Big Stone Lake report Sept 5th- Sept 8th
Big stone lake I have not fished a ton in my life however the times I’ve been out here it never disappoints! For those who don’t know much about Big stone its a pan Fishermans oasis! The bluegill and perch grow giant here! Its a 26 mile long lake that boarders South Dakota and Minnesota so there is a ton of area to fish! Now it’s a very shallow for its size, maxing at about 16’ fow. The mud bottom provides a good hatch for these pan fish to grow big! This is the start of what becomes the Minnesota river.
Now to the fishing! Well yet again this trip it did not disappoint. Now I’m not a huge pan fisherman but this place can make even me get excited about bull bluegills and mammoth perch! Now as far as approaches I used it was one and very simple! Some people like to run slip bobbers and such however I enjoy jigging for these fish. One lure shined above all and that was a Johnsons Snare Spoon in the 1/8oz. I did run a 1/16oz at times also when it was flat calm. Now as far as bait goes the wax worms and spikes excelled over everything else I tried. The spikes almost seemed to work better just because they are more durable then the wax worms. Now the key to find these fish is find the mud bottom! These fish are up on these eating bugs. So the trick to this weekend was first find schools of fish close to the bottom because these were the ones that were most active. Now jigging for these perch and giant blue gills the trick was stir the bottom up a little bit and then raise your jig just right off the bottom. If you were even 6’’ off the bottom you would not get bit! You had to lay it almost directly on the bottom to get the bigger fish to go. Now as far as depth goes the perch came out of anywhere between 12’-14’ fow. As far as the gills go the big ones I found were a bit shallower in that 10’-8’ range and around the weed beds. The cool thing about Big stone is there is a lot of area to fish and you will find fish all over it, its just keying in and finding the quality schools. Also there was a variety of fish caught from crappies, bluegill, perch, sheepshead, and some giant well known bullheads! Overall a great trip, limited on perch each day for everyone with some good gills to go along with them for a heck of a fish fry! Now as the water cools these fish should bite even better! If your a pan fish fanatic you have to check this lake out!
Thanks to everyone who reads these, likes and shares my posts! Make sure to book you fall trip soon before it fills up! The fall bite is my favorite time of year cause the big fish are feeding heavy getting ready for the winter! Tight lines everyone!
