Sep. 8—DEVILS LAKE — Fisheries crews for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Devils Lake also sample Lake Irvine and Stump Lake every summer to keep tabs on fish populations. Both are done in late June before the Devils Lake survey. Here's a look at results from the summer 2023 survey on Irvine and Stump as provided by Todd Caspers, northeast district fisheries biologist for Game and Fish in Devils Lake.

Fisheries crews set six nets on Lake Irvine, leaving them in the water overnight. Numbers by species were as follows.

* Walleye: Numbers were generally better than last year, especially for 10- to 15-inch fish. Total catch was 44.7 per net, up from the average of 25. The survey tallied 13 walleyes per net in the 10- to 15-inch range, up from the average of 6.5 and 2.3 last year; 23.5 in the 15- to 20-inch range, up from the average of 14; and 6.5 in the 20- to 25-inch range, up from an average of about 3. No 25- to 30-inch walleyes were sampled.

* Northern pike: The survey sampled 3.8 pike per net, below the average of 7.5. That's not necessarily a bad thing, Caspers says, as pike in Irvine used to be more abundant than they should have been, resulting in skinny fish. Pike in the 21- to 28-inch range were most abundant, at 3 per net, down from the average of 6.

* Perch: The survey tallied 3 perch per net, compared with the average of about 1 per net. By size, the survey sampled 1.5 perch in the 5- to 8-inch range, compared with an average of 0.3; no perch in the 8- to 10-inch range were sampled, and the average is only 0.1; and 0.2 perch in the 10- to 12-inch range were sampled, which is about average. Top end perch in the 12- to 15-inch range were most abundant, at 1.3 per net, compared with the average of about 0.5.

* White bass: White bass traditionally aren't abundant in the test nets on Irvine. The nets tallied 0.5 white bass per net, down from the average of 0.8. All of the white bass sampled in Lake Irvine were 12 inches or larger.

Game and Fish set 11 nets on Stump Lake, leaving them overnight and checking them the next day. This year's catch was as follows.

* Walleye: The survey tallied a record catch of 30.9 walleyes per net, compared with the average of about 18.5 per net. Walleyes in the 10- to 15-inch range were at nine per net, compared with the average of about 7.5; there were 12.3 walleyes per net in the 15- to 20-inch range, up from an average of 5.5; 6.5 walleyes in the 20- to 25-inch range, compared with the average of about 1.8; and two walleyes per net in the 25- to 30-inch range, up from an average of 0.4. "There's getting to be a lot of nice walleyes out on Stump Lake," Caspers said.

* Perch: The test nets yielded 27.3 perch per net, up from the average of 13.75. By size, there were 22.3 perch in the 5- to 8-inch range, compared with an average of about 10; 8- to 10-inch perch, 4.9 per net, up from an average of about 2.5; and 0.1 perch per net in the 10- to 12-inch range, down from an average of about 1. The survey didn't sample any perch in the 12- to 15-inch range, and the average is about 0.3 per net.

* Northern pike: Overall, the survey tallied 2.4 pike per net, down from an average of about 3.2; most of the pike sampled were in the 28- to 34-inch range at 1.5 per net, up slightly from the average of 1.2; pike in the 34- to 44-inch range were at 0.7 per net, up from the average of 0.2. "Overall numbers are a little below average, but the size is pretty good," Caspers said.

* White bass: There were 5.3 white bass per net, up considerably from the average of about 1.9. In the 6- to 9-inch range, there were 0.2 per net, which is about average; 0.7 in the 9- to 12-inch range, up slightly from the average of 0.5; and 4.4 white bass in the 12- to 15-inch range, which made up the majority of the catch, up from the average of about 0.8. No white bass in the 15- to 18-inch range were sampled, and the average is about 0.3.