By Doug Leier

The first time I felt safe enough to check the ice thickness was Thanksgiving weekend. It wasn’t safe yet at 1.5 inches. A week later and it still wasn’t.

 In early December we had 50-plus degree temperatures, making late season pheasant hunters and archery deer hunters smile. The ice anglers pumped their brakes and were frustrated having to wait even longer.

 The open water fishing in North Dakota in 2023 was record breaking according to Greg Power, fisheries division chief, and hard water anglers were eager to see if the winter fishing would stay hot.

 “It was incredible how many calls we got … a lot of positive things were said about the walleye fishing in North Dakota in 2023,” Power said. “And it wasn’t any one water, and that’s what was super neat about it. It was pretty much throughout the state, particularly our new walleye prairie lakes.”

 The big three — Sakakawea, Oahe and Devils Lake — again led the way with the most fishing activity.

 “Lake Sakakawea had another excellent year. Devils Lake was solid throughout summer and into fall, and Oahe was a little surprising, it was probably a little better than expected,” Power said.

 “The big three have been our mainstay walleye fisheries for 50 years. What makes them work is water, and we’ve had decent water. Oahe is a walleye factory. It’s our only truly self-sustaining walleye fishery in the state. So, there’s plenty of walleye all the time in Oahe. But Sakakawea has had excellent stocking results for the last 10-20 years and good natural reproduction. Same thing with Devils Lake. Just a lot of success in the stocking because we’ve got good water and good forage.”

 North Dakota’s prairie walleye waters, the mom-and-pop sloughs, lakes and ponds started off as pike and perch fisheries and expanded to walleye with a little help from a continued wet cycle and Game and Fish walleye stocking.

 “The history of our walleye stocking is the reason why we have these fisheries today,” Power said. “I should also note, though, what’s kind of cool is that in 2023, we’ve never documented so much natural reproduction in these new prairie lakes, and it’s substantial in some cases. So, it’s possible in a few years some of these lakes are going to be self-sustaining walleye fisheries, which is pretty impressive.”

 It all comes together with a fishing forecast which continues to add years onto our decades old saying “These are the good old days of fishing in North Dakota.”

 “From a fisheries biologist’s perspective, and we’ve said this for a very long time, we get a lot more excited when we see 8-inch walleye than 8-pound walleye because the 8-inch fish is the future. And we’re seeing a lot of that,” Power said. “As good as fishing is today, we still see a lot of younger year-classes coming up. In fact, Sakakawea, for example, had the second highest on record for young-of-the-year walleye this fall. The future … today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, probably for the next five plus years at least, our fishing in North Dakota looks really positive. As long as we have the water, I think the fish will be there.”

Leier is an outreach biologist with the North Dakota Game & Fish Department.

Featured Photo: Walleye numbers remain strong in North Dakota following continued stocking and lake management across the state. Simonson Photo.