Fisheries personnel from the state Game and Fish Department are out stocking lakes with nearly 12 million walleye fingerlings.
But it’s not the amount of walleye being stocked – it’s the number of lakes being stocked.
"We used to stock 100-to-150 lakes," said North Dakota Game and Fish Department fisheries product and development supervisor Jerry Weigel. "This year, we're up over 180."
Weigel said this year, there’s a lot more water on the state’s landscape.
"With the rising water, and our guys securing more public access, we're adding more and more fishing lakes," Weigel said.
Weigel said it started last fall. And he said it gave Game and Fish staff some time to get things going.
"Yeah - 180 lakes this year, which is a lot," Weigel said.
Weigel said the lakes are all throughout the state – with a concentration in the center of the state.
"Some of the high counties would be Kidder, Stutsman, Logan, McIntosh -- those are probably some of the highest concentrations of new fishing waters," Weigel said. "The Southeast corner of the state is another spot."
Weigel said he’s seeing a lot of people fishing – both from boats and from the shores.
"It could be a balance between folks just trying to do something for their mental health, and folks realizing that, hey, there is really good fishing in the state right now," Weigel said. "So they're getting out, and they're also coming from neighboring states, to come here and take advantage of that."
