By Mike Peluso

Boom goes the dynamite if you are looking for action! Early this spring I was questioning if we had a population of smaller fish. Well, I’m here to tell you we do! Unfortunately, I fear these are older fish finding very little to eat and not growing much. The bigger fish in the system seem to be doing just fine. Between herring, smelt, white bass, drum and definitely some of these smaller walleyes we are catching the big girls have plenty of food. The smaller fish, not so much

It is my opinion that we should probably be keeping a lot of these smaller fish. It’s like it’s a competition for these little guys to eat a Berkley Flicker Shad or a PK crankbait. You put anything down in the current with rattles and it’s crazy. We are on the back nine of the big fish run, however.

This spring, we really got cheated out of the prime time big fish run. The snowstorms hit us during what is the best time of the season. While we are still finding a random big fish mixed in, eater size walleyes are abundant. For me I’m mainly pulling cranks. I’m hoping to switch back to jigs shortly if conditions allow as we are still dealing with dirty water and windy conditions.

I still have a couple weeks left on the Missouri River, but by June 1 I’ll be starting on Devils Lake for a few weeks. So there will be lots of reports from both Devils Lake and Lake Sakakawea on the way – stay tuned!

Mike Peluso is a Dakota Edge Outdoors contributing writer and licensed ND fishing guide specializing in walleyes on the state’s premier waters.

Featured Photo: Large fish can still be found in the mix, but it’s mostly smaller walleyes that anglers are encountering now in the back portion of May. DEO Photo by Mike Peluso.