Pactola Reservoir, in the Black Hills

[John Kelley]

I took advantage of the New Year's holiday, and took a couple of days of vacation to head west 350 miles or so, to ice fish the only lake in South Dakota that has lake trout.  My friend Mike decided to head out there with me, and so, with my brand new insulated Frabill shack packed in the back, we headed to Rapid City. Mike had never caught a trout before, and I was hoping to put him on some big ones.  The first morning the ice looked fairly solid, with about 4 inches of solid ice, as we slowly made our way out onto the lake.  I drilled the outside line holes, and started setting up the 4 outside rods and holders.  I think I was on the 3rd one when Mike yelled that we had a bobber down.  I ran over to the hole he was at, monitored the situation for a couple of seconds, and told him to set the hook.  Mike fought the fish for about 10 minutes, with me hollering directions at him the whole time.  We finally iced about a 14 pound laker, and Mike was all grins.  I thought we would really slam them that day, with quick action like that right off the bat.  It never happened.  We caught 2 nice rainbows to accompany that lake trout, the first day.  The temperature got up to about 39 degrees F, as well, and the ice started to get really dark and rotten looking!  The next morning a huge cold front blew through, and we towed my shack to a different spot, which was about a mile or more away by foot.  The cold front added some inches to the ice, but shut the fishing right down.  We got blanked on Saturday, with a high of about 5 degrees F.  That night it got really cold, so we decided to head out to the original spot we fished the first day, and where we had at least hooked up with a few fish.  Sunday proved to be the coldest day of all, with a high of -8 out on the ice.  We decided to just fish through the shack, and actually did quite a bit better that day.  We caught two smaller lakers, 5 rainbows, and a brown trout.  We also missed one fish, that seemed like a decent lake trout.  Here are some pics of the lake and a few fish.  Thanks.

Edited January 8, 2015 by John Kelley

[Guppy35]

awesome pictures, nice job!  Looks like you had the whole lake to yourselves too.

[John Kelley]

Yeah we did, that was the best part! 

[Sk8man]

John, I have to hand it to you you're "hardcore" man....   great pics and results... it really puts me in the mood as the ice is forming up pretty good today here. I will probably have to settle for perch though and only a potential "accident" would lead to the nice trout you encountered. NIce going! Looks as though you've fully made the adaptation to leaving NYS   best oif luck for the rest of the season. Les

Edited January 8, 2015 by Sk8man

[John Kelley]

Thanks Les, wish I was back there, though.  Really miss those big salmon!! 

[bettieanne]

Awsome job! Thanks for sharing those pics

[Xxx]

Wow that's some beautiful country out there!! You are a blessed sole to be able to fish these beautiful places on Mother Earth, with the compliment of great fishing. I hope you can continue to do these adventures for many years to come. What a great experience. Thanks for sharing!!!!!

[John Kelley]

Wow that's some beautiful country out there!! You are a blessed sole to be able to fish these beautiful places on Mother Earth, with the compliment of great fishing. I hope you can continue to do these adventures for many years to come. What a great experience. Thanks for sharing!!!!!

Thank you Pap, and I intend to do just that!!