Here’s the ‘Full Scoop’ on how the top-finishing pros at the last National Walleye Tour event on Lake Oahe (out of Mobridge, SD) caught 'em better than the rest. 🎯 Little details and specifics you won’t find anywhere else – BIG thx to our friend Brett Carlson for helping to track 'em down. Now, here we go!

On paper, the 2026 National Walleye Tour season looked like a big-water, big-fish slate. While the excitement to wrangle giants garnered enthusiasm, the realists viewed the schedule with skepticism due to the prospects of fighting treacherous waves and wind.

Erie held true to form at the opener – both for big fish and for blustery conditions. Lake Oahe, one of the largest manmade lakes in the United States, dialed it up even more as the prairie winds blew relentlessly on both days of the season’s second qualifier.

Instead of forcing the issue and facing the unruly gusts head on in the trees, local angler Jason Stahl found the winning formula by targeting roamers in more protected areas. 

Stahl, who works as a fisheries biologist in Sioux Falls, grew up in Pierre, SD and learned to fish the sprawling Missouri River with his grandfather. While the wind limited his options, he was grateful for the near-hurricane conditions.

> “I think if it wasn’t so windy, guys would have been able to scope where they wanted to scope,” said the reserved Stahl. “I was able to fish an area that wasn’t as windy, and I could present my bait to maybe fewer fish, but I could get them to bite.” 

Stahl knew that instead of making long runs, he wanted to maximize fishing time in order to focus on the big overs. In this event, anglers were only allowed 2 walleyes over 20” each day. Culling was prohibited, but anglers could keep 8 and weigh their best 5.

> “There’s all this talk about the Missouri River walleye migration, and I don’t think it’s necessarily true. There are fish that head south, but also fish that go upriver. And there’s always fish that stay home.

> "When we catch fish that have been tagged, most have been caught 5 to 10 miles from where they’ve been tagged. On Erie, the eastward migration is proven...it’s not just a theory. But here, when the bite progresses south, it gives the illusion that there’s a similar migration. Most of these fish are essentially homebodies.”

Stahl competed in the Casino Cup event prior to the NWT, taking 4th with teammate Corey Rost.

> “I fished the Blue Blanket area down to Moreau, which is about 10 to 12 miles from takeoff. That was my general plan again in the NWT, just because I was getting good 28- to 30-inch overs. That’s how I started, but it was unsuccessful. I did see a group of unders that were roaming the trees. I caught 2, but then it became unfishable in the wind. On the way back through there I caught another under, so I had 3 by 10:30.”

Day 1 was Stahl’s long day as he was due in at 4:40 p.m. That was crucial because the midday bite was grueling.

> “It wasn’t until 3:45 when I finally found a group of smaller overs. I caught a 21- or 22-incher and had to keep it. Then with 45 minutes left, I found one of the right overs that was roaming. I had to chase it for 15 minutes, and I probably made 50 casts. The wind made it so tough. I finally caught it, and we just went in. It was a 32-incher, and I knew I didn’t want a penalty.”

Photo from Dakota Radio Group - Mobridge

Stahl’s 22 pounds, 4 ounces put him in contention, but the work was far from over. On day 2, Stahl was paired with co-angler Steve Alverson, another SD stick who fishes the Lake Area Walleye Club League.

> “The wind never let down,” added Stahl. “You usually get a brief break in the morning, but on day two there were already 3- and 4-footers coming down that stretch. Steve asked me at takeoff what we were going to be doing, and I honestly didn’t know.”

The first decision was to fish the mouth of Timber Bay.

> “Pretty quickly we found a group of suspended fish. I caught a 19 1/4, a 19 3/4, and a 20 1/8, which I pitched back. I wasn’t there for points. I kept fishing for three more hours without a bite.”

Stahl then hopped to the Deadman area and made a trolling pass.

> “My first one was a perfect slot fish, and then I caught 2 more unders. I then moved to the mouth of LeCompte to ‘scope. I found a big one sitting on the bottom, so I kept following her. Steve said I cast at it 8 times before she would bite. But it was a 28-incher, so we just kept on heading upstream looking for more.

> "I finally saw a fish sitting in the trees between Deadman and Timber. After a couple of bad drops, I finally got a good drop on it, and that was a 30-incher. I caught that fish at 2:42. We were basically straight across from town, and I was due back at 3. At that point, I knew I was close, but I was thinking 2nd or 3rd. I didn’t think I won.”

The final tally was 24 pounds, 8 ounces, which pushed Stahl’s cumulative total to 46 pounds, 12 ounces. While most of the damage was done ‘scoping, 3 of Stahl’s 10 weigh fish came via trolling.

> “I was throwing 3/4-oz Widow Maker tungsten jigs with a 3.5” Z-Man Jerk ShadZ.”

His best color was “Gussy’s Glimmer Blue,” named after Canadian bass pro and Bassmaster Classic champion Jeff Gustafson.

> “The goal was to get it to their head right away. I’m not a huge reaction guy...I prefer to pull it away a little slower. I know a lot of guys were having difficulty catching them, but I would say finding them was harder than catching them.”

While trees were a small part of the equation, Stahl mostly fished channel edges and targeted individual fish.

> “All those roamers were in 25' to 35', suspended and roaming out in the open. They were chasing bait. You would see them swim up and crack something. It could be gizzard shad, lake herring, white bass – you name it. But there were no pods or schools of fish. That wasn’t necessarily intentional. A lot of the trees I wanted to fish were just too windy.

> "There were fish in the trees, but I think they’re kind of looking for the trees again. They’re just not all there yet. It seemed like there was a clear difference in the willingness to bite between the roamers and the tree fish. I also think a lot of the fish the guys were targeting in the trees were actually cats. I don’t like to speak in absolutes, but I have some theories as to why those “walleyes” were so difficult to get to bite.”

While the Jerk ShadZ is a ‘scoping stable, Stahl had some simple, yet unconventional twists to his approach.

> “For line, I’m running 10-lb Sufix 832 (camo). I tie the jigs straight to the braid. These are pea-brain fish. They either want to eat, or they don’t. It’s just my theory, but I think people give fish too much credit. There are situations where finesse stuff can get you bit more, like in northern MN or on the Great Lakes. I don’t personally see that in our SD fish. They either eat it, or they’re not hungry.

> "I try to get as close as possible over them too. They're slowly swimming one way. ...they won’t be boat shy when you get right over the top of them. Our fish don’t get scared of the boat.”

Stahl used Scheels Guide Series spinning rods and a hodgepodge of size 2500 and 3000 spinning reels. When he trolled, he also used Scheels Guide Series rods with several different Daiwa Sealine line counter reels.

> “I didn't even bring all my trolling gear. I only had four line counters. But I did weigh one the first day and two the second day trolling. I was pulling Bomber Deep Long As (B24A) on 3-ways. Color didn’t seem to matter. I was pulling them on a ledge in 26 feet, going about 2 mph. The fish were right on the bottom, and we were bumping bottom fairly often. I used 10-lb 832 braid again with a 6-foot leader of monofilament, whatever monofilament I had in my boat.”

Stahl’s margin of victory was 1 pound, 3 ounces. He earned a prize package valued at $97,423.

> “It hasn’t set it in. It’s a dream come true. I’m a walleye nut, and the Missouri River is my home body of water. For the last 6 years I’ve fished the MWCs, the Gov Cup, as many tournaments as my schedule allows. When they announced the NWT schedule, I knew I had to hop in right away. To actually win it, it’s pretty surreal.”

Photo from Dakota Radio Group - Mobridge

Before the season started, Eric McQuoid had the Lake Oahe event circled as the one most fraught with danger. The WI resident, who grew up on MN’s Lake Mille Lacs, had never fished Oahe this time of year.

> “This was the one that worried me the most,” said the 2021 NWT Championship winner. “To be honest, I was just hoping to get some points and stay up there in the AOY race.”

After a poor practice, McQuoid’s fears only compounded. His best day consisted of just 3 walleyes. The plan was to stay close, fish for overs first, and then hopefully have time to target unders. Soon after the tournament commenced, everything changed.

> “During my entire practice I only caught 3 overs, so my plan was to keep anything over 20 inches. Then I caught a 10-lber within the first few minutes. Shortly after, I lost a 7- or 8-lber. An hour later, I caught a 4.5-lber and thought long and hard about keeping it. I threw it back, and another hour later I caught another 10-lber.”

McQuoid then left his deep trees and started bottom-bouncing with Slow Death rigs and crawlers. He caught 1 keeper and 2 shorts before sliding to a different stretch of shoreline. He then managed a 16-incher, a 15-incher, and a 20 1/2 that he had to throw back. While his unders were far from perfect, he managed 25 lbs even.

Photo from Dakota Radio Group - Mobridge

On day 2, with no respite from the wind, McQuoid noticed the water in his main area was dirtier.

> “It wasn’t going well, so at 9:30 we pulled the plug and chased unders. That’s not the script you’re supposed to follow on Oahe, but we went to the bay.”

The 26-year-old caught a 19-incher right away, and 30 minutes later he caught a thick 19 3/4.

> “Then the live camera jumped in our boat. We hopped around to two or three more spots. We managed to catch an 18 1/2, a 16 1/2, and a 26 1/2. That over was the lucky bite I wasn’t expecting. At that point, I wanted to roll back out to the big-fish area where I started. When I got there, they had showed back up. The first stretch had 5 in one tree, but they wouldn’t eat. I told myself I had to leave at 3:10. At 3:07, I spotted one just roaming, just meandering around in 30 feet. It ate on the first cast, and it was another 26 1/2. This one was fatter too.”

McQuoid finished day 2 with his 5 best weighing 20 pounds, 9 ounces, which gave him 45 pounds, 9 ounces total. He never traveled more than five miles south or north of the takeoff at Indian Creek in Mobridge. He would start by running south to a series of four productive trees.

> “I’m not even sure if they were cottonwood, oak, or willows, but the best trees had the biggest and thickest canopies that we could find. The trees were in 45 to 60 feet of water and would top out around 25 to 30 feet down. Most of the fish were towards the top in practice. Come gameday, they slid down more to the base of the tree. Besides that one roaming fish I caught, they were definitely feeling the pressure.”

In the blustery weather, McQuoid chose to cast upwind to the fish. Most casts were pendulum swings under the trees using precise angles to avoid getting snagged.

> “I was picking apart each tree with different angles. I wouldn’t go a full 360 around it, but I’m not that great at deciphering if it’s a tree branch, an 8-pounder, or a 10-pounder. Having Power-Brakes and the Fin Gear Surge Purge horizontal plates were huge in keeping me on the spot and preventing the boat from rocking. I also used the longer 75-inch shaft on the Garmin Force Kraken. Every equipment advantage made a difference in those conditions because they did not want to come chase it. You had to put it on them and make them eat it.”

McQuoid’s primary bait was the "blue silver" color 2.5” (#6) Acme Hyper-Rattle. After making the pendulum cast, he would swim it over the top of their heads and then employ little twitches.

> “I was probably 20 to 30 feet in front of them, so it was more of a vertical presentation. They weren’t too spooky...visibility was probably 2 feet at the surface, but they just didn’t want to eat.”

McQuoid recalls 7 of his 10 keepers coming on the Hyper-Rattle. He weighed one 16-incher on the bottom-bouncer and crawler, and the other 2 came on the new Kalin’s Hammered Live Series Jerk Minnow. He mainly opted for the 4-inch version in white. The cadence was similar – keep it above them and keep the tail moving.

> “I spent the most time with the Hyper-Rattle. I could just get it down there the fastest and the most efficiently in that wind.”

For rods, McQuoid used the 7’ 2” Elliott Identity Reaction Bait rod, which has medium power and fast action. His reel of choice was the 2000-sized Piscifun Carbon X3 spinning reel. His main line was 15-lb Berkley X9 (flame green), and he tied his baits to a 5-foot leader of clear 15-lb Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon.

> “Now that it’s over, I’m a little bummed I took 2nd, but I never would have expected 2nd before the tournament or especially after my practice. I fished a clean tournament and never made any wrong decisions.”

After opening some eyes with a 4th-place finish on Erie in his NWT debut, 19-year-old Beau Schilling continued his impressive rookie campaign on his home waters.

> “Going into it, I just knew it was going to be a deeper thing,” said Schilling, who has guided with his father’s business, Oahe Wings and Walleyes, since he was 14 years old. “I knew the fish that were in that 10- to 15-foot range were lighter. I didn’t really know what specific stretches I was going to fish. The plan was to cover water and adjust on the fly.”

Schilling’s first day went nearly perfect, and he was done by 11:30 a.m. with 26 pounds, 9 ounces.

> “I honestly didn’t even look at the forecast. I knew it wasn’t going to change how I fished. With our equipment, I knew everything was fishable. The game plan was to only cast at hogs in the morning...I’m talking 29s to 32s. I probably casted at 25 fish by 9:30, but none of them would bite.”

Schilling then ran to a secondary stretch that slid just off the main river in 35 feet. 

> “I caught a fat 29-incher, which I kept. Then on my very next cast I caught a 32-incher. We had to use the backup slider net. It was pretty awesome. I then checked two bays for my slots, and they were suspended up off the bottom, which had me pretty confident. I caught an 18 1/2, which was about a 2.4, then a 2.6, and finally a 19 7/8.”

At that point, Schilling wasn’t sure what to do. He had plenty of time left, but with wicked winds come high risks.

> “It didn’t make a lot of sense to risk losing a pound to a dead-fish penalty just to potentially upgrade a pound. So I went in early.”

Day 2 was a vastly different story. While flip-flopping is common on Oahe, Schilling was in dire straits with no walleyes in the livewell at 2:30. 

> “I fished the same starting spot – the same spot as Eric McQuoid, Isaac Lakich, and a few others. All the fish were gone. I scrambled around and went in prefish mode, but everywhere I went, they were pretty much gone. I threw back a 21-incher, but it was just brutal.”

Schilling returned to his starting spot, located straight across from New Evert’s.

> “At 2:30, I came back to my starting spot. I saw a giant...she chased me, but didn’t bite. I flipped back and ripped the crap out of my Mooch Minnow and made it mad. That was the first time I got that to work all week, and it was a 12-lber.”

Photo from Dakota Radio Group - Mobridge

Schilling unsuccessfully worked a few more before finding 2 sitting side by side. 

> “The bigger one chased me, but I got denied, but then a 27-incher committed. At that point, I had about 45 minutes to fish for slots, but I never caught one. I tried for slots in Deadman’s and LeCompte and came in with five minutes left.”

Schilling’s 2 overs weighed 18 pounds, 1 ounce, giving him 44 pounds, 10 ounces of cumulative weight.

> “It feels so unfinished. The goal is to win one, but I also can’t complain with 3rd. I’m both happy and disappointed...there was more meat on the bone.”

Schilling did all his damage with the 4.5” Rapala CrushCity Mooch Minnow. When working unders, he opted for the 1/2-oz (3/0) VMC Redline Series Tungsten Swimbait Jig. When hog hunting, he upgraded to the same 3/4-oz jig. His best Mooch Minnow colors were whites and green pumpkin chartreuse pepper.

> “That was really the only bait I threw. I tried a couple Jig Raps, but that’s not how they wanted it. They wanted it slow and straight on. I would wait for them to turn, mope it by their head just so they could see it, and then slowly reel it away. I was sort of matching their pace.”

Schilling used a variety of 7’ 1” or 7’ 2” medium power, extra-fast action spinning rods paired with 2500 or 3000-sized Abu Garcia Zenon, Zata, or Pflueger Supreme XT spinning reels. Schilling’s main line was thin-diameter 18- or 22-lb Sunline Almight sinking braid. He then ran a 12-foot leader of Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon.

> “I was mainly fishing around the break before it dips down to like 70 feet. There were more roamers than tight tree fish. The fish really don’t slide into the trees heavily until they’re close to their final destination. Where I was, there was about a foot of water clarity, so we were basically parking on top of them.”

Schilling will head to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in June as the Angler of the Year leader.

> “It’s a little nerve wracking. A guy wants to win an NWT, but now I’ve got a shot at this. So we’ll see what practice holds, what kind of event it’s shaping up to be, and play it by ear.”

These walleyes refused to bite LIVE bait..?!

Of course live bait is great for walleyes, but there are legitimately times where reaction bites and the "fake" stuff catches 'em even better.... This wasn't how I was planning on catching 'em 👀 but I sure am glad that I wasn't too stubborn to bust it out!

If you haven't thrown the Rapala PXR Mavrik 110 Jerkbait yet – get on it! Thing is a legit day-saver when walleye won't eat anything else! And towards the tail end of that video ^ you can see how far up they're willing come to SMACK it.... 🤯 Couldn't believe it the first time, but then began to expect it lol.

Per usual, all of the gear I used (specific sizes, weights, you name it) is linked in the video’s description over on YouTube. Thank YOU for taking time out of your day to watch and leave a comment! 👊

"Somebodies got one coming...and I mean a big one coming."

- That's Tommy Kemos readying to dish out some revenge after finding a little big, um, present in his boat after the rules meeting at the Lake Oahe NWT. 😳 #NopeRope

The good news is he passed the stress test and his ticker is strong lol.

On to the next! 😤 Bay de Noc out of Gladstone, MI on June 18-19....

Thank YOU for reading! 👊 Back atcha in a couple....

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