Brad Dokken: Game and Fish plans catfish limit for western two-thirds of North Dakota
Nov. 25—BISMARCK — Channel catfish are arguably the most underappreciated gamefish species in North Dakota once you get west of the Red River Valley, and the Game and Fish Department is trying to do something about that.
Beginning next spring, Game and Fish plans to establish a channel catfish limit in the western two-thirds of North Dakota in an effort to draw more attention to the hard-fighting, underutilized and underappreciated species.
Currently, there's a channel catfish limit of five daily and five in possession, with only one fish over 24 inches allowed, east of state Highway 1 — which extends from the Manitoba border north of Langdon to the South Dakota border — a regulation that mainly affects anglers fishing the Red River and its North Dakota tributaries.
West of Highway 1, basically the western two-thirds of North Dakota, there is no limit on channel catfish.
Greg Power, fisheries chief for Game and Fish in Bismarck, touched on the regulation change Tuesday night, Nov. 21, during the department's fall advisory board meeting for District 7, which covers Burleigh, Emmons, Grant, Kidder, McLean, Mercer, Morton, Oliver, Sheridan and Sioux counties.
Game and Fish holds the meetings twice a year in each of the state's eight advisory board districts, and Tuesday night's meeting was live streamed on the Game and Fish website — gf.nd.gov — from the department's Bismarck headquarters.
The channel catfish limit west of state Highway 1 would be "quite liberal," Power said — 20 daily, 40 in possession — and would take effect April 1, 2024, the beginning of the department's next two-year fishing proclamation.
The channel catfish regulation east of Highway 1 would remain as is.
"One thing we've learned over the years ... we want to bring up the importance of catfish, and a way of doing that is by putting on limits," Power said. "Right now, it's the only gamefish that we don't have a (statewide) limit on."
In related catfish news, the department is proposing to allow bowfishing for catfish on the Missouri River System.
"It certainly would not be on the Red River out east," Power said. "We're just trying to expand some opportunity there."
Keeping with the archery theme, which was a prominent topic of discussion during Tuesday night's meeting — stay tuned for future coverage of that issue as it pertains to archery deer hunting — the department also is proposing to allow archery equipment for darkhouse spearing.
"It's not significant by any stretch, but there's a growing fraternity of people that go out and bowfish," which is currently limited to nongame fish species, Power said.
During his presentation on new and proposed fishing regulations, Power asked the audience their thoughts on allowing archery equipment for paddlefish at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, where snaggers by the hundreds gather every spring for the short paddlefish-snagging season.
"There's been a request for some time to also allow archery bow fishing, along with casting treble hooks" for paddlefish, Power said. "That's been out there for a long time. Most states allow it. This would not be something that's new to North Dakota."
If Game and Fish were to allow archery equipment during the paddlefish season, participants would have to follow the same rules as snaggers and stay on shore, Power said; they couldn't be in boats.
No one spoke up against the idea Tuesday night.
"It would be extremely limited," Power said. "Anybody that snags and knows anything about it, the water's as brown as brown can be, so you're not going to see much."
The fall slate of Game and Fish advisory board meetings wraps up this coming week with the District 3 meeting (Benson, Cavalier, Eddy, Ramsey, Rolette and Towner counties) set for 7 p.m. Monday night, Nov. 27, in the Esmond Fire Hall, 216 Second Ave. N.; and the meeting for District 4 (Grand Forks, Nelson, Pembina and Walsh counties) set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 28, at the American Legion in Fordville, 208 N. Main St.
