N.D.'s fishing resources grew from a mere trickle.

By Craig McEwen
The Forum - 05/09/1999

 

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In the 1980s, Lake Sakakawea was known for its trophy walleyes. Gerry Rafftery, Forum fishing editor, caught and released an 11 1/2-pound walleye in 1988.

Never, in 100 years, would settlers have dreamed North Dakota would someday be known for its water-related recreational resources.

In 1900, fewer than 30 natural lakes existed. A handful of rivers - the Red, Missouri, Little Missouri, Souris, James and Sheyenne - provided most of the state's freshwater fishing habitat.

The tide changed in 1949 when a young South Dakota State University graduate named Dale Henegar was hired as North Dakota's first fisheries biologist.

His first assignment was to determine if fish even existed in North Dakota lakes. Only two of the 142 farm ponds he checked produced fish.

Henegar's primary job was to develop a state fishery. It was no small task, given that his budget consisted of the $15,000 raised by selling 50-cent fishing licenses to about 30,000 anglers in 1950.

"My salary was $175 a month and all the bullheads I could eat," said Henegar, who went on to become the state's game and fish commissioner in 1981. He retired in 1989 and lives in Bismarck.

Passage of the federal Dingell-Johnson Act in 1950, placing a 10 percent federal excise tax on fishing equipment, gave Henegar the funding to launch a state fisheries program.

Today, about 120,000 resident and 25,000 nonresident North Dakota fishing licenses are sold annually.

The Game and Fish Department's budget totals $30.5 million. Some 48,000 boats are registered in the state.

And, there's no lack of places to fish with 250 to 300 lakes now managed by the Game and Fish Department.

Building lakes

Completion of Garrison Dam on the Missouri River in 1954 created the state's largest body of water, the 178-mile long Lake Sakakawea.

Initially, the lake was stocked with northern pike. Sakakawea took on a new appearance as its shoreline began to erode and rock lines appeared. "It looked walleye to me," says Henegar

Northern pike thrived. Walleye and other species of game fish lacked a forage source required for growth.

Henegar decided to introduce smelt as a food source for other species of fish.

He shipped in 7,400 Lake Superior smelt, released them into Sakakawea, and proved his point within three years.

"Our walleyes nearly doubled in size," Henegar said.

Anglers pulled 700,000 pounds of walleye out of Sakakawea in 1977 earning it the title - "Walleye Capital of the World."

Chinook and coho salmon, lake trout, and smallmouth bass were also successfully planted into Sakakawea.

The smelt trick proved successful to the entire Missouri River basin producing a superb walleye fishery extending to South Dakota's Lake Oahe and beyond to the Nebraska border.

In 1979, more than 2 million walleye were harvested on the Missouri River by 150,000 fishermen who spent an estimated $40 million.

Alkali bed now hotspot

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During the 1950s, Henegar started eyeing Devils Lake - a saline lake that during this century has displayed a personality all its own.

Unleashed by nature from its quiet, shallow moorings, the once dry alkali bed swells to uncontrollable size. Geologists believe the phenomenon has occurred four times in the past 4,000 years.

The lake's water surface measured 120 square miles in 1883, when Captain E. E. Herman launched the Minnie H., a passenger steamer that operated on the lake each summer until 1908. For 35 years, big name bands performed chautaquas along a five-mile stretch of shoreline, south of the town of Devils Lake.

By 1925, the lake had shrunk to 50 square miles. In the 1930s the lake bed dried up, causing alkali storms.

"The water level of Devils Lake has dropped 45 feet during the past 100 years," the Associated Press reported in October 1950. "The city of Devils Lake is now five miles from the nearest shore. No game fish have been found in the lake for 60 years."

As the lake began to regenerate in the 1960s, Henegar introduced northern pike. Walleye and yellow perch were released into Devils Lake exhibiting stunted growth patterns. The natural existence of fresh-water shrimp provided a forage source that eventually produced a world-class fishery. In time, the lake was yielding two-pound perch, record walleye and northern pike.

Since 1993, the lake has quadrupled in size to 110,000 acres, flooding more than 70,000 acres of farmland and forcing the relocation or destruction of more than 400 homes. Devils Lake now threatens the community of Minnewaukan which, six years ago, was eight miles from the lake's shoreline.

Fishing continues to be tremendous, says Terry Steinwand, the state's current fisheries director.

"It's going to get even better," he says.

Man-made lakes

Statewide construction of smaller dams in the 1960s produced a system of 40 man-made lakes that Game and Fish Commissioner Russ Stuart sought to develop as a sport fishing resource.

Among them were Lake Tschida on the Heart River southwest of Mandan; Lake Ashtabula behind Bald Hill Dam, located 10 miles north of Valley City; and the Jamestown Reservoir at Jamestown.

In 1950, President Harry Truman named Lake Ashtabula, using an Indian word meaning "fish river."

The 25-mile long lake was opened to fishing on May 16, 1953, after a four-year fish stocking program.

The federal Wallop-Breaux program provided tax money to build boat ramps and fish rearing stations.

Henegar developed an aggressive fish stocking program, releasing trout into 52 North Dakota lakes during his tenure.

From 1949 to 1965, the number of people fishing North Dakota lakes doubled from 50,000 to 100,000 anglers.

More than fishing

Several rivers and lakes provide other sources of outdoor, water-based shoreline activities like camping, picnicking and trail activities.

Since 1996, 44 percent of those participating in recreational activities in North Dakota list boating/water skiing as their choice. Other water-related uses include: canoeing, 12 percent; camping (developed) 21 percent, (undeveloped) 35 percent; picknicking, 63 percent; biking paved trails, 32 percent, unpaved trails, 19 percent; walking/jogging paved trails, 41 percent, unpaved trails, 26 percent.

In 1996, 42 percent of North Dakota residents 18 years and older said they participated in one or more days of river associated recreation, according to a North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department survey.

Sailing, wind-surfing, water-skiing and Jet-skiing have become popular pastimes on several North Dakota lakes in recent decades.

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