Great Plains Fishing Report: November 2026 to February 2027
This is the November 2026 to February 2027 edition at its permanent link. See the current Great Plains report.
No single day stands out in these 14 days
Our engine puts the best day on 11 different dates across the 24 waters we grade in this region, and the most popular one, November 8, 2026, takes only 7 of them. That is worth knowing in itself: when one day wins almost everywhere it is a weather pattern crossing the whole region, and these 14 days have no such pattern. So pick the day for the water you are actually fishing, named on its own state page below, rather than one date for the whole region.
This is a forecast, so it is the first thing on this page to go out of date. Generated November 3, 2026.
The Dakotas fish through the ice while Kansas and Oklahoma fish open water
The Great Plains winter runs north to south across one season. North Dakota and South Dakota are ice country from late autumn to March, Devils Lake and the glacial lakes of the northeast above all, with darkhouse spearing for northern pike from November 15. Nebraska's ice comes and goes with the winter, and last winter it came late. Kansas and Oklahoma fish mostly open water: crappie on deep brush, striped bass on Lake Texoma, and stocked trout.
Kansas and Oklahoma each open a trout season on December 1: Kansas's type one and type two waters to March 31, and Oklahoma City's Close To Home ponds through February, alongside the trout areas on the cold tailwaters below Tenkiller and Broken Bow dams. The shared waters run on agreements set out in each state's rules: the Missouri among Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa and Missouri, the Red and the Bois de Sioux between North Dakota and Minnesota, and Lake Texoma between Oklahoma and Texas.
Each state's rules are below under the same headings as every region, written for someone fishing it for the first time: the license, bait and gear, the inland limits, and ice.
Nebraska's permits run out on December 31 and South Dakota's on January 31
A Nebraska permit is good through December 31, so anyone fishing after New Year needs next year's, at the new fees if the state approves them. A South Dakota license runs from December 15 before the year printed on it to January 31 after, so this year's lapse on January 31 and next year's go on sale on December 15. Oklahoma's Lake Texoma license and paddlefish permit also lapse on December 31, while North Dakota's licenses run to March 31 and Kansas's and Oklahoma's annual licenses last 365 days from the day they are bought.
Dates that change what you may keep
4 of these 6 change a season, a bag limit or a legal method. Every day of the week below was checked against a calendar.
| When | What changes | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sun November 15 | North Dakota's darkhouse spearing and bowfishing season opens, to March 15. South Dakota's spearing season for northern pike and catfish opens on the Minnesota border waters, to the last Sunday of February. | ND, SD |
| Tue December 1 | Kansas's trout permit season opens on the type one and type two waters, to March 31. In Oklahoma gigs and spears open in rivers and streams, to March 31, and Oklahoma City's Close To Home trout season opens. | KS, OK |
| Tue December 15 | South Dakota's licenses for next year go on sale. | SD |
| Thu December 31 | Every Nebraska permit expires. Oklahoma's Lake Texoma licenses and paddlefish permits expire. | NE, OK |
| Sun January 31 | This year's South Dakota licenses expire at the end of the day. | SD |
| Sun February 28 | Last day of South Dakota's spearing season on the Minnesota border waters. Last day of Oklahoma City's Close To Home trout season. | SD, OK |
Through the ice, state by state
The ice rules differ more across these five states than anything else in their books: how many lines, how wide a hole, and what a shelter must carry. Spearing is in each state's own section.
| State | Lines through the ice | Holes and shelters |
|---|---|---|
| North Dakota | Up to four poles, tip-ups included, every one in sight and checked hourly | A hole wider than 10 inches is marked when left; unoccupied houses show a number or name, and come off by midnight on March 15 |
| South Dakota | Up to four lines, two on the Minnesota border waters | Shelters show the owner's name and address; off the Minnesota border waters by March 5 |
| Nebraska | Five lines with two hooks each, every line watched | Holes no wider than 10 inches on Game and Parks areas; a $5 permit for a permanent shelter on state area lakes |
| Kansas | Two rods plus up to eight tip-ups, unless posted | Holes no wider than 12 inches; vehicles on department ice only to fish, by day |
| Oklahoma | Up to seven rods, unless a water's own rules say fewer | No ice rules found |
Oklahoma's rules carry no ice provisions because its lakes so rarely hold ice; its line limit is the same all year.
State by state
Season dates, local reports, stocking and the engine outlook for each state, with its sub-regions. Everything above this point is what crosses state lines.
North Dakota
4 sub-regionsDarkhouse spearing and bowfishing open on November 15 and run to March 15, and hook-and-line fishing is open all year, so the winter has few dates: unoccupied fish houses come off the ice by midnight on March 15, and licenses run to March 31. The 2026-28 rules took effect on April 1 and hold through this winter and next.
Read the North Dakota report
South Dakota
5 sub-regionsThis year's licenses run out on January 31 and next year's go on sale on December 15. Northern pike and catfish spearing opens on the Minnesota border waters on November 15 and runs to the last Sunday of February, and shelters come off those waters by March 5. Inland, pike and catfish may be speared all year except on a few listed lakes.
Read the South Dakota report
Nebraska
5 sub-regionsEvery permit runs out on December 31, and next year's carry new fees once the state approves them. On October 16 the Commission approved new statewide rules for Open Fields and Waters lakes and ponds, with no effective date yet; the 2027 fishing guide, due in January, will carry them. Spearing game fish through the ice is not allowed.
Read the Nebraska report
Kansas
3 sub-regionsThe trout permit season opens on December 1 on the type one and type two waters and runs to March 31, with stocking dates announced around the first of December, January and February. Blue catfish are new this year at ten a day, only one longer than 30 inches, and a 10-year senior license restored by the legislature could be on sale from November at the earliest.
Read the Kansas report
Oklahoma
6 sub-regionsGigs and spears open in rivers and streams on December 1, and Oklahoma City's Close To Home trout season runs from December through February. The Lake Texoma license and the paddlefish permit run out on December 31. Eufaula and Atoka crappie are now 20 a day, and several waters, all the Close To Home lakes among them, have no crappie limit.
Read the Oklahoma report
The weather and the water from November to February, most years
This part does not change from year to year, which is why it is worth reading before the forecast rather than after it.
- The weather
- Winter on the plains is wind and open sky. Arctic air pours south behind clippers and cold fronts with nothing in its way, so the cold arrives in hours and the wind does more than the thermometer: the Dakotas get long spells far below zero and ground blizzards, while Kansas and Oklahoma swing between hard freezes and mild, windy days. Freezing rain and ice storms are the hazard along the southern edge, and a warm southerly wind can bring a thaw to any part of the region in any month.
- The water
- The northern lakes and pothole basins freeze thick enough to carry towns of fish houses and pickups, while the Missouri River reservoirs freeze in their arms and bays and stay open below their dams. Farther south the reservoirs rarely freeze for long; they drop to winter pool and cool to one temperature from top to bottom, and the tailwaters below the big dams, from Garrison to Denison, run open and draw fish all season.
- How the quarter breaks
- It opens on the late autumn bite on the big reservoirs and first ice on the small northern lakes and sloughs. December to February is the heart of the ice season from the Dakotas into northern Nebraska, Devils Lake and the glacial lakes above all, while Kansas and Oklahoma fish open water for crappie, stripers and stocked trout. It closes with the first walleye drifting toward the tailwaters and river mouths, and with the ice at the south end of the ice belt going soft.
The moon from November to February
| Month | New moon | Full moon |
|---|---|---|
| November 2026 | Mon, Nov 9 | Tue, Nov 24 |
| December 2026 | Tue, Dec 8 | Wed, Dec 23 |
| January 2027 | Thu, Jan 7 | Fri, Jan 22 |
| February 2027 | Sat, Feb 6 | Sat, Feb 20 |
The U.S. Naval Observatory's dates, on local time.
What our engine expects on the lakes, the Missouri and the trout tailwaters
Everything above this point either happened or happens every winter. This part is a forecast for the two weeks from the date stamped below, scored by the same engine that runs the rest of this site: water temperature, wind, river flow, rain, pressure, cloud, air temperature, UV, humidity and solunar, weighted by species and by season.
A two-week stretch of Great Plains winter is a run of arctic fronts with thaws between them, and it reaches from ice on the Dakota lakes to open water in Oklahoma. The water temperature column identifies the source at each anchor: a thermometer reading, satellite analysis, or a labeled model. We withhold waters when the available reading does not represent them. Good hours counts the hours at or above a B-plus, which says how long a day holds.
This is a weather forecast, so it covers two weeks and not the season, and the further out a date sits the less it is worth. No forecast can say whether the ice will hold you, and none of these states measures it for anglers. We publish a grade, not a promise.
Engine outlook generated November 3, 2026, covering 24 waters.
What this report does not cover
- This is a seasonal guide, not a continuously updated field report. Its engine outlook covers only the dated two-week window. For current conditions use the reporters named in each state's section.
- Ice is not in this edition: it changes by the day, and from Nebraska south it may not come at all.
- Lake-by-lake limits are not printed; each state section gives the statewide limits, and many waters set their own.
- License prices are printed as read on October 20, and Nebraska's change with next year's permits.
Waters we are not grading in this outlook
Some waters that would otherwise appear in the outlook are left out of it, because the nearest water-temperature station sits on a different water. The ones held back are listed below, each with the station it was reading instead.
- Devils Lake (ND): nearest station is SHEYENNE R AB DEVILS LK STATE OUTLET NR FLORA, ND