This 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.
What to fish for in early November
South Dakota winters in three places: the glacial lakes of the northeast and the east, which lock up hard and give perch, walleye and bluegill through the ice; the big Missouri River reservoirs, whose arms freeze while the water below each dam stays open; and the Black Hills, where the tailwater and spring-fed trout water runs open all winter.
Yellow Perch
Bites in loose, roaming groups that a shelter has to chase across a lake, the bigger fish often over the drowned fields and fence lines of the risen lakes.
Where. Waubay, Bitter and Pickerel and the other glacial lakes around Webster, and Big Stone on the Minnesota line.
The yellow perch waters we forecast Water Usual water now Forecast Lake Madison about 44F Best Sat, Nov 7, C+Today's forecast Big Stone Lake about 44F Best Sun, Nov 8, B+Today's forecast Walleye
Holds in the current below the dams on open water and on the drop-offs of the glacial lakes under ice.
Where. The tailwaters below Oahe, Big Bend and Fort Randall dams, the frozen arms of the reservoirs, and the glacial lakes around Watertown and Madison.
The walleye waters we forecast Water Usual water now Forecast Waubay Lake about 42F Best Sun, Nov 8, BToday's forecast Lake Oahe about 45F Best Thu, Nov 5, AToday's forecast Northern Pike
Takes dead bait under tip-ups, and is speared from dark houses on the waters that allow it.
Where. The shallow, weedy glacial lakes and the reservoirs' backwater bays.
Bluegill
Bites steadily in the weeds under the ice of the eastern lakes, small jigs and waxworms doing most of the work.
Where. Lake Madison, Lake Herman and the other glacial lakes of the east-central prairie.
Brown Trout
The Black Hills' tailwater and spring-fed stretches stay open through the cold, and their browns and rainbows feed on midges in the slow water on the milder days.
Where. Rapid Creek below Pactola, Spearfish Creek in its canyon, and Pactola, Sheridan and Deerfield for the ice.
Usual water now is that water's normal for this point in the season: a lake's modeled seasonal curve or a river gauge's long-run average, not this year's reading. The forecast link reads this week's.
Ice in early November
From the middle dates of each lake's own ice record, not a call on this winter's ice. No date makes ice safe.
What changes soon
The next six weeks of this report's calendar for South Dakota.
- Sun November 15South Dakota's spearing season for northern pike and catfish opens on the Minnesota border waters, to the last Sunday of February.
- Tue December 15South Dakota's licenses for next year go on sale.
Every date for South Dakota from November to February (4)
- Sun November 15South Dakota's spearing season for northern pike and catfish opens on the Minnesota border waters, to the last Sunday of February.
- Tue December 15South Dakota's licenses for next year go on sale.
- Sun January 31This year's South Dakota licenses expire at the end of the day.
- Sun February 28Last day of South Dakota's spearing season on the Minnesota border waters.
This week's fishing reports
This report covers the season. For what was caught this week, read the people who report on this water.
South Dakota had no free winter reporter last winter. Game, Fish and Parks publishes no fishing report, and the one weekly report, Outdoor News's, comes as subscriber videos. The glacial lakes' best-known bait shop reports by phone, and the Missouri River reservoirs had no dated reporter that could be found.
Where to fish in South Dakota, area by area
Each water links to its live forecast. The engine outlook in these areas was generated November 3, 2026, for the 14 days from that date; good hours are the hours at or above a B+.
The glacial lakes
Waubay Lake · Bitter Lake · Pickerel Lake · Lake Kampeska · Lake Poinsett
The pothole lakes the glaciers left across the northeast around Webster, Waubay and Watertown, many of them grown over drowned fields and pasture in the wet decades, with perch, walleye and pike under the ice.
Who reports here. No written winter reporter could be found. Sportsman's Cove in Webster gives its report by phone, 605-345-2468, and Outdoor News's weekly South Dakota video, for subscribers, is the only regular report.
Engine outlook
- Best: Sun, Nov 8, B5 good hours46F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 4h
The Missouri River reservoirs
Lake Oahe · Lake Sharpe · Lake Francis Case · Lewis and Clark Lake
The four great reservoirs the Missouri forms across the state, Oahe above Pierre, Sharpe, Francis Case and Lewis and Clark at Yankton, long and deep in the main channel with wide arms and bays, and walleye the fish people come for.
Who reports here. No dated winter reporter for the reservoirs could be found at Pierre, Chamberlain or Yankton, and the local papers carried no fishing column that turned up.
Engine outlook
- Best: Thu, Nov 5, A9 good hours47F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 5h
The Black Hills
Pactola Reservoir · Sheridan Lake · Deerfield Lake · Rapid Creek · Spearfish Creek
The trout water of the Black Hills west of Rapid City, the reservoirs at Pactola, Sheridan and Deerfield, Rapid Creek below Pactola and Spearfish Creek in its canyon, where the tailwater and spring-fed stretches stay open through the winter.
Who reports here. Fly Fish SD in Rapid City posts a Black Hills report, but last winter its January and February posts were fly patterns, and the report came back on March 5.
Engine outlook
- Best: Sun, Nov 8, A9 good hours42F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 4h
The eastern lakes
Lake Madison · Lake Herman · Lake Thompson · Lake Vermillion · Big Sioux River
The glacial lakes of the east-central prairie around Madison, Brookings and Sioux Falls, Lake Madison, Lake Herman, Lake Thompson and Lake Vermillion among them, perch, walleye and bluegill water through the ice, with the Big Sioux running past Sioux Falls.
Who reports here. No dated winter report could be found for these lakes.
Engine outlook
- Best: Sat, Nov 7, C+7 good hours47F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 7h
Big Stone Lake, the South Dakota side
Big Stone Lake
The South Dakota shore of the long border lake at the head of the Minnesota River, from Big Stone City up past Hartford Beach, shared with Minnesota, a perch and walleye lake fished through the ice.
Who reports here. No dated winter report could be found for the lake on either side of the line.
Engine outlook
- Best: Sun, Nov 8, B+9 good hours48F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 9h
Ice
- Big Stone Lake: the ice usually goes out around Apr 6 (between Mar 26 and Apr 19 in 8 of 16 recorded springs, and Mar 26 in 2026).
The rules from November to February
Licenses, and which state's rules apply
- A license is good from December 15 before the year printed on it to January 31 after, so this year's runs out on January 31 and next year's goes on sale on December 15. Residents pay $31 ($17 at 65 and older) or $10 for a day; nonresidents $80, $45 for three days or $26 for a day. Anyone 18 or older also buys a habitat stamp, $10 for residents and $25 for nonresidents, except with a one-day license. Anglers under 18 need no license.
- On the Minnesota border waters a resident of either state fishes on that state's resident license, and anyone else needs either state's nonresident license, under the laws of the licensing state. On the Nebraska border waters, and on the Big Sioux with Iowa, either state's license is good, under whichever state's rules are stricter; just below Gavins Point Dam, anglers from neither state need a Nebraska permit.
Bait, gear and fish you cannot keep
- Two lines with up to three hooks each, a lure counting as one hook. Through the ice up to four lines, but only two on the Minnesota border waters.
Lakes, ponds and rivers
- Statewide daily limits: four walleye, only one of 20 inches or longer; six northern pike; five trout, salmon and splake; five bass; 15 yellow perch; 15 crappie; 15 sunfish; ten catfish. Muskellunge and tiger muskie are catch and release only.
Through the ice
- A house or shelter on the ice must show the owner's name and address outside in letters at least 2 inches tall, with a door that opens unless it is locked from outside while empty; a portable shelter taken off every day is exempt. On the Minnesota border waters every shelter is off by March 5, and after that removed daily.
- Northern pike and catfish may be speared all year on inland waters, except on a few listed lakes, and on the Minnesota border waters (not the Bois de Sioux) from November 15 to the last Sunday of February, from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.
Read on these agency pages: ARSD 41:06:02:01.04: License validity, ARSD 41:07:01:12: Fishing license fees, SDCL 41-6-85: Habitat stamp, SDCL 41-6-6: Fishing license not required, individuals under eighteen, ARSD 41:07:01:02: South Dakota-Minnesota reciprocal access agreement, ARSD 41:07:01:02.01: South Dakota-Nebraska reciprocal access agreement, ARSD 41:07:01:02.02: South Dakota-Iowa reciprocal access agreement, ARSD 41:07:01:08: Maximum number of hooks and lines allowed, ARSD 41:07:01:09: Additional lines allowed for ice fishing, SD GFP: Fish Harvest and Length Limits, SDCL 41-12-3: Labeling and access to fishing houses erected on ice, ARSD 41:07:01:16: Ice fishing shelter removal deadlines, ARSD 41:07:06:03: Areas open to spearing of game fish.
The season at a glance
What these months usually do
Each lake's own seasonal curve, the one the engine scores the lake on: what these dates usually do, modeled rather than measured, and not a forecast for this year.
| Water | Nov 1 | Dec 1 | Jan 1 | Feb 1 | Feb 28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Stone Lake | 45F | 37F | 35F | 35F | 35F |
| Lake Madison | 45F | 36F | 35F | 35F | 35F |
| Lake Oahe | 46F | 37F | 36F | 34F | 34F |
| Pactola Reservoir | 40F | 35F | 35F | 35F | 35F |
| Waubay Lake | 43F | 35F | 35F | 34F | 35F |
Ice, from each lake's own record
| Lake | Usually ices over | Usually opens |
|---|---|---|
| Big Stone LakeMinnesota DNR, 2010-11 to 2025-26 | not recorded | Apr 6Mar 26 to Apr 19 in 8 of 16Mar 26, 2026 |
The middle date across the winters each keeper recorded; under it, the range the middle half of those winters fell in, and the latest one. Each keeper defines ice-out its own way (completely free of ice, passable from one point to another, or 90 percent free of ice, as the Minnesota DNR puts it), so another source's date for the same lake can differ. What the ice usually does, not a call on this winter's. None of these dates means the ice is safe.
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.
Daylight in each area from November to February
Worked out for one place in each area, on its own clock.
| Area | Shortest day | Earliest sunset | Latest sunrise |
|---|---|---|---|
| The glacial lakesat Waubay Lake | 8h 43m, Dec 21 | 4:48pm, around Dec 10 | 8:11am, around Jan 2 |
| The Missouri River reservoirsat Lake Oahe | 8h 42m, Dec 21 | 5:00pm, around Dec 10 | 8:23am, around Jan 2 |
| The Black Hillsat Pactola Reservoir, on Mountain time | 8h 53m, Dec 21 | 4:17pm, around Dec 10 | 7:30am, around Jan 2 |
| The eastern lakesat Lake Madison | 8h 53m, Dec 21 | 4:52pm, around Dec 10 | 8:04am, around Jan 2 |
| Big Stone Lake, the South Dakota sideat Big Stone Lake | 8h 43m, Dec 21 | 4:45pm, around Dec 10 | 8:07am, around Jan 2 |