Dakota Recreation Report for Nov. 25, 2019

Outdoor notes:

*Ice is never completely safe. Avoid areas with vegetation, moving water, pressure ridges, and springs. Check conditions as you go along on the ice.

*Use caution with dogs when hunting around frozen wetlands for cuts from ice, breaking through, etc.

*Hunters must stay out of unharvested fields and don’t block trail access.

*N.D. darkhouse fishing season opens at ice-over.

*Nov. 25: Some major U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuges open for upland hunting. Check with refuge headquarters for information and special regulations if hunting is allowed.

*Nov. 29: Dove season closes.

*Nov. 29: Muzzleloader deer season opens.

Fishing:

*Devils Lake elevation, Nov. 19: 1,448.75 feet above mean sea level (MSL).

*Stump Lake elevation: 1,448.68 MSL.

*Lake Sakakawea elevation: 1,839.6 MSL; 48,500 cubic feet per second average (CFS) Garrison Dam daily releases.

*N.D. Game & Fish Dept. Dist. game wardens: No east-central, Devils Lake, or Missouri River System reports.

*Devils Lake, Ed’s Bait Shop, Devils Lake: Warm weather brought more anglers onto Bisbee, Dam, northern Devils Lake feeder lakes and around Channel A on Devils Lake but also creating unsafe ice conditions. Use extreme caution.

*Devils Lake, Lakeview Lodge, Minnewaukan: No activity as the lake transitions to ice. Main lake still open but bays icing over. However, they’re unsafe yet.

*Devils Lake, Woodland Resort, Devils Lake: Not much activity on Devils Lake yet as it transitions to ice fishing. Main lake has open water and no activity in the bays. Fair pike and walleye success on northern feeder lakes but walk-on access only and warm weather created dangerous conditions.

*Foster County area lakes, Dry Dock, Carrington: Area lakes remain quiet as anglers wait for ice-over.

*Jamestown Reservoir, Sooper Stop, Jamestown: More anglers walking onto area lakes with fair early season success. Use caution with warm weather and early ice.

*Lake Ashtabula, Ashtabula Crossing, Luverne: Limited activity yet as anglers wait for better ice.

*Lake Ashtabula, Bayshore, Valley City: Lake levels back down to normal fall elevation but warm weather created open water shorelines. Use caution along the shoreline when the lake re-freezes.

*Lake Sakakawea, Cenex Bait & Tackle, Garrison: Warm weather bringing some boat activity to Garrison, deTrobriand, and Douglas bays on the east end of Lake Sakakawea. No reports on success, though.

*Lake Sakakawea/Lake Audubon/Missouri River, Scott’s Bait and Tackle, Pick City: Missouri River continues producing walleye at night from both boat in the chutes and shore along the rocks and boat ramp using crankbaits. No reports of trout or salmon, however. Not much activity in the spillway with its faster current. No Lake Sakakawea reports.

Hunting:

*Deer: Hunters generally reporting fair to good success but standing corn continues to be a limiting factor in many areas.

*Predators: Hunters seeing fewer coyotes in the northwest.

*Upland: Hunters reporting seeing more pheasants in some areas where corn has been harvested but standing crops continue limiting activity and success in many areas.

*Waterfowl: Ducks and geese moved out of North Dakota with the exception of open water along the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, Lake Sakakawea, and the Missouri River below Garrison Dam where fair to good numbers of Canada geese remain. A few geese lingering on open water around the Valley City area but will move out quickly once everything ices over. I believe I would let my house and would like to know that for certain I double bacon cheeseburgerI’m With onion chips and pickle chipsAnd then what are your specials today

Numbers to know:

*N.D. Game and Fish Department, main Bismarck office: (701) 328-6300, website: (http://gf.nd.gov).

*N.D. Game and Fish Department, Devils Lake office: (701) 662-3617.

*N.D. Game & Fish Department, Jamestown office: (701) 253-6480.

*Report All Poachers: (800) 472-2121 or (701) 328-9921.