BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - North Dakota’s Game and Fish Department says fall fish surveys indicate a good smelt reproduction in Lake Sakakawea this year.
Fisheries Management Section Leader Scott Gangl says officials found a lot of young smelt in the stomachs of game fish.
The Missouri River reservoir is still recovering from the 2011 flood, which flushed away millions of smelt.
Fisheries biologists this year also sampled gizzard shad at all sites from the Garrison Dam to Lake Oahe. Gangl says shad in Oahe were at their highest levels since 2008, but forage is still lacking overall.
The surveys found relative good numbers of walleye in Sakakawea and a strong year class of walleye in Oahe. The Devils Lake basin had good catches of young-of-the-year walleye. Statewide, smaller lakes showed various levels of success.
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