Fishing Options

I grew up with bluegills. When I was young, I would often get up early on summer mornings and quietly sneak out of our lake home down to the dock, always to be greeted by sunfish. Though bass were my main sight-fishing quarry, it was bluegill, with their curiosity and pet-like behavior, that passed the time and provided entertainment between marauding schools of bass.

Bluegills prefer the company of one another and typically congregate in schools from as few as three or four fish, to more than 50. They are largely insect eaters, though bigger fish occasionally will take small minnows. Larger fish can be found occasionally in open water suspended some distance from cover. During these times they are usually actively feeding on plankton. However, most often bluegills can be found in less than 6 feet of water near aquatic vegetation, particularly during the warm water period. It is here that they are most adapted as their laterally compressed bodies allow them unique maneuvering capabilities within weed beds where they find food, shade during the hottest days of summer and cover from predators such as pike and bass.

Bluegills (aka brim, sunfish, sunnies) typically don’t exceed 10 inches in length in North Dakota, but they are scrappers, and a mess of bluegills make fine table fare. Although, there aren’t a lot of lakes in the eastern half of the state that harbor just the right ingredients to make for prominent bluegill fisheries. Yet, as you travel west, bluegill fishing opportunities increase considerably.

Good bluegill lakes typically contain great amounts of aquatic insects, good water quality (lower salinities), with moderately high densities of vegetation. Additionally, a thermal refuge (with cover) during the cold winter months is important. Young bluegills are most vulnerable to a lack of any of the aforementioned and most of the young simply do not survive their first winter in North Dakota.

Where abundant, bluegills are one of the easiest freshwater fish to catch. An angle worm suspended on a hook below a bobber is one of the best presentations and has likely accounted for more bluegill than any other method. Simply put a worm (or just a piece) on a No. 10 hook attached to 6- to 8-pound test line with a split shot weight 2-3 inches below a small bobber. Cast near shore to pockets in weed beds, or a shady spot along the shoreline on a warm summer day. In winter, focus on deeper water, using a small, weighted hook tipped with a maggot or “spike.” Use light line (2- to 4-pound test) for easier deployment. Mornings are usually best in summer and afternoons during the winter.

- Brandon Kratz, district fisheries supervisor, Jamestown

Channel Catfish

Channel catfish are a riverine fish native to the Missouri and Red rivers in North Dakota. They are also common in some larger tributaries such as the Sheyenne River and Heart River. They have been stocked in many smaller lakes, especially community fisheries throughout North Dakota.

The Red River population gets the most attention as many very large catfish are caught there every year. The farther north you are, the better the fishing, with Drayton Dam being a popular spot in North Dakota. There is a daily limit of five with only one over 24 inches in the Red River. There are many catfish baits, but most anglers in the Red River use cut bait or live white sucker.

Catfish can be found everywhere in the Missouri River. The Garrison Dam Tailrace is a popular spot for catfishing and there aren’t many large catfish caught here, but you can catch them up to 10 pounds and you could easily catch over 100 a day from boat or shore. There is no limit to the number you can keep in the Missouri River. Popular and effective baits for catching catfish in the Tailrace are rainbow smelt or night crawlers.

The state record channel catfish isn’t from any of the native populations. That honor belongs to Moon Lake (Barnes County) where Tina Willis caught a 42-pound monster in 2009. Dickinson Reservoir is also known to produce 20-plus-pound catfish. Heart Butte Reservoir has abundant catfish up to 10 pounds and many community fisheries get stocked annually and provide shore-fishing opportunities for anglers of all ages. Catfish are aggressive, will bite on many baits and put up a good fight, which makes them a popular fish for these small lakes. Check the Game and Fish Department website for catfish stocking near you.

- Jeff Hendrickson, retired district fisheries supervisor, Dickinson

North Dakota is home to two crappie species. Populations of black crappie are most common and have a wider distribution than white crappie. Like other members of the sunfish family, males provide parental care to offspring. In May, mature males use their fins to make shallow circular nests, often in water less than 8 feet deep. After spawning, males provide protection to the eggs and newly hatched fry until they swim off to start their own lives. By winter, young-of-the-year can reach 3 inches in length.

Crappies are omnivores and feed on a wide variety of aquatic macroinvertebrates, small fish and even zooplankton. Fine comb-like projections attached to the gills, called rakers, filter zooplankton out of the water, providing a source of food.

North Dakota crappies will often reach lengths of 12 inches. Occasionally, larger fish, 14-17 inches, are present. It is not uncommon for crappies to reach 10 inches after four or five years. In some North Dakota waters, crappies have been reported to live 14 years.

North Dakota is near the northern extent of the black crappies’ continental range. It is not uncommon for young-of-the-year crappies to die in their first winter if subjected to a long period of extreme cold temperatures. However, crappies can be quite resilient to low oxygen conditions, which frequent some North Dakota lakes. Through dissolved oxygen monitoring, we have found that crappie populations can survive short durations of low oxygen stress.

Fishable crappie populations are found in many impoundments throughout the state. Commonly, in these waterbodies, crappies can be found congregated in schools suspended in the stream channel or relating to structure such as submerged trees and vegetation. Several natural lakes, especially in the southern half of the state, are also home to crappies.

Crappies are fun to catch and taste excellent. In spring, they can be targeted in shallow water during spawning. In summer, crappies can be found relating to structure or suspended. Electronics can aid greatly in locating crappie schools during the ice fishing season. Crappies are most active during low light periods of early morning and evening. A night bite can also be quite successful. Crappies can commonly be caught with a vertical presentation such as a small minnow beneath a bobber or jigging small plastics. A slow presentation with a small (1/16-ounce jig) and twister tail can be quite effective at times as well. Jamestown Reservoir has a robust crappie population and several public access locations, making it a good location to target these fish.

- Mike Johnson, district fisheries biologist, Jamestown

Walleye receive the most attention from North Dakota’s anglers by a wide margin. However, when looking at the entire United States, there is no denying largemouth bass are king; and with good reason.

Largemouth bass are widely distributed from coast to coast and border to border, making them a familiar species to many anglers. More importantly, they are known for powerful strikes, a fantastic fight that frequently clears the water’s surface, and can be caught with a multitude of techniques, from twitching top-waters, to deeply retrieved crankbaits and everything in between.

North Dakota lies along the northern range of largemouth bass, leading to slower growth rates and smaller maximum sizes in comparison to our more southerly neighbors. Many of our state’s natural lakes lack gravel bottoms that largemouth bass utilize to build nests for reproduction and/or have salinity levels that are too high for their eggs to survive. Despite these limitations, North Dakota has numerous quality largemouth bass fisheries spread throughout the state.

Nelson Lake in Oliver County is a powerplant cooling reservoir near Center that maintains much warmer water temperatures than other North Dakota water bodies. These warmer waters give the lake’s largemouth bass the opportunity to grow quickly and reach larger maximum sizes, including our current state record largemouth of 8 pounds, 8 ounces.

While the topic of largemouth bass fishing in North Dakota certainly begins with Nelson Lake, it definitely does not end there. Other excellent largemouth fisheries can be found, primarily in smaller impoundments.

- Paul Bailey, district fisheries supervisor, Bismarck

Muskie management in North Dakota would fall on the lower end of the scale when looking at the number of overall fish stocked compared to other species, such as walleye and northern pike. However, in several North Dakota lakes scattered around the state, muskie management has been occurring for many decades.

During the past two decades, both tiger and/or pure muskies have been stocked in 17 North Dakota waters. In recent years, Lake Audubon, Lake Ashtabula and Garrison Diversion Lakes (New Johns Lake and East Park Lake) have received the bulk of the stocked fish.

Most of the muskies stocked in North Dakota water bodies in recent years are tiger muskie. Tiger muskie are a cross between a female pure muskie and male northern pike and are usually unable to reproduce. Tigers are stocked in lakes where fisheries managers want to better control the number of fish in the system, since they typically can’t reproduce on their own.

For muskie to reach a large size, they need good-sized forage, such as cisco, white sucker or carp. In the right environment, muskie can grow fast and reach very large sizes compared to many other fish species in North Dakota. In Lake Audubon, cisco provide a good, larger-sized prey item. Larger reservoirs, such as Lake Audubon, have fairly deep, cool summer water that muskie can move to since they can’t tolerate very warm temperatures.

The current state record muskie was caught in New Johns Lake in 2007 and weighed 46 pounds, 8 ounces. Fishing regulations require a muskie to be 48 inches or longer for an angler to keep the fish and the daily limit is one. Anything less than 48 inches must be released, however, many avid musky anglers practice catch-and-release, even if the fish is over 48 inches long. Lakes that are managed for muskie are restricted from darkhouse spearfishing. The reason being that it could be difficult for spearers to tell the difference between a muskie and northern pike, especially in cloudy water.

The muskie has been an exciting addition to fishing opportunities in some North Dakota lakes. With the recent expansion of muskie opportunities, anglers don’t have to travel as far for a chance to catch one. I was fortunate enough to tie into a 45-inch muskie on light tackle, while casting crankbaits for smallmouth bass in Lake Audubon a while ago and found the experience to be exciting and one I won’t forget for a long time.

- Jason Lee, district fisheries supervisor, Riverdale

Smallmouth bass are members of the sunfish family, which in North Dakota also includes largemouth bass, rock bass, two species of crappie and several species of sunfish. Smallmouth bass are also commonly called “smallies” and most closely resemble largemouth bass but are distinguished by a more streamlined body, bared markings on the side, red eye and a mouth that does not extend beyond the eye.

Smallmouth bass are native to the upper and middle Mississippi River drainages but have been introduced to various waters in North Dakota and throughout the United States. While a very popular sportfish throughout much of their range, smallies fall far down the preference list among most North Dakota anglers.

Smallmouth bass generally prefer clearer waters, with an abundance of gravel, rock and boulder substrates. In North Dakota they are most abundant in larger reservoirs and streams with better water quality. Smallmouth bass are carnivorous and feed primarily on crayfish, insects and small fishes. They are aggressive and can be caught using a wide variety of techniques. They are also scrappy fighters, making them a very sporting fish to pursue.

In North Dakota, most smallmouth bass are caught incidentally by anglers targeting walleye and most techniques used for walleye work well for smallmouth. Additionally, at certain times of the year smallmouth readily take small topwater presentations, which is an especially exciting way to pursue them.

One of the great things about most smallmouth bass waters in North Dakota is that they are readily accessible to shore-bound anglers. Considering their affinity to rocks means they are often found near shore habitat along windblown rocky shorelines, rip-rapped areas near developments and lake access sites, bridge abutments and the faces of dams.

Management of smallmouth bass in North Dakota has reached a level of what could be considered “mature.” They have been introduced to most of our suitable water bodies over time. In many locations, smallmouth bass have done well and established good self-sustaining, natural reproducing populations. As such, the Game and Fish Department no longer has the need to produce smallmouth bass fingerlings for supplemental stocking.

While North Dakota has many high-quality smallmouth fisheries, relatively few anglers target them and even fewer harvest those that they catch. For example, creel surveys on Lake Sakakawea have shown that anglers release over 90% of all smallmouth bass they catch. Given our excellent populations and virtually no harvest of caught fish, we’ve been able to increase the daily limit of smallmouth bass allowed to anglers with no risk to the fisheries.

- Dave Fryda, Missouri River System supervisor, Riverdale

For many years, anglers fishing North Dakota waters have been fortunate to have excellent fishing for a variety of sportfish species, such as walleye, northern pike, yellow perch, trout, the list goes on. Of course, walleye, perch and pike get most of the attention, but the other species round out what are some very desirable and diverse fishing opportunities for all anglers. Now throw in the hard-fighting, beautiful trout species and you have the frosting on the cake.

Trout are not native to North Dakota and belong to the salmon family of fishes. Trout species are a coldwater sportfish species that are most comfortable in cooler waters, so they are most active and bite best in fall, winter and spring. Since trout species do not reproduce naturally in North Dakota, they are stocked annually in many of our lakes, rivers and reservoirs to provide more fishing opportunities.

As far as habitat types, trout are stocked in a large river like the Missouri as well as a small river like the Turtle. Trout are also stocked in natural lakes and smaller reservoirs, along with many community fishing ponds. Rainbow trout, brown trout and cutthroat trout have all been stocked in recent years. In 2021, rainbow trout were stocked in 56 different waters, compared to seven waters for brown trout and seven waters for cutthroat trout.

In some cases, trout stockings are on a put-and-take basis. Meaning: they are stocked to provide spring through fall fishing opportunities but likely will not overwinter due to winterkill caused by low dissolved oxygen levels. This applies to many of our community ponds and other shallow water bodies. Since trout are stocked at a larger size in the spring, they are immediately of catchable size. This bodes well for kids who ride their bikes to the pond for some fishing. Ryan Pond, North Woodhaven Pond, Dickinson Dike, Owls Pond, Little Britches Pond and Watford City Pond are examples of some community fishing ponds. Other trout stockings are in waters that can overwinter fish during less severe winters. Hooker and Strawberry lakes in the Turtle Mountains are good examples and can produce larger trout if they live 3-plus years. Sheep Creek, Blumhardt Dam and Northgate Dam are a sample of other waters that can overwinter trout at times. The Missouri River consistently produces the largest rainbow trout (and other trout species) with a fish over 17 pounds reported in 2021.

Rainbow trout have a special place in my fishing past. As a high school kid from Langdon in the 1970s, there were not a lot of fishing opportunities in the local area. Fortunately, Mt. Carmel Dam was constructed nearby and was stocked with rainbow trout. The fish grew rapidly and soon became beautiful 3- to 5-pound fish. My friend and I would wake up at 5 a.m. and drive there to fish for several hours. We would cast spinners from shore and caught many nice trout. I was very appreciative of the Game and Fish Department’s stocking program. These trout fishing experiences played a big part in deciding to go to college and study fish and wildlife management, which ultimately led to me becoming a long-time Department fisheries biologist.

- Randy Hiltner, district fisheries supervisor, Devils Lake

White bass are commonly known as temperate bass and includes species such as the white bass, yellow bass and striped bass. White bass are usually silver in color, with prominent black stripes along their sides, and their eyes are yellow.

White bass spawn in spring in the middle to upper part of the water column as opposed to many other fish that spawn on or near the bottom. White bass can breed prolifically, so populations can withstand harvest, which is partially why daily bag and possession limits in North Dakota and other states tend to be higher for white bass than some other fish species.

White bass can be found in Lake Oahe, Lake Sakakawea and Lake Audubon and the Yellowstone River. They can also be found in a few smaller waters including Lake Ashtabula, Bowman-Haley Dam, Buffalo Lake, Heart Butte Reservoir and Trenton Lake. The most famous white bass water in North Dakota is the Devils Lake system, which also includes Lake Irvine and Stump Lake.

White bass are not native to Devils Lake. The fish in that original stocking found Devils Lake to their liking, survived and reproduced. Devils Lake in particular has a history of producing large white bass in good numbers and is home to the current state record (4 pounds, 10 ounces) caught in 2012.

White bass are a predatory fish, so baits that mimic a small fish or some type of aquatic insect can be effective, as well as live bait, such as a minnow. When actively feeding, they often aren’t picky and strike most any lure small enough for them to eat. However, when they aren’t actively feeding, a more subtle approach, such as a minnow on a small hook, may tempt them into biting.

White bass are a schooling fish, so when one fish is caught, it is likely that more are in the area. On calm days, simply looking for a school of feeding white bass making ripples and splashes on the water’s surface can be a good tactic for locating fish. Fishing along wind-blown shorelines can also produce good catches.

For successful anglers, white bass can provide good table fare. They do have some red meat that can have a strong taste, but this can be easily trimmed from the fillets or left on the skin by “cheating” the fillet knife up above the skin a bit during filleting. The rest of the meat is white and flakey like many other fish and has good flavor.

- Todd Caspers, district fisheries biologist, Devils Lake