn’t want to be wandering around ourselves trying to find “where the bite is today!”
As we drove to the ramp by the marina in Chamberlain, Garry had three options in mind. We would start just 2-3 miles north of town first, followed by a run north to Kiowa Flats and finally all the way to the dam.
“The bite has been pretty good right here,” said Garry, after the short run out of the marina. “The best bite for me has been in 20-23’ of water. We’ll try it here first.” I would guess there were at least 50 boats fishing that stretch of the river, but most of them were working about half of a mile south of us. That’s no big deal, though, because there is so much area, especially when you throw in spots all of the way from Chamberlain to the dam.
Typical of early spring fishing in this area, the top bait is a chartreuse jig tipped with a minnow. Both Curt and I chose a chartreuse ¼-ounce Fireball jig for our first option, and then a different color (I chose orange) for our dead stick rod.
By 10 a.m., we had our jigs in the water. Moving slowly enough to allow us to keep contact with the bottom, Garry began working the 20-23’ flat. Within five minutes, Curt struck with a nice 16-inch walleye.
Since Garry had been fishing this area quite a bit, he already had a good idea of what type of run we would take. It didn’t take long before we knew exactly the 200-300 yard area that was holding active fish.
I became the target of “not hooking fish” jokes, as I blew the first half a dozen bites. I would take them when the fish hit the jig and miss. I would let them have it until I couldn’t stand it any longer and they would either drop it or I would lose them half the way to the boat.
“Just giving you guys a fighting chance!” I responded.
Things turn around; they always do. My best presentation was on the dead stick. The movement of the boat seemed to be what the fish wanted, and soon my orange Fireball was on fire! Enough said!
It was a great day on the water. We kept our 12 walleyes that ranged between 15½ to 17½ inches and threw back several other legal sized fish. In all, we caught nearly 60 fish in five hours of fishing! Not to mention all of the swings and misses!
Even though we were still catching fish, by 3 p.m. it was time to head in, clean the fish and relax back at the office lobby, which is a meeting spot for anglers to share stories with each other. It became “old home week” with all kinds of fishermen from northwest Iowa joining in the conversation. Sadly, we lamented the one-and-done Hawkeye loss to Tennessee the night before!
Of course, no trip to Allen’s Hillside Motel is complete without an evening meal at Charley’s Restaurant, which is just next door. We had them cook up eight fillets for us and combined with their salad bar and choice of potato, it doesn’t get much better than that. Plus, we had enough for a couple of fish sandwiches for Friday’s lunch.
Day 2: weather arrives
We knew it was too good to last. As Garry said several times on Thursday, “If you go fishing two days this time of year, you can only hope that one of those days will be a nice one.”
By 7 a.m. on Friday morning, the temperatures were in the low 30s, the wind was 15-20 out of the northwest and was predicted to hit 40 mph by late morning. Still, we had to try it for a couple of hours. So, Garry drove to the boat ramps up at the dam area. At least we would only have 2-3’ waves at the most here.
The fish were there. They had been biting there all week, but with the waves, we just couldn’t sit on the fish like we could the day before. By mid-morning, we had caught several short fish and had three nice 16-20 inchers, but when it started to rain and then turned to snow, it was time to leave.
We had had our one good day out of two! Oh but it was so worth it: out in a boat, no ice in sight, catching fish.
To see what’s going on at Chamberlain, you can access Allen’s South Dakota Fishing & Hunting website at www.allenshillside.com. There is always an updated fishing report and their Facebook page is loaded daily with fishing pictures of the day! If you want to talk to Garry personally, he can be reached at (605) 680-0788.
Author’s son with a 17-inch walleye.
(L to R) Curt Weisman, Garry Allen, Steve Weisman
( L to R) Curt Weisman and Garry Allen working their jigs.
Curt Weisman with a 20-inch walleye taken during the cold front on Friday.
