North Dakota Fishing News

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department has verified a recent catch of a silver carp by an angler fishing the James River near LaMoure. Silver carp, an exotic species, are well established in the lower Missouri River and in the James River in South Dakota. This is the first report of this aquatic nuisance species in North Dakota waters.

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department has confirmed zebra mussel veligers were recently found in the southern Red River in the same vicinity where they were discovered last year.
The zebra mussel veliger, a microscopic free-swimming (young) stage, was originally found in a plankton sample taken at Kidder Dam in Wahpeton in June 2010. Sampling efforts conducted twice in the past month found veligers in the area on both occasions. Additional zebra mussel veligers were found in the lower Otter Tail River at Breckenridge, Minn.

Devils Lake, ND-A storybook finish lifted David Harmon and Scott Busteed to victory against 228 anglers from nine states competing on mighty Devils Lake to win top honors across the board in the Cabela's Masters Walleye Circuit-Devils Lake Chamber of Commerce Dual Tournament.

North Dakota anglers are reminded of regulations intended to reduce the risk of aquatic nuisance species transfer between water bodies.
Current law states all water must be drained from watercraft prior to leaving a water body, including livewells. This means fish, including bait, cannot be transported in a livewell containing water. However, bait buckets and/or any container of five gallons or less in volume can be used to transport legal live baitfish and other bait in water. All other fish species, including game fish, may not be held in water and/or transported in bait buckets/containers when away from a water body. Transportation of fish in or on ice is allowed.

Five boating access sites are now usable on Devils Lake, and three more are expected to be ready by early summer.
North Dakota Game and Fish Department personnel completed installing a slide-in metal ramp at Pelican Lake on the north side of Highway 19, about one mile east of the junction of old Highway 281.

High water levels on the Missouri River will likely influence recreational activity for at least the next couple of months.

In addition to reduced boat launching access and inundated sandbars, State Game and Fish Department officials have received numerous calls in the last week from Missouri River shoreline landowners in the Bismarck-Mandan area who are concerned about boating traffic on the river and the potential for creating large waves on the shoreline.

A new boating access site on the southeast side of Devils Lake, along with several other access sites around the lake, are being worked on and should be ready for activity by early summer, according to Bob Frohlich, fisheries development supervisor for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department announced today that the state's 2011 paddlefish snagging harvest season has been closed to protect the paddlefish population level.

The 2010-12 fishing proclamation allows for the Game and Fish Department director to close the snagging season early if it appears more than 1,000 paddlefish will be harvested. If the season had remained open through the intended closing date of May 31, the harvest cap of 1,000 fish would have been exceeded substantially, putting additional pressure on the existing population.

About a dozen navigation light structures in place along Lake Sakakawea’s shoreline for decades are scheduled for removal over the next 12-18 months as they become inoperable.
Designed to serve as navigational aids, these beacons no longer serve their original purpose. Wave and ice action have greatly eroded many of the foundations of the light beacons, and proper operation and maintenance is difficult to justify, given the electronic aids that most boaters have in cellular phones and global positioning systems.

Boat owners are reminded that 2011 is the first year of the new three-year registration period. All boat registrations with an orange decal expired Dec. 31, 2010.
The new registration cycle runs through Dec. 31, 2013. New blue and white boat validation stickers have the expiration year of 13 prominently readable in the middle of the sticker.