By Mike Peluso

What an interesting week of walleye fishing it has been on Lake Sakakawea.  There are lots of things happening all at the same time and in my line of work, it definitely keeps me on my toes. 

The fish have decided to go deep! Or have they? I’ll get to this in a minute.  Of course, if you follow my social media pages you’ll see lots of information about catching walleyes out deep recently. 

I know I sound like a broken record, but yes if you are catching walleyes out in depths greater than 25 feet of water, plan on keeping those fish.  It’s extremely hard on a walleye coming up from those depths.  They can’t burp like you and I and barotrauma is just part of what happens to them, but it’s the most obvious when they are caught deep.

The bulk of the fish are for sure out in the range of 30 feet or deeper.  We have, however, caught some nice fish up under 20 feet. It’s amazing to me, but we have caught more big fish this past week up shallow.

I have been mixing it up with presentations as well: slow death, plain colored hooks and prop rigs are all catching fish right now and every day the walleyes seem to change what they want.  

I’m almost done up here for the season.  I am, however, booking walleye trips on the Missouri River near Bismarck this fall starting on Oct. 1 . It’s never too late, get ahold of me!

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

Featured Photo: Doubled up Deep.  Anglers are finding consistent walleye fishing on Lake Sakakawea in depths of 30 feet or more.  Those fish often suffer barotrauma, and should be kept, as delayed mortality likely occurs after release. DEO Photo by Mike Peluso.