North Dakota has no wild trout water, and the GBIF occurrence records we use for species pages contain no trout records for the state at all. That is worth saying plainly, because plenty of guide pages imply otherwise. What the records do show is a short, clear list: northern pike, yellow perch, walleye, smallmouth bass, channel catfish, rock bass, brown bullhead, white bass, black crappie, freshwater drum, sauger and a single muskellunge. Northern pike lead the list, and a fly angler who comes to North Dakota to throw big flies at pike will not go home disappointed.
What exists for trout
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department stocks rainbow trout in a rotating set of small lakes, community ponds and a few prairie reservoirs, mostly in spring and fall when the water is cool enough for them to survive a while. These fish are caught from shore or a float tube on Woolly Buggers, small leeches and chironomid pupae under an indicator. The stocked list changes annually and some ponds winterkill, so check Game and Fish for the current year before you drive anywhere. The Garrison Dam tailrace on the Missouri has cold enough water to hold trout, and trout have been part of the picture there at times, but the tailrace's reputation is walleye and pike, and that is what people go for.
The Missouri River and Lake Sakakawea
The Missouri is the spine of North Dakota fishing. Lake Sakakawea, the enormous reservoir behind Garrison Dam, is walleye water first, but smallmouth bass are recorded in the state and Sakakawea's rocky points are where they live. Northern pike cruise the back bays in spring, right after ice-out, and that is the best fly opportunity in the state: pike in a few feet of water, visible, aggressive, eating a red-and-white bunny strip or a big Deceiver on a wire bite tippet. Below the dam the river runs clear and cold, and the tailrace and the reach down through Bismarck hold walleye, sauger, pike and white bass. A sink-tip line and a jig-style Clouser fished slow along the drop-offs is the fly version of a jig and minnow. Sakakawea also has a stocked Chinook salmon program that draws trollers in late summer; it does not show in the GBIF records, and it is not a fly fishery in any practical sense.
Devils Lake
Devils Lake, in the northeast, is a natural lake with no outlet that grew enormously through the wet years and flooded miles of roads, shelterbelts and farmland. All that drowned timber is pike and perch habitat, and Devils Lake is where most fly anglers in the state end up. Pike in the flooded trees in May and June are the main event; white bass and walleye follow. An 8-weight, a floating line for the shallows and an intermediate for the edges, and flies with plenty of flash cover it. Bring a wire or heavy fluorocarbon bite tippet; pike will cut anything lighter on the first fish.
The Red River, the Sheyenne and the James
The Red River of the North, along the Minnesota border, is one of the best channel catfish rivers in the country, and the fish run large. Catfish eat flies: a heavy, dark leech or a crawfish pattern dead-drifted through the deep outside bends works, and so does a strip-set when you feel weight. The Sheyenne, which feeds Lake Ashtabula, and the James, with its long slow pools, both hold pike, walleye and catfish, and both have USGS gauges that report temperature. Lake Darling on the Souris, up near Minot, is another pike and walleye water with a gauge.
Timing a North Dakota trip
Ice-out is the moment. Pike move shallow to spawn as soon as the ice goes, and for a few weeks in April and May they are as catchable on a fly as they will ever be. By July the fish are deep and the fly rod is at a disadvantage against conventional tackle. Fall brings a second window as water cools and pike and walleye move back to the shallows before freeze-up. Watch the temperature gauges on the Missouri, Sheyenne, James and Red: pike activity follows water temperature closely.
Before you go
Regulations on Sakakawea, the Missouri and Devils Lake differ from the small stocked ponds, and the trout stocking list is published fresh each year. Check the North Dakota Game and Fish Department for seasons, limits and the current stocked-waters list. For the state's gauged waters and more detail on each fishery, see the North Dakota fishing hub, and for the honest version of the trout picture, the North Dakota trout page.