Peluso: fall walleyes are showing on the low Missouri near Bismarck

The Missouri River walleye run near Bismarck is early and skinny. Licensed North Dakota guide Mike Peluso’s Sept. 30, 2026 report in News Dakota, in the Dakota Edge Outdoors series, says fall fish are starting to arrive and are relating to current. The water is low. He writes that there are not many usable ramps on the flow near Bismarck right now, and that boaters need a careful trail once they are on the river.

He calls it an early indication, not a full bite, and says it should improve as the days go. Fish he cleaned that week had shad, young white bass, drum, and smelt in them. Depth, he writes, matters less than finding the current and the structure it is pushing against. Low water is opening spots that are not the usual ones. Jigs and minnows, and crankbaits, are what he says is working, and he expects that mix to hold until the river ices up.

This is the Bismarck river note. It is separate from his Sept. 9 Sakakawea report, when he was still waiting on the Garrison Dam cut and holding his Bismarck guide trips for Oct. 1.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: News Dakota — The Peluso Report: Walleyes Show in Low Flow (Mike Peluso, Sept. 30, 2026).