Jamestown Sun
Dakota Recreation Report
Nov. 23, 2012
Patricia Stockdill
Outdoor Notes:
Sunday: Deer gun season closes.
Sunday: Zone 1 mountain lion late season opens, including pursuit with dogs.
Monday: N.D. Game & Fish Dept. public advisory board meeting, Game & Fish office, 100 N. Bismarck Expressway, 7 p.m.
Monday: N.D. Game & Fish Dept. public advisory board meeting, 110 Main St., Sheyenne, 7 p.m.
Monday: Arrowwood, Audubon, Des Lacs, J. Clark Salyer, Lake Alice, Lake Zahl, Long Lake, Lostwood, Tewaukon (pheasants only) and Upper Souris Nat’l. Wildlife Refuges open for upland game bird hunting. Contact refuges for special regulations and closed areas.
Tuesday: N.D. Game & Fish Dept. public advisory board meeting, Hankinson Community Club, 7 p.m.
Thursday: N.D. Game & Fish Dept. advisory board meeting, Gladstone Inn, Jamestown, 7 p.m.
Nov. 30: Deer muzzleloader season opens.
Dec. 1: Future of Hunting in North Dakota conference, 8 a.m., Doublewood Inn, Bismarck.
Dec. 1: Darkhouse spearing opens. See regulations for list of closed lakes.
Fishing:
Devils Lake elevation, Nov. 21: 1,451.35 feet above mean sea level (MSL).
Stump Lake elevation, Nov. 21: 1,451.32 MSL.
Lake Sakakawea elevation, Nov. 21: 1,830.8 MSL; 22,000 cubic feet per second average (CFS) Garrison Dam daily releases.
N.D. Game & Fish Dept. Dist. game wardens: Unsafe ice conditions remain on area lakes yet. A few anglers braving the back bays on the east end of Lake Audubon. Beware of ice conditions with warm weather.
Devils Lake, Ed’s Bait & Tackle, Devils Lake: A few boats going out around the bridges using jigs and minnows for walleye. Some ice fishing activity on small lakes north of Devils Lake.
Devils Lake, West Bay Resort, Minnewaukan: No reports with limited activity.
Devils Lake, Woodland Resort, Creel Bay, Devils Lake: Main lake still has open water but limited boat activity. Those going are finding good walleye success but the window of opportunity for boat fishing is closing.
Jamestown Reservoir, Dan’s Sooper Stop, Jamestown: Limited reports with ice conditions unsafe for access yet.
Jamestown Reservoir, Pioneer Bait Shop, Jamestown: No reports.
Lake Ashtabula, Bayshore, Valley City: Lake iced over but no ice fishing activity yet.
Lake Sakakawea, Cenex Bait & Tackle, Garrison: Lake Sakakawea and Lake Audubon remain quiet. No reports from the Missouri River.
Lake Sakakawea, Scott’s Bait & Tackle, Pick City: Continued success on the Missouri River from both boat and shore. Try live bait or plastics anchored and jigging down river or 3-way swivels in the chutes. Shore-fishing OK during the day with better success in morning and evening. Crankbaits continue providing the best success. Overall fair success. No reports from Lake Sakakawea.
Lonetree WMA area lakes, Harvey: No reports.
Missouri River, Dakota Tackle, Bismarck: Missouri River tailrace spotty.
Pipestem Reservoir, Dan’s Sooper Stop, Jamestown: Little activity.
Pipestem Reservoir, Pioneer Bait Shop, Jamestown: No reports.
Red River, River Keepers, Fargo: 14- to 16-inch walleye being caught off shore in the Wahpeton area using minnows. No reports from the Fargo area.
Spiritwood Lake, Dan’s Sooper Stop, Jamestown: No reports.
Spiritwood Lake, Pioneer Bait Shop, Jamestown: No activity yet.
Hunting:
N.D. Game & Fish Dept. game wardens: Slower deer activity in southeastern and south-central N.D. with better weather creating better hunting conditions but making the deer less active during the day. Spotty deer numbers from Richland, Ransom and Sargent counties with better reports from Cass County and northern Barnes, southern Griggs and Steele and Trail counties. Waterfowl hunters still seeing good flocks of migrating ducks and geese along the N.D.-S.D. border in Dickey, Sargent and Ransom counties. With no snow and open water on larger wetlands and lakes, hunters using decoys in harvested cornfields are finding some success. Setting up over open water could also still work. Devils Lake Basin lost most of their ducks but some divers were still on the lake’s bigger bays earlier in the week. Pheasant success remains spotty with birds in in lighter cover of CRP or in CRP edges and light slough grass. Most waterfowl moved out of east-central N.D.
Arrowwood NWR, Pingree: About 1,000 mallards hanging on and around the refuge with some Canada geese scattered in the area. Fair goose numbers and a few mallards in the northwest corner of Barnes County down to the Eckelson area. About 1,000 Canada geese with a few snows mixed in on the Jamestown Reservoir. The question for hunting over water is if hunters can retrieve birds that fall on the thin ice.
Lonetree WMA, Harvey: Waterfowl moved out of Sheridan and Wells counties. Deer hunters experiencing good success the second weekend with mild weather and most row crops harvested. Fair pheasant success. Birds are concentrated in areas with adequate cover.
Northeast N.D.: A few divers remain on Devils Lake but limited, at best, hunting activity. Overall slow to fair deer success.
Sand Lake NWR, S.D.: Waterfowl numbers declining on the refuge over the past week with about 7,800 Canada geese, 4,000 snow geese and about 30,000 ducks in the area. Most lakes iced over, although recent warm weather opened some up again.
Southeast N.D.: Some waterfowl still in the area on bigger water bodies. Fair deer success.
West-central N.D.: Continued good Canada goose numbers remain throughout the area. OK deer success. Pheasants are starting to get a little spooky.
Numbers to know:
N.D. Game & Fish Department, main Bismarck office: 328-6300; website: (http://gf.nd.gov).
N.D. Game & Fish Department, Jamestown office: 253-6480.
RAP, Report All Poachers: (800) 472-2121.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Bismarck, website: (www.fws.gov/northdakotafieldoffice).
More from around the web
RSS Feeds