New boat ramp installed at North Lake Washington

In the eastern part of Eddy County, about 6 miles south of Warwick, you can find a quiet little space known as Lake Washington Wildlife Management Area. With over 910 acres of mixed woodland prairie, Lake Washington is lush with birds and abundant with wildlife. The lake, known as North Lake Washington, encompasses nearly 650 acres and offers 7.3 miles of shoreline.

North Lake Washington is what is known as an "up and coming fishery." In recent years, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department has stocked tens of thousands of yellow perch and walleye. Those who have fished the lake reported catching walleye up 14-18 inches, but also noted the perch are still too small to be harvested.

With an eye to the future, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department has completed construction of an entrance road, parking lot and launch site for a new boat ramp. This ramp is just one of the 8-10 ramps the Game and Fish Department installs per year.

"The construction is the easy part," says Fisheries Project Development Manager Wes Erdle, "The most difficult and time-consuming portion happens before any dirt gets moved." When a lake gets identified as an up and coming fishery, Erdle and his crew hit the water. "We go onto the lake to look for a suitable site," he says, "which entails a proper slope in the water and terrain above the waterline that we can work with." They also have to consider proximity to a local township or county roads, as well as negotiating easements with private landowners.

Erdle says the construction of a boat ramp such as this takes 3 to 4 weeks, including the drying time. In a video interview with "North Dakota Outdoors," Erdle elaborated on the process, "It has been an ongoing task, as crews have to prep the underwater bed as well, removing big boulders and trees as well as preparing the slope to a 12% grade."

The crew installed the boat ramp using a method in which they set the concrete forms up above the water, and then using heavy equipment, push the ramp in place. Other options include a sliding steel section for more temporary launch sites. So rest assured this concrete boat ramp is here to stay.

The new boat launch is located at 87th ave NE on the northwest portion of the lake.