Author Topic: Curlew Lake (Read 3819 times)

jbuss79 · « **on:** Oct 30, 2012, 10:48 PM »

A couple questions: First, anyone know if there is still water in Curlew Lake? Second, does anyone have firsthand knowledge of anything other than Bullhead in it? Would like to make a trip up there if it's worth it.

nbaker · « **Reply #1 on:** Oct 31, 2012, 08:29 AM »

last time I was out there was the end of august/begining of september and there wasn't much water left. All I've seen/heard of people catching was bullheads.

Pactoilet · « **Reply #2 on:** Oct 31, 2012, 09:08 PM »

thanks for this timely post, buddy from work mentioned possible going this friday, that would have been a complete waste.

royjulius · « **Reply #3 on:** Nov 01, 2012, 10:16 AM »

There is Walleye, Bass, Crappie, and Pike in Curlew. It's a real hit-or-miss lake, but I have 2 bass on my wall over 5lbs, and the 1st one came from Curlew. I also have a buddy that caught a 22lb Pike out of there. Just fishing from shore, though, a lot of bullheads will be caught.

I don't know about the current water level, and the Walleye limit is 2 there, I think.

nbaker · « **Reply #4 on:** Nov 01, 2012, 01:22 PM »

Interesting, might be worth punching a few holes out there through the ice this winter, its not too far away. I don't have a boat so during the warm weather months I'm stuck fishing from the shore..

jbuss79 · « **Reply #5 on:** Nov 01, 2012, 05:55 PM »

My Dad has a little john boat that he wants to run the fuel out of and put away for the winter. Might be a good excuse but unless I learn something firsthand to the contrary, I might just leave Curlew alone for awhile. It sure was an interesting topic around the firehouse the other night, though. Of 5 guys on duty and all 5 of us are pretty "outdoorsy", nobody really knew a lot about it. It's sort of out of the way. I think that coupled with it being so hit-or-miss not much ever gets said about it. At least in this kind of forum.

royjulius · « **Reply #6 on:** Nov 02, 2012, 10:18 AM »

My grandparents and some cousins are from New Underwood and they used to fish it a lot and have fish fry's every year for the whole town. All of the fish came from Curlew. The only real advantage of going there, though, is it's close and camping is free.

BIG FOOT · « **Reply #7 on:** Nov 25, 2012, 10:39 PM »

went out ther hunting and ther is some warter out ther but it dos look like that it has seen batter days and i would love to fish it this year.

jbuss79 · « **Reply #8 on:** Nov 26, 2012, 05:22 PM »

I bought a book to try and figure out some different spots to fish that maybe don't get fished a lot. There's another lake by Curlew called Tisdale. Going to have to investigate it further as well.

Dakotablood · « **Reply #9 on:** Nov 26, 2012, 05:56 PM »

Tisdale was my 1st trip last year...caught 1 bluegill but didn't move around much so not sure the depths or structures...

jbuss79 · « **Reply #10 on:** Nov 26, 2012, 11:46 PM »

I'm sure most have seen it but I bought the South Dakota book that has something like 135 contour maps in it and one is for Tisdale. From reading it, it sounds like ice fishing is almost the only way it's accessible as of late because of vegitation and such. Was thinking about running up and checking it out Wednesday but knowing that GFP removed a bunch of fish from places east of town thought I'd call them tomorrow and get some insight. My big goal this winter is to fish some new water and broaden my fishing horizons so to speak.

SoDakdick · « **Reply #11 on:** Nov 28, 2012, 05:02 AM »

I have fished

Quote from: jbuss79 on Nov 26, 2012, 11:46 PM

I'm sure most have seen it but I bought the South Dakota book that has something like 135 contour maps in it and one is for Tisdale. From reading it, it sounds like ice fishing is almost the only way it's accessible as of late because of vegitation and such. Was thinking about running up and checking it out Wednesday but knowing that GFP removed a bunch of fish from places east of town thought I'd call them tomorrow and get some insight. My big goal this winter is to fish some new water and broaden my fishing horizons so to speak.

Tisdale is great for large mouth bass. I have heard that guys get 5 lbs after ice off over by the inlet, but I normally only get the little guys.

nbaker · « **Reply #12 on:** Nov 28, 2012, 08:08 AM »

I looked at Tisdale on the map and it doesn't look like there is an access road going out to it?

jbuss79 · « **Reply #13 on:** Nov 28, 2012, 12:15 PM »

The Tisdale Rd. off of 171st Ave. ends but then it turns into kind of a gravel road or two track and it runs right up to the dam. Access looks tough but that just means fewer people are willing to go to it.

KingCat · « **Reply #14 on:** Dec 04, 2012, 05:27 PM »

thanks jbuss for helping me round out my Christmas list. I'm in need of an updated S.D. lake map book!

fishm_n · « **Reply #15 on:** Dec 05, 2012, 01:36 AM »

I have pulled perch, crappie, carp, bullhead and a catfish out of there in the summer months.

Please let us know how you do!!

gofishwalleye · « **Reply #16 on:** Dec 08, 2012, 04:57 PM »

Went out scouting today, found Tisdale, pretty low and weeded up. Curlew has more water in it that I expected and I have fished it with lower water. Both obviously wide open...Seems to me I've fished Curlew almost every super bowl Sunday so maybe there will be ice by then! If not I can always unpickle the boat and head to Pierre and fish the river!

snotslayer · « **Reply #17 on:** Dec 08, 2012, 08:04 PM »

I know a guy that works for GFP doing all the fish stocking and surveying. He said they stocked curlew the past few years but you will have to give it time for it to be worth anything. He said while they were out there surveying they had a 10lb walleye in one of the nets. Theres a few big ones left but not much.

SoDakdick · « **Reply #18 on:** Dec 09, 2012, 12:12 AM »

Does that mean they are going to stock it with fingerlings?

fishm_n · « **Reply #19 on:** Dec 09, 2012, 01:13 AM »

Ya what did they stock with?? walleye?

gofishwalleye · « **Reply #20 on:** Dec 09, 2012, 10:04 AM »

Here is the SDGFP stocking report on Curlew for 2011, I'm not finding a 2012 report

Meade Curlew Yellow Perch Adult 500 19-May-11
Meade Curlew Yellow Perch Adult 898 18-May-11
Meade Curlew Channel Catfish Adult 200 05-May-11

Additionally, it looks like the put a butt-ton of pike in Tisdale!

Meade Tisdale Northern Pike Fry 20000 25-Apr-11

The stocking report is here

http://gfp.sd.gov/fishing-boating/tacklebox/lake-surveys/fish-stocking.aspx#MP

royjulius · « **Reply #21 on:** Dec 09, 2012, 10:13 AM »

Wow, I didn't think they stocked Pike anywhere. that is great news and thanks for posting!

jgouldin · « **Reply #22 on:** Dec 09, 2012, 12:11 PM »

They put pike perch and walleye in bear butte last year also.

jbuss79 · « **Reply #23 on:** Dec 09, 2012, 03:33 PM »

The stocking story at Curlew is that they've really been trying to make it a decent Walleye lake for awhile. They surveyed it and found that it has more Walleye in it than it has for a long, long time but a lot of them are small yet. So, they wanted to give them a good forage base so they put a bunch of Gizzard Shad in it because apparently they reproduce like crazy. Seems to be working. They also re-located several hundred Perch from Deerfield to try and help the Perch populations in both lakes. They also took a lot of Bass and put them in as well. The trick, it seems, is sorting through smaller fish to get to the big ones but you have to catch them first and that seems to be a bit of a challenge.

jbuss79 · « **Reply #24 on:** Dec 31, 2012, 09:24 PM »

Posted a report on Curlew. Long story short.....long day, no fish. Saw some other guys out there today. Wonder if they caught anything.

chapsbuck · « **Reply #25 on:** Jan 01, 2013, 08:53 PM »

I was probably the other guy you saw. Same story here. No fish...

icefishingallday · « **Reply #26 on:** Jan 03, 2013, 06:06 PM »

went out there today for a few hours caught a couple perch and missed a few tip ups very slow though

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Author Topic: Curlew Lake (Read 3819 times)