Dakota Recreation Report: April 6, 2020

Outdoor notes:

*Practice social distancing when visiting bait shops and businesses when getting outdoors.

*Ice conditions greatly deteriorating across North Dakota lakes. Avoid areas with vegetation, moving water, pressure ridges, and springs.

*North Dakota state park facilities, including vault toilets, restrooms, and visitor centers, remain closed to public use, although hiking trails are open. Please remember to implement social distancing.

*N.D. Game & Fish Dept. Wildlife Mgmt. Areas also open to public activities, although specific use regulations apply. Go to the Game & Fish Dept. website, (gfr.nd.gov) for information.

*Check with other public land managing agencies, such as the U.S. Forest Service, for potential Nat’l. Grassland campground closures

*April 11: Turkey season opens.

Fishing:

*Devils Lake elevation, March 30: 1,449.09 feet above mean sea level (MSL).

*Stump Lake elevation: 1,448.94 MSL.

*Lake Sakakawea elevation: 1,839.97 MSL; 23,000 cubic feet per second average (CFS) Garrison Dam daily releases.

*N.D. Game & Fish Dept. Dist. game wardens: No new reports from Devils Lake, north-central lakes, or the Missouri River System.

*Devils Lake, Ed’s Bait Shop, Devils Lake: Rapidly deteriorating ice conditions on Devils Lake. Open water along all of the bridges but little runoff yet. Limited activity with anglers waiting for open water shore-fishing opportunities.

*Devils Lake, Lakeview Lodge, Minnewaukan: No activity with rapidly deteriorating ice conditions.

*Devils Lake, West Bay Resort, Minnewaukan: Ice unstable with shore-fishing only recommended.

*Devils Lake, Woodland Resort, Devils Lake: Walk-on access at best on Devils Lake with quickly deteriorating conditions. Limited reports, however, with light activity.

*Foster County area lakes, Dry Dock, Carrington: Poor ice conditions at best and no activity.

*Jamestown Reservoir, Pioneer Bait & Tackle, Jamestown: Little activity and the river is low.

*Jamestown Reservoir, Sooper Stop, Jamestown: Look for little to no activity until shorelines open enough for open water shore-fishing.

*Lake Ashtabula, Ashtabula Crossing, Luverne: No new reports.

*Lake Ashtabula, Bayshore, Valley City: Ice conditions rapidly deteriorating with little to no activity.

*Lake Sakakawea, Cenex Bait & Tackle, Garrison: Ice conditions deteriorating on Lake Sakakawea. Use extreme caution if considering venturing out and watch for slushy conditions. Missouri River tailrace producing a mix of walleye, pike, catfish, and occasional ling from boats. Lake Audubon also has poor ice.

*Lake Sakakawea/Lake Audubon/Missouri River, Scott’s Bait and Tackle, Pick City: Missouri River tailrace remains good for jigging down river for walleye. Some catfish and occasional trout mixed in. Try 32-way swivels, plastics, or crankbaits in the chutes. OK shore success at night from the rocks. Also try the wing walls but remember to keep distances from people

*Lonetree WMA area lakes, Harvey: Warm weather creating extremely poor ice conditions throughout area lakes. No activity as anglers wait for open water.

*Spiritwood Lake, Sooper Stop, Jamestown: No reports.

Migration:

*Large numbers of light geese moving into Devils Lake and northeast N.D. as well as moving over central and north-central N.D. but a lot of birds aren’t staying for any length of time. Light goose hunters could expect another several days of movement with large numbers still around southern N.D. and moving up towards Chase Lake and Arrowwood NWRs. Movement could be fast, though, and start tailing off quickly. Most birds pushed past the Missouri River System late last week. Fast migration in the northwest with birds moving in but not staying for any length of time. Other birds are starting to move through, as well, with more robins, ducks, hawks, meadowlark, killdeer, etc.

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 and Fish Department, Jamestown office: (701) 253-6480.

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