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Fishing
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| North Dakota Tourism/Jason Lindsey |
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Fishing is good, but let's be honest. Every one of us would rather be catching. Fortunately, North Dakota is famous for its productive fisheries. Our plentiful lakes and rivers are teeming with game fish like northern pike, walleye, perch, trout and bass. Water levels, species diversity, fish sizes and populations are up. So, if you're up for more action, more trophy catches and more fun, North Dakota is your fishing hotspot.
For a listing of registered fishing guides, please visit the North Dakota Professional Guides and Outfitters Association Web site.
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North Dakota Fishing Waters
The Missouri River System
The Missouri River stretches across a good chunk of North Dakota and features four bodies of water that provide their own characteristics and fishing qualities. The four distinct areas are the Upper Missouri River, Lake Sakakawea, Central Missouri River and Lake Oahe.
The Upper Missouri River
The Missouri River enters North Dakota from Montana just west of Williston. The free-flowing river offers a good setting for sauger in the spring and fall. And at the western reaches of the river in North Dakota, anglers can find one of the better spots in the country to snag a giant paddlefish in late spring. They also can come across northern pike and catfish in this area.
Lake Sakakawea
The lake, named for the American Indian woman who helps guide Lewis & Clark 200 years ago, is the third-largest manmade lake in the United States. It's filled by the Missouri River and contained by the Garrison Dam, the country's fifth largest. This huge lake, which features more shoreline than the state of California, is home to numerous types of fish. Walleye is the most popular catch, but anglers can reel in northern pike weighing more than 20 pounds, Chinook salmon, small-mouth bass, yellow perch, crappie and sauger.
Central Missouri River
Water leaving Garrison Dam flows south in the Missouri River until it reaches Lake Oahe near the North Dakota-South Dakota state line. The stretch of river is home to nationally renowned walleye fishing. And just south of Garrison Dam is an area known as the Tailrace, which is home to state records for Chinook salmon, brown trout, rainbow trout and cutthroat trout that were caught within 20 miles downstream of the dam.
Lake Oahe
This lake stretches from Pierre, S.D. into extreme south-central North Dakota. Anglers can find walleye and northern pike in this area, but there's also crappie, catfish and white bass swimming around.
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Devils Lake
This is the state's largest natural body of water, and it continues to get bigger. The 100,000-acre lake has tripled in size since 1992, and fish populations have kept up with the expanding water size. You'll find northern pike, walleye, white bass and crappie, to name a few. Outstanding open water walleye and perch fishing in the warmer months continues to get better, and the lake remainds popular for ice fishing. Devils Lake is a world-renowned yellow perch fishery.
Red River of the North
The winding Red River of the North forms the boundary between Minnesota and North Dakota, but it creates one long recreational play-ground for citizens of both states. The river provides canoeing, boating and fishing opportunities year-round, although spring floods sometimes create hazardous conditions before the river returns to its normal, slow, meandering flow in to Canada. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has online maps that detail access points along the length of the river.
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