South Dakota's trout fishing lives almost entirely inside one small mountain range in the state's southwest corner. The Black Hills hold wild brown and brook trout in a handful of limestone-influenced creeks, and the GBIF records for the state reflect it: brown trout, brook trout and rainbow trout are all recorded, and browns are the second most recorded gamefish in South Dakota after common carp. Step outside the Hills and the state is prairie, and the fishing becomes walleye, pike, smallmouth, perch and catfish on the Missouri River reservoirs and the eastern glacial lakes. Both halves are real; neither is padding.
Rapid Creek below Pactola Reservoir
Rapid Creek is the biggest and most consistent trout stream in the Black Hills, and the reach below Pactola Dam behaves like a small tailwater: cold, steady releases, a USGS gauge that reports temperature, and wild brown trout that grow larger than the fish in the freestone creeks. The creek runs from Pactola down through Rapid City itself, and the town water fishes surprisingly well. Midges and small Blue-Winged Olives are the winter and early-spring game, caddis take over in late spring, and a hopper along the grassy banks in August is the easy way to find fish. Tippets get light here; the browns see plenty of flies. The stretch through Rapid City has been improved with habitat work and fishes better than most people expect of a river running past a Walmart.
Spearfish Creek and the northern Hills
Spearfish Creek drops through a canyon of limestone cliffs south of the town of Spearfish, and it is the prettiest trout water in the state. Wild browns and brook trout hold in fast pocket water, and Little Spearfish Creek above it is smaller and full of brookies that rise to anything. Both are gauged. Whitewood Creek, east of Lead, has recovered from its mining history and now holds trout; Boxelder Creek, north of Rapid City, is a small brown trout stream that fishes best in early summer. A 3- or 4-weight and a box of attractor dries covers the northern Hills: Royal Wulffs, Elk Hair Caddis and Parachute Adams in #14 to #16, with a Pheasant Tail dropper when nothing rises.
Castle Creek, Spring Creek and French Creek
Castle Creek below Deerfield Reservoir is a small tailwater with wild browns and stocked rainbows, and it holds its temperature through summer better than the freestone creeks. Spring Creek runs from Sheridan Lake down toward Rapid City and fishes well in the canyon reach. French Creek, in Custer State Park, is a brook trout and brown trout stream that gets more attention from bison than anglers. All three have USGS gauges. Pactola, Deerfield and Sheridan lakes hold trout and fish well from a float tube in spring with chironomids and leeches.
The Missouri River reservoirs
The Missouri is dammed four times across South Dakota, forming Lake Oahe, Lake Sharpe, Lake Francis Case and Lewis and Clark Lake. Walleye is the fish that built the towns of Pierre, Chamberlain and Mobridge, but for a fly rod the more approachable targets are smallmouth bass on the rocky points and riprap, northern pike in the back bays after ice-out, and white bass when they school on shad in late summer. A 7- or 8-weight, an intermediate line and Clouser Minnows in white, chartreuse and olive handle all three. The Cheyenne and Belle Fourche rivers, both gauged, drain the Hills into Oahe and hold catfish, smallmouth and, near the confluence, walleye.
Eastern glacial lakes and the James
Northeastern South Dakota is dotted with glacial lakes, and Lake Kampeska near Watertown is the gauged example of a type that runs to hundreds of waters. Yellow perch, walleye, northern pike, black crappie and bluegill are all recorded in the state, and the shallow lakes fish for pike and panfish on a fly from ice-out through June. The James River, slow and winding down the eastern side of the state, is channel catfish and pike water; the Big Sioux, along the Iowa border, holds smallmouth in its rockier reaches.
Before you go
Black Hills trout regulations vary creek by creek, Custer State Park has its own entrance and fishing requirements, and the Missouri reservoirs have their own rules. Check South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks for current seasons, limits and the stocking schedule. Watch the Rapid Creek temperature gauge in summer; when it climbs into the upper sixties, fish early or move up toward Pactola. For the state's full list of gauged waters see the South Dakota fishing hub, and for the trout-only picture see the South Dakota trout page.