Lake Thompson and surrounding eastern glacial lakes in South Dakota offer a great variety of fish and beautiful scenery. The lake has much structure: sunken stock dams, humps and bumps, sandbars, major points that feed into the lake providing shelter for walleye, crappie, perch, pike, and SM bass.
$25 per day discount on all multiple day bookings.
Offer applies to all eastern glacial lakes - July through October.
A client described it best - "Lake Thompson is like a box of chocolates." From walleye, perch, crappie, to sm bass. This lake usually takes off strong at the end of May and the bite stays strong all year long.
Local attractions include the Laura Ingalls Wilder pageant and the Ingalls homestead. In De Smet, SD you can tour the original homes and school of the Ingalls family. Bring the whole family!
The great thing about fishing Lake Thompson - when bad weather shows up, I can drive an hour south for some panfishing or drive west a couple hours to fish the Missouri River or drive up north to fish glacier lakes in the Clark area.
South Dakota Fishing Guide Service on beautiful Lake Thompson, South Dakota
Lake Thompson offers a great variety of fish and beautiful scenery. Roughly a 15,000 acre lake, originally a slough, but Thompson has much structure to the lake: sunken stock dams, humps and bumps, sandbars, major points that feed into the lake - structure, structure, structure. Only thing is South Dakota is a windy state, so boat control when fishing Lake Thompson is vital to staying on fish while presenting your presentation and many different presentations, for different times of the seasons. I'm typically a live bait guy, though I have pulled crank baits against water running current and early spring/May with great success. Lake Thompson has two major inlets that feed the lake.
Lake Thompson has four landings, but water levels down, the state landing and Jerry's landing are the ones I use depending on wind predictions for the day. All I can say how to fish Thompson, is to use the windy days to your advantage. I love the wind - it keeps most anglers off the lake. Obviously extreme winds, sometimes just ain't worth it. But 15-30 mph winds I welcome - drop blades & let her buck! Again, pending season. Drift socks and other tactics can slow you down to present jigs and other presentations in the spring. Bluffs and prairie grass surround this massive lake.
It's a lake with much forage: frogs, mayflies, creek chubs, minnows, perch and other insects as a tree line with submerged trees in the lake. Submerged stock dams, humps, sand bars, hidden points, submerged roads: Lots and lots of structure! The lake was even designated as a National Natural Landmark.
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