NWT Starting the 2025 Season Next Week on Lake Sharpe in Pierre, SD

Springfield, Mo (April 16th, 2025) – The time has come that all of the top walleye anglers have been looking forward to, the start of the Bass Pro Shops & Cabela’s National Walleye Tour presented by Progressive. Next week, NWT anglers will be launching out of Downs Marina in Pierre, SD chasing down the dream of becoming an NWT tournament winner. Pro-Anglers will be fishing for a top prize of $15,000 and a 2025 Ranger 620FS boat package, while Co-Anglers will be competing for a higher champion’s prize of $10,000. This season, the NWT put more money back into paying the field, giving more anglers the chance to take home a check based on a 1-in-4 payout.

 

Looking ahead at Lake Pierre, the South Dakota lake is an excellent spot for walleye fishing, with a healthy population of walleyes and plenty of structure to target them. NWT anglers predict that trolling with spinners tipped with live bait or long-billed, deep-diving crankbaits. Casting live bait, jigs, worms, and spoons should also be effective. Lake Sharpe offers a lot of structure, points, flats, and ledges off the river channels. Although fish are predicted to be in the pre-spawn holding patterns, weights could be good for the anglers that can find feeding walleye and lock in that one bigger fish over 20” that is allowed in their sack.
Shimota Predicts a Spawn Tournament

“I’m excited to not only get the season going but also excited to go back to Lake Sharpe”, said the Ranger Boats Pro-Angler. “The last time there was a National Tour level event on Sharpe was way back in 2008 when the FLW Tour visited. I’m not even sure if guys like Hunter Nitti or Drake McCarthy or Eric McQuoid were even born yet but I was there fishing my Freshman season at the Tour level and I even notched my first Tour level top ten at that event!”

Bill, a seasoned Pro-Angler on the NWT is coming off a 2024 season where he finished 24th in Progressive Angler of the Year points and qualified for the NWT Championship last September on Lake Huron.
“Sharpe is a unique body of water that has basically 2 different eco-systems. You have the upper or northern 1/3 or so that is very river like with shallow water, good current and plenty of sand bars. The lower 2/3 is more lake like with deeper water and a lot of flooded timber. With that being said the entire pool makes for tricky navigation so anglers will have to really be careful as they explore unfamiliar territory. It is also unique in that the walleyes generally do not grow very large in that system. I’m not sure if it’s a forage thing or habitat thing, probably a combination of both but the majority of the walleyes are under the 20” line. But don’t be fooled because there are still some giants roaming around and it’s usually the guys that stumble into one of those that finish at the top on Sharpe. Another wildcard for this event will be the spawn. It’s looking like we will be there right when their annual rituals will be happening and that could mean a lot of here today gone tomorrow and also could mean a lot of fish will be more focused on reproducing than eating. It’s been hard to pack for this event because you just don’t know what you’ll be doing there to catch fish. With a river and lake type body of water you need to bring about everything you own. Either way it will be great to be in a boat chasing walleyes!”
 Nitro Boats Pro-Angler Brian Bjorkman Says Everyone Has a Chance…

 

“Always excited to start the season. Especially in the Dakotas. This is going to be a fun one. Lots of fish,” said Bjorkman who is coming off a Top-25 finish at the 2024 NWT Championship.

 

“The technology has come a long way since I was here in 2008. Can’t wait to start the season and break down the system and try and put the puzzle together. I’m assuming the weights will be tight and the key is going to be the overs and finding the pre spawn eyes and then making good decisions on what to keep. We are allowed 8 walleyes weighing are Top-5 with no culling. The timing might be just right. This place will allow you to fish how to want too. I plan on bringing everything”.
Sprengel Looking to Start the Year with Redemption

Former Progressive Angler of the Year Korey Sprengel is coming off an uncharacteristically tough year where he barely missed qualifying for the 2024 NWT Championship. In 2025 he’s looking for major redemption and making a run at accomplishing his second AOY title.

 

“One place I’ve never been to is Lake Sharpe”, said the Ranger Boats Pro-Angler. “I’ve been on both sides of it many times on the Missouri River but never Sharpe. Like a lot of the Missouri River I’m sure it fishes very similar. Although it is a smaller section of River for Missouri River standards it’s still almost 90 miles of River. I’m looking forward to figuring out different sections of River to get a pulse on where these fish are in there spawning stages. One thing is for sure the 621 Ranger and Mercury 400 will get a workout on this giant system”.

 

Fans wishing to catch all of the NWT action next week from Lake Sharpe in Pierre, SD are encouraged to come to the weigh-ins each day out of Steamboat Park. The weigh-ins will start each day at 3:15pm and is free for the whole family and open to the public. Fans and anglers will have the chance to meet the pros, get autographs, see big fish, and even capture a photo at the NWT media wall. Fans and anglers also wanting to catch extra tournament action are welcome to join NWT at each tournament competition day’s launch taking place out of Downs Marina each morning starting at 7:00am CT.

 

Those not being able to attend can watch the LIVE weigh-in through the link here on both Thursday and Friday starting at 3:15pm CT.