*Early* Open water watch 2025?

[lunkerslayer]

I'm not a fisheries biologist and am not familiar enough to give you specific lakes, but I know they're out there. My research tells me walleye may do better in running water due to constant temp, oxygenation, and water quality, but it's not a requirement for a spawning population.

No its not but it does produce better overall results when talking about success of a fishery, which is the reason why north dakota doesn't necessarily rely on a productive spawning season when it comes to stocking lakes each year. Again im only referring to devils lake which is mostly made up of mud flats with very little natural gravel beds

 

[lunkerslayer]

https://fishingminnesota.com/forums...yes-spawn-reproduce-in-a-small-body-of-water/

 

[wslayer]

They just "prefer" fresh water if available, it is not a must for spawning

 

[risingsun]

This will actually hurt devils lake because fish need running water to spawn.

 

[ND58201]

I could support a resolution on closing north dakota waters based on the amount of run off on any particular year on bodies of water like devils lake. Example would be like last years spring run off which was fantastic for a good hatch basing my opinion on a year like this one where there will be very little run off unless we get a some major snow storms that will be dumping significant precipitation. A year by year study which can only be studied if a season is closed, since its been many years since the dnr has shut down fishing during spawning season. I could be completely wrong since im only referring to devils lake and what i have read during the annual gill net survey based on year classes in relation to that previous year's annual water run off and stocking numbers.

We have a Game and Fish Dept not DNR.

 

[ND58201]

Every lake in Ne sodak and se nodak. Waubay specifically in Sodak.

Nearly all ND lakes have very little natural walleye reproduction and rely on stocking by the Game and Fish.

 

[Vollmer]

Nearly all ND lakes have very little natural walleye reproduction and rely on stocking by the Game and Fish.

This has always been my understanding as well.

 

[Slappy]

Where do they spawn in the hundreds of lakes with little to no running water?

They go through the motions but it's all for not unless water chemistry and temperature are right, which they're generally not on prairie pothole lakes.

 

[CatDaddy]

They go through the motions but it's all for not unless water chemistry and temperature are right, which they're generally not on prairie pothole lakes.

I was thinking more about MN lakes than ND potholes. Gravel and sand.....

 

[tikkalover]

An "armchair biologist," or more generally, "armchair theorizing," refers to someone who analyzes or synthesizes existing knowledge on a topic without engaging in primary research or data collection, often implying a lack of rigor or practical experience.