June 20, 2017

Making waves: Summer bite is on

Making waves: Summer bite is on

By Jack Dura
Farmer Staff Writer

(Editor’s note: This is part three of three in a summer recreation series.)

Ask Matt Liebel and he’ll tell you it isn’t hard to find fish on Lake Sakakawea.
“It’s been absolutely unbelievable,” the fishing guide said. “It’s great right now. The fishing is awesome.”
Liebel runs his guide service on the west end of the lake, largely around the New Town-Tobacco Gardens area, but depending on weather conditions and where patrons are coming from.
This summer has been a throwback to the heydays of the ’80s, he said, with 50 walleyes caught before noon  and limits quickly completed.
The best bite is on right about now, Liebel added, from mid-June to mid-July. The eastern end of the lake is beginning to pick up, and though he hasn’t used any live bait, anglers can try any technique, Liebel said.
“I’ve been trolling crankbaits the whole time,” he said. “You can pull spinners and crawlers, leaches and even minnows. We’ve pitched some jigs up to the bank, up shallow with plastics. It’s really awesome because you can fish really however you want and catch fish too.”
The bite at Tobacco Gardens began in early May, he added.

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