Dickinson angler times it right for 16.39lb walleye, pending state record
By Nick Simonson
For Jared Shypkoski of Dickinson, his spring walleye adventures were already off to a great start after catching a personal best 31-inch fish on a trip to the Columbia River two weeks ago. However, he broke his personal walleye record and potentially that of North Dakota - pending review by the state’s Game & Fish Department (NDG&F) - on Sat. Mar. 13 on the Missouri River just above Lake Oahe, with a certified 16.39-pound walleye caught while trolling a Smithwick Perfect 10 stickbait in the shallows of the flow.
Perhaps the most amazing aspect of the feat, was that he predicted it just before making the move to the area where the fish was caught in the day’s waning sunlight.
“We packed up and picked up the kids and I told my buddy Tyler that was with, ‘Let’s go catch a state record,’ Shypkoski states with a laugh on his decision to move from his daytime fishing spot where they had been catching walleyes from 17-to-22 inches, “we were just joking around as we’re always talking about it down there, but if we were going to catch it we were going to catch it down there,” he continues, suggesting he knew of the opportunity for such a lunker in the area.
