Walleye Tagging Studies at Sakakawea, Alkaline

North Dakota Game and Fish Department fisheries personnel recently tagged approximately 3,000 walleyes in Lake Sakakawea - 1,000 each in the upper, middle and lower regions of the lake.

Managers plan to continue tagging 3,000 walleye from Lake Sakakawea each year through 2022. This four-year study is aimed to help fisheries biologists assess walleye harvest by size, natural mortality, angling mortality and movements.

In addition to Sakakawea, crews tagged approximately 2,000 walleyes at Alkaline Lake in Kidder County. This one-year study will enhance the understanding of the proportion of fish that anglers harvest each year from Alkaline Lake.

Anglers who catch a tagged fish are encouraged to treat the fish like any other. Whether keeping or releasing the fish, anglers are asked to report tagged fish at the Game and Fish website, gf.nd.gov. If the fish is released, anglers are reminded not to remove the tag.

Signs posted around these lakes with ongoing tagging studies feature a QR code that will take anglers directly to the tagged fish report page on the department’s website.