> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.sdnewswatch.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Efforts to bring walleye fisheries to Black Hills lakes falling short - URL: https://www.sdnewswatch.org/black-hills-lakes-walleye-fisheries/ - Published: 2026-11-13T10:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-13T10:00:00.000Z - Description: Despite more than 1.3 million being stocked, two targeted lakes have not generated a sustained population of the state's most coveted game fish. - Author: Bart Pfankuch - Tags: News/Investigations, Environment SHERIDAN LAKE, S.D. – Like many South Dakota anglers, Kyle Caudle of Rapid City heads to the Missouri River if he wants to specifically target walleyes, the hard-fighting, good-eating prey that are the official state fish of the Rushmore State. He could drive three hours to Pierre or travel an hour to Angostura or Belle Fourche reservoirs in western South Dakota but wishes he could find them closer to home. Caudle, a professor at South Dakota Mines, said he would love to fish for walleyes in his favorite Black Hills water body – scenic Sheridan Lake – but he has no confidence he could catch that species in the central Black Hills reservoir located 30 minutes from Rapid City. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cb/ab/cbabab5e-2dc6-462c-94a0-b72956c0d224/content/images/2026/11/2026-10-31-Sheridan-Caudle-dad-and-son-1.jpeg) Kyle Caudle and his son, Zachary, prepare to fish for trout on Sheridan Lake in the Black Hills of South Dakota on Oct. 31, 2026\. (Photo: Bart Pfankuch / South Dakota News Watch) "I know they put walleyes in here," Caudle said as he and his son, Zachary, launched their small aluminum boat at the marina on Sheridan Lake in late October. "I like to fish for walleyes and I caught one here once, but it was really thin and there wasn't any meat on it." The shortage of sizable walleyes in Sheridan Lake is not due to a lack of effort by state fishery managers. Fueled by public requests and a local petition, the South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department in 2017 embarked on a targeted effort to create sustainable walleye fisheries in two Black Hills lakes – Sheridan Lake north of Hill City and Stockade Lake on the southwestern edge of Custer State Park. But the time, effort and cost of the stocking programs has not resulted in development of a successful walleye fishery in either lake. GFP has stocked more than 1.2 million walleyes of various ages and sizes into Sheridan Lake and another 100,000 into the smaller Stockade Lake since 2017\. But nearly a decade later, reports from anglers like Caudle and scientific fish surveys conducted by GFP have shown that the stocking efforts have largely failed to generate self-sustaining populations of walleyes in either lake. "It's been a real struggle," said Jeremy Kientz, area fisheries supervisor for GFP. "We're still trying to crack the egg and figure out what works." ## Walleyes a cherished South Dakota game fish Sheridan and Stockade lakes are both generally friendly to anglers who want to drop a line and find ready success in catching trout or panfish. But in South Dakota, across the Midwest and into Canada, the walleye reigns supreme as a fun-to-catch fish that has firm white flesh that almost tastes sweet. Walleye remains an expensive but satisfying item to order at many restaurants, so catching the fish on your own and pan-frying or just cooking it in a tin foil packet brings a strong sense of satisfaction. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cb/ab/cbabab5e-2dc6-462c-94a0-b72956c0d224/content/images/2026/11/GFP-big-walleye-photo.JPG) Hilary Morrey, an employee of the South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department, holds a large walleye captured from the Missouri River. (Photo: Courtesy of South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks) The GFP stocking efforts in the Black Hills were designed to provide opportunities for walleye anglers closer to the Rapid City metro area and to generate new economic benefits for a wide range of area businesses. South Dakota's aggressive annual fish stocking program also includes trout, panfish and catfish. Since 2019, the state has stocked a total of 520 million fish of various ages and sizes, with 472 million (91%) of them walleyes. Most of the walleyes are raised at the Blue Dog State Fish Hatchery in Waubay, with some also produced at the Cleghorn Springs State Fish Hatchery in Rapid City. GFP doesn't track the costs of the walleye stocking in the Black Hills specifically, but the stockings have been part of an annual effort that costs the state from $2 million to $3.5 million per year. In 2025, the state stocked 53 million fish into lakes, rivers and streams at a cost of roughly $3.5 million. About 50 million of those fish were walleyes, according to the state's [fish stocking database](https://apps.sd.gov/GF56FisheriesReports/?ref=sdnewswatch.org). Stocking efforts have been made at Sheridan Lake since 1929, with rainbow and brook trout by far the dominant species delivered, according to state records. Since 2017, the GFP has stocked Sheridan Lake with 922,000 walleye fry, 55,000 walleye fingerlings, and 246,000 juvenile walleyes for a total of more than 1.2 million fish. About 1,500 adult walleyes were also stocked in Sheridan in 2023. Over that time period, GFP has dumped about 22,000 walleye fingerlings and added about 81,000 juvenile walleyes to Stockade Lake. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cb/ab/cbabab5e-2dc6-462c-94a0-b72956c0d224/content/images/2026/11/2026-10-28-GFP-Jeremy-Keitz.jpg) Jeremy Kientz, area fisheries supervisor for the South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department, at the Outdoor Campus West in Rapid City, S.D., on Oct. 28, 2026\. (Photo: Bart Pfankuch / South Dakota News Watch) GFP tracks stocking success through so-called creel surveys, in which they speak directly to anglers, and through gill netting, in which 80-foot nets are set in lakes to capture and count fish moving through in a single day. The 10-year gill net averages for walleyes in Stockade Lake was 0.44 fish per net, and was even lower at Sheridan Lake with only 0.17 fish per net, Kientz said. Those averages compare to roughly seven fish per net in Belle Fourche Reservoir and almost eight fish per net in Angostura Reservoir, Kientz said. Though they aren't certain, GFP officials believe the possible reasons for the lack of walleye success in Sheridan and Stockade lakes is likely due to high predation from other species of fish, heavy fishing pressure and the small size and lack of depth of the lakes, Kientz said. Interestingly, however, Kientz noted that gill nets in Sheridan and Stockade lakes in 2026 revealed the presence of some trophy fish among the small number of walleyes captured, with a 6-pound and 5-pound fish caught at Sheridan and a 6-pound and 7-pound fish captured in Stockade. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cb/ab/cbabab5e-2dc6-462c-94a0-b72956c0d224/content/images/2026/11/2026-10-31-Shericdan-offshore-boat-1.jpeg) An angler tries his hand at fishing in Sheridan Lake in the central Black Hills of South Dakota on Oct. 31, 2026\. (Photo: Bart Pfankuch / South Dakota News Watch) But those anomalies aren't enough to consider the effort a success when the hope was that anglers fishing Sheridan and Stockade lakes could expect to catch a limit of keeper walleyes during at least some visits to the lakes, Kientz said. ## Public pressure and a petition led to stocking plan Part of the push to begin walleye stocking in Black Hills lakes arose around 2016 from a petition signed by customers of The Rooster, a bait and tackle shop that has operated in Rapid City for 30 years. Owner Jeremy Cummings said anglers from the Rapid City area wanted a reliable walleye fishery that was a much shorter drive from their home compared to driving to Pierre or to Angostura or Belle Fourche reservoirs, the other prominent walleye lakes in west-central South Dakota. "People were like, 'Well, I want to run up to Sheridan after work and catch some walleyes,'" Cummings told News Watch. "You can only catch so many trout, so the idea was to get a little diversity into the system, including some catchable walleyes." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cb/ab/cbabab5e-2dc6-462c-94a0-b72956c0d224/content/images/2026/11/2026-10-29-Rooster-owner-Jeremy-Cummings.jpeg) Jeremy Cummings, owner of The Rooster bait shop in Rapid City, S.D., discusses state walleye stocking efforts while cleaning a minnow tank at the store on Oct. 29, 2026\. (Photo: Bart Pfankuch / South Dakota News Watch) Cummings said he hears only occasional reports from customers about a decent-sized walleye being caught in Sheridan. "There's a few nice ones in there, but it's really random when people catch them," he said. "The population hasn't established there like it should have after such a long time." ****Get free, fact-based South Dakota news and information** in a weekday email. No spam. Cancel any time. [Subscribe ](https://www.sdnewswatch.org/#/portal) Cummings, who took over the business from his father a couple years ago, said developing a sustainable walleye population in Sheridan or Stockade lakes would benefit anglers and the regional economy. "For gas stations, motels, restaurants, tackle shops, for everybody really, it would be huge," he said. "You just go to Pierre or Chamberlain and can see the benefit it has in those towns." ## GFP beginning to run out of patience Fish stocking is part art and part science, as stocking millions of recently hatched fry is inexpensive but carries a very high mortality rate, while adding fingerlings up to 3 inches long or juveniles as big as 8 inches is more costly but provides a greater chance of survival, Kientz said. The cost of fish and feed, use of limited hatchery space and continued expense of manpower involved in stocking Sheridan and Stockade lakes must be balanced against the need to provide fish for stocking at other water bodies across the state. That includes stocking of walleyes in the Missouri River and lakes in the Glacial Lakes Region in northeast South Dakota, where walleyes draw anglers and related spending in big numbers, Kientz said. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cb/ab/cbabab5e-2dc6-462c-94a0-b72956c0d224/content/images/2026/11/GFP-Blue-Dog-Hatchery-walleye-fry.png) Walleye fingerlings ready for lake stocking are shown at the Blue Dog Fish Hatchery in northeastern South Dakota. (Photo: Courtesy of South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks) "We said that we were going to try this. But the other side of it is that if we weren't putting those walleyes there, they could be going somewhere else where maybe they have a better chance of survival and a better chance of producing sizable fish that are actually going to get caught by anglers," he said. This year, the GFP made a large gambit when it dumped more than 610,000 walleye fry into Sheridan Lake in April and May and about 41,000 juvenile walleyes into Stockade Lake in June and September, agency records show. ****Double your impact.** One-time and recurring donations are matched through Dec. 31\. [See giving options and donate ](https://www.sdnewswatch.org/donate/) Kientz said the hope is that those recent efforts could give a boost to walleye production, though he once again is tempering his expectations for success. With a decade of attempts not paying off as hoped, Kientz said there is discussion within GFP that perhaps it is time to give up on stocking walleyes into Sheridan and Stockade lakes and focus on other efforts to maintain strong walleye populations in other state lakes and rivers. "Within our South Dakota system, we've tried every walleye product that we've got, and we've adjusted the numbers up and up," he said. "Those things haven't worked, so we are getting to the point where we've exhausted quite a few of the tools that that could tackle this project, and at some point, you just don't have any tools left to do the job." 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