If you’ve ever driven Interstate 90 across South Dakota and thumpety-thumped over the Missouri River bridges west of Chamberlain, you’ve briefly glimpsed some of the best and most overlooked fishing water in the United States. A series of dams on the Missouri River impound a chain of huge lakes that stretches from southeast South Dakota, through North Dakota and into eastern Montana. If those lakes were in more heavily populated areas they would be reknowned for the fishing they offer, frequently cited in fishing magazines, and on the lips of anglers around the nation. But they aren’t. They’re smack in the middle of some of the least-populated areas of the United States, hundreds of miles from large cities, and thousands of miles from major population centers. There are no theme parks to attract families. No majestic mountains or scenic forests. Just millions of acres of some of the best walleye, bass, and catfishing many anglers have never heard about.
As for advantages that the Dakota lakes have over traditional northern fishing spots: it doesn’t require a passport when you cross the border into the Dakotas or Montana; you don’t have to hire a float plane to reach your fishing hotspot; and there’s no exchange rate to convert dollars to local currency when you need to buy bait, tackle and, uh, beverages appropriate to a fishing vacation.To Read more of this story and learn about South Dakota’s Lake Oahe and Montana’s mammoth Fort Peck Dam, pick up the April issue of The OTR Sportsman at a Truck Stop near you!
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