We’ve seen it before. A few ice shelters can become a city literally overnight. Winter anglers travel from all over the state, some from a few states away, at the report of a hot walleye, perch or walleye bite.
Anglers wonder if the fishing can handle the pressure? I remember growing some hot perch was not policed by boundaries. That is correct. There was a time as recently as the mid-1980s when North Dakota did not have a daily perch limit.
Fast forward with more waters and limits and the fishing is even better. Coincidence? Probably not, but the return of the water had a lot more to do with the current state of the strong fishery in North Dakota.
The well-documented wet cycle that began in 1993 is largely to thank, and North Dakota Game and Fish Fisheries Chief Greg Power recently explained to Ron Wilson in North Dakota OUTDOORS magazine the reality of ice fishing to dispel some of the myths:
The influence that ice fishing has on annual fishing effort in North Dakota varies widely. If access, mainly due to heavy snow, is impeded, ice fishing can contribute only 5% to the overall fishing effort.
“But in the long term, 20 to 25 percent of our total annual fishing effort is ice fishing. Last winter it was about 25 percent,” Said the power. “That’s pretty substantial. And the great thing about ice fishing is that it provides access and fishing opportunities to waters that are often a little more difficult to get to during the summer.”
While the fall of 2022 turned into winter during deer season and the ice provided safe early ATV and foot access, the ice and cold turned into snow and lots of it. If history is any indication, excessive snow and extreme cold reach a point where anglers lose interest in fighting the drifts and succumbing to the cold. Too much of a good thing in some ways.
Fishing license sales in North Dakota initially dipped in 2022, but have since recovered and are nearing the five-year average. While we’ll know for sure after the licensing season ends on March 31, Power doesn’t expect license numbers to increase much further.
“As much as I would like that to happen, they have never done it in the past,” he said “As we’ve seen in the past, our fish license sales are really boosted in April and May, and we didn’t have very good weather last April and May. You just don’t pick up the slack you lost in the spring.”
As for spearfishing, the Game and Fish Department has allowed spearfishing in the state for more than 20 years, and Power said attention to the winter activity appears to be starting to wane.
“In the early 2000s there were only a handful of lakes open to spearfishing after dark and since then we’ve really liberalized the regulations,” he said. he said “Now, dark house spearfishing is basically allowed statewide for pike. We’re not really increasing the number of dark house participants, but the people who do still enjoy it and have a good time. Fishing Darkhouse’s underwater is driven by pike population and clear water. And if you don’t have that, it can really stifle the opportunity.”