All waters · South Dakota · Lake Oahe

Lake Oahe, SD

Reservoir in Stanley County, South Dakota. A 370,000-acre Missouri River reservoir behind Oahe Dam, stretching ~230 miles from Pierre north to Bismarck, ND. The fourth-largest reservoir in the US by volume and South Dakota's marquee walleye fishery, with excellent smallmouth bass and northern pike plus a unique prairie Chinook salmon run that holds in the deep, cold water near the dam face. Spring Creek, Bush's Landing and the Mobridge bays are classic launch points.

62

Overall bite score

Scored 18 min ago · recomputed every 30 minutes

Water tempModeled100
Pressure trendNOAAsteady60
SolunarComputedmoon 46% lit43
Recent stockingState data50
Time of dayComputed50
WindNOAA10
Cloud coverNOAA100
PrecipitationNOAA50

Each instrument reads 0 to 100. The score is their weighted blend, tuned for lakes and reservoirs. No black box: every reading names its source.

What swims here

8 tracked species in Lake Oahe, with the months each fishes best.

Smallmouth Bassabundant
Walleyeabundant
Channel Catfishcommon
Chinook Salmoncommon
Northern Pikecommon
White Basscommon
Yellow Perchcommon
Black Crappiepresent

Water facts

TypeReservoir
CountyStanley
StateSouth Dakota
WaterFreshwater
USGS gauge06438500

No live USGS water-temp or pool gauge on the reservoir itself; the bite score uses the Cheyenne River near Plainview gauge (USGS 06438500, live discharge on the Cheyenne arm) as a same-watershed proxy and the seasonal baseline for temperature. Major access: Spring Creek, West Whitlock, Indian Creek and Bush's Landing recreation areas; Mobridge and Pierre marinas. Lake Oahe walleye carry no minimum length but only one fish 20 in or longer per daily limit; verify on the SDGFP Missouri River regulations page.

See the full forecast for Lake Oahe in the app: best windows, 7-day outlook, what to bring, and offline regulations. The score and essentials are free.

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