The Decline of Devils Lake

[bigv]

If you can overfish a lake the size of DL....you have a serious pressure problem. We are starting to see it here in northeast SD. Soooo many guides now. Everyone with a minnow bucket and a pole are guiding and they're taking ALL size fish out. I've seen their pics. Its bad. It went to the state to make guides have licenses, ins etc and failed. So we have a million guides in a small area. I saw an ad for a guide on FB and had a pail full of 6 inch bluegills. The pressure is relentless. It won't stop until the fish are gone...and that WILL happen. Regulations are important. People need to not be short sighted. They are happy now cuz fishing is good but what will they say in 7 years when they can't find a fish anywhere. Then they'll bitch again. I fished Rainy Lake years ago. I liked their regs. If I remember right....one fish over 28. Nothing between 17-25 cuz main spawners. (walleyes that is) The pressure will not stop until the fishing takes a dive and.....it will.

 

[Kurtr]

And the local GUIDES go out day after day after day, and if anyone is limiting they are. How much you wanna bet the guides and deckhands' limit is counted everyday also. Once a guide in Mobridge had the nerve to say something to my brother, who lauched a 12 am boat from shore and tied to a pillar. It was up the Grand in the fall, and limits were easy. Now you tell me, who's harder on the resource, ONE guy catching less than 10 limits in the fall or a FKN guide who takes multiple people out daily!

We both know plenty of local people here that go out and double dip alot. I dont think many guides take there limit as thats more fish to clean and then they cant even send them home with people as they are over the possession limit. The fishing pressure on a lake the size of oahe is one of if not the smallest factors on fish. Water levels and forage are the top. The lake is getting old and silted in and thats why walleyes are not naturally spawning like they used to. The last two years look at the stocking reports and the gfp has dumped millions of fry in the north end of the lake with the goal of supplementing the spawn and trying to get fish to imprint and stay up north. Thats also the reason they put a pile of shad in this fall to make sure the fish had plenty of feed

 

[savage270]

What other public resource can an average ND citizen profit off of ? provide list

State school land rental and state owned minerals come to mind.

 

[Kurtr]

If you can overfish a lake the size of DL....you have a serious pressure problem. We are starting to see it here in northeast SD. Soooo many guides now. Everyone with a minnow bucket and a pole are guiding and they're taking ALL size fish out. I've seen their pics. Its bad. It went to the state to make guides have licenses, ins etc and failed. So we have a million guides in a small area. I saw an ad for a guide on FB and had a pail full of 6 inch bluegills. The pressure is relentless. It won't stop until the fish are gone...and that WILL happen. Regulations are important. People need to not be short sighted. They are happy now cuz fishing is good but what will they say in 7 years when they can't find a fish anywhere. Then they'll bitch again. I fished Rainy Lake years ago. I liked their regs. If I remember right....one fish over 28. Nothing between 17-25 cuz main spawners. (walleyes that is) The pressure will not stop until the fishing takes a dive and.....it will.

I seen that same pic i would be embarrassed to post that. Small lakes like that are a whole different animal than Oahe. The guides i know have long wanted some kind of regulation to get rid of the fly by nighters

 

[Lycanthrope]

I don't understand this at all. There are PLENTY of North Dakota residents using guides. Does that make the ND guide who is also a resident, a terrible person because he's "taking advantage" of his ND right to ND waters? An "unfair advantage"? Guides aren't the problem at Devils Lake - it's low water levels and predation. Biology

wasnt talking about residents, people should just quit complaining and understand that lakes are cyclical and if the fishing isnt good for a few years, it will come back, fish other lakes in the meantime is probably the best solution.

 

[Traxion]

I seen that same pic i would be embarrassed to post that. Small lakes like that are a whole different animal than Oahe. The guides i know have long wanted some kind of regulation to get rid of the fly by nighters

The legislature sure shot that down quick. Apparently having a license and insurance shouldn’t apply to fishing guides in SD. It’s funny how you have the “small government” and “we don’t need regulations” group complaining we need to regulate guides. Convenient when beneficial I guess.

Guides should be licensed, insured, and pay applicable taxes on their services like any business. Unfortunately regulating them beyond that will be tough, which makes resource management tough.

 

[RyanN]

wasnt talking about residents, people should just quit complaining and understand that lakes are cyclical and if the fishing isnt good for a few years, it will come back, fish other lakes in the meantime is probably the best solution.

I agree with the cyclical comment 100%. But having people leave those lakes alone would be tough for sure.

 

[Kurtr]

The legislature sure shot that down quick. Apparently having a license and insurance shouldn’t apply to fishing guides in SD. It’s funny how you have the “small government” and “we don’t need regulations” group complaining we need to regulate guides. Convenient when beneficial I guess.

Guides should be licensed, insured, and pay applicable taxes on their services like any business. Unfortunately regulating them beyond that will be tough, which makes resource management tough.

Thats why the guys who do pay for all that want their to be some kind of over sight. Its hard to compete when some one else isnt paying for insurance and reporting income. Its about to start with the spring snow goose season. The fly by nighters come from all over and every year people are pissed they pay some "guide" and get scammed

 

[Allen Gamble]

A lake rebounding in a few years is going to be dependent on surveys, netting, and stocking. Not every lake is netted or surveyed every year, which further delays stocking and therefore it's rebound time. A few years is a flexible number, but to say it'll be recovered in 3-5 years isn't accurate at all, especially for some of these smaller prairie pothole gold mines that take a beating once the word spreads like wildfire. I can personally attest to this.

It blows my mind when I see people from MN or SD who will drive to all the way to a ND 600 acre lake to fish when they could do the exact same thing with the same results in there home state.

The guiding problem is a real conundrum, but at the end of the day shitty people are going to make shitty choices and pummel a lake whenever they want until changes to regulations and/or laws are made.

 

[Kurtr]

A lake rebounding in a few years is going to be dependent on surveys, netting, and stocking. Not every lake is netted or surveyed every year, which further delays stocking and therefore it's rebound time. A few years is a flexible number, but to say it'll be recovered in 3-5 years isn't accurate at all, especially for some of these smaller prairie pothole gold mines that take a beating once the word spreads like wildfire. I can personally attest to this.

It blows my mind when I see people from MN or SD who will drive to all the way to a ND 600 acre lake to fish when they could do the exact same thing with the same results in there home state.

The guiding problem is a real conundrum, but at the end of the day shitty people are going to make shitty choices and pummel a lake whenever they want until changes to regulations and/or laws are made.

Yep see alot of ND plates in Ne sodak and i wonder the same thing why they drive and pay for a nr license

 

[MSA]

Its gotta be tough all over the state, Im an amateur fish taxidermist thats known for my perch mounts, and this year I have recieved only 1 perch from North Dakota waters.

 

[Traxion]

Thats why the guys who do pay for all that want their to be some kind of over sight. It’s hard to compete when some one else isnt paying for insurance and reporting income. It’s about to start with the spring snow goose season. The fly by nighters come from all over and every year people are pissed they pay some "guide" and get scammed

Agree 100%. Snow goose is the same. Waste of time anymore with all the guides. Wonder how many landowners know paid hunters are on their ground?

 

[Kurtr]

Agree 100%. Snow goose is the same. Waste of time anymore with all the guides. Wonder how many landowners know paid hunters are on their ground?

I bet not many. Glad we dont have many snows around here.

 

[gonefshn]

The irony is the G&F biologists have been telling us every year at our anglers club meetings that the lake has all kinds of eyes in all sizes and that the fisherman complaining are wrong. All to defend their decreased stocking of eyes from 2mil down to a couple hundred thousand during the years that every campground about doubled in size, Airbnb’s showed up all over, and a great marketing effort by the community.