Solving the Lake Oahe puzzle

The Elite Series anglers love a challenge. This first-ever trip to Lake Oahe, the largest man-made lake in the U.S. in terms of surface acres (374,000), has certainly been a challenge.

“This place is a puzzle for me, which I love,” said Brandon Palaniuk, after finishing 21st yesterday. “I’d love to come back here and try to figure it out.”

A big piece to the puzzle this week has been the post-spawn condition of the majority of the smallmouth bass population. The bass are skinny and in transition from shallow spawning depths to summertime, deeper water.

Another big part of the puzzle has been Lake Oahe’s steadily rising water level. This has been an unusually wet spring and it has continued into early summer this week. The lake is exactly 1.5 feet higher today than it was when the anglers began practicing on Tuesday. It has been rising about two-tenths of a foot every day.