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RIVERDALE Finally, after several years of low water which led to a declining fishery, there is some good news for Lake Sakakawea fishermen. Recently completed test netting for young-of-the-year fish indicates that fish populations on the massive reservoir are on the rebound.

"It looks like our early spawners did very well. Quite exceptional, it looks like," said Dave Fryda, North Dakota Game and Fish Department fisheries biologist stationed at Riverdale.

Northern pike and yellow perch are the earliest spawning game fish in Lake Sakakawea. Biologists had hoped those two species would take advantage of vegetation that began flooding as Lake Sakakawea began to rise late last summer. The rise continued this year and proved to be a boon for pike and perch.

"Pike reproduction on Sakakawea this year is the second-highest ever documented and we've got pretty good data all the way back to 1970," said Fryda. "Only 1978 was higher for pike. Our perch did very well this year, too. Perch did the best since 1997, for sure."

In addition, plenty young-of-the-year sauger turned up in nets this fall. It is the second straight year that sauger managed to reproduce in big numbers. Fryda credits the sauger explosion to flows in the Yellowstone River that enters the upper end of Lake Sakakawea.

"Sauager are a native, big river species and we've had good flows down the Yellowstone the last few years," said Fryda. "Last year was almost a record year for sauger reproduction and this year they were again well above normal."

The news is a sharp reversal to the trend of declining numbers and health of fish during several years of low water that severely impacted the fishery. During the low-water years, salmon stocking was reduced to the minimum thought necessary to keep salmon in the system. Biologists stopped stocking walleyes, citing a lack of forage and the emaciated appearance of many adult fish. Several year classes of walleyes showed little difference in size and the whopper-sized fish, both walleyes and pike, became increasingly rare. Rainbow smelt, the lake's number one forage fish, reached their lowest numbers since their initial years of stocking.

Although reproduction of walleyes this past spring was better than several years previous, they did not experience a particularly successful a spawn. However, the stage appears to be set for that to happen soon. Biologists say if history repeats itself, the walleyes will have a much more productive year in 2010.

"There's young walleyes out there now, but not a huge year class by any means," said Fryda. "What happened this year mirrors what happened coming out of our last low-water cycle in 1994. It's what we expected. We've got good pike and perch reproduction and moderate walleye production. That's alright if we get a big year class of walleyes next year. The condition of our walleyes has turned around and we're getting conditions where reproduction will kick in. Nature can add a lot of walleyes to the system."

Fryda said if Lake Sakakawea can maintain good water levels through next spring, the much sought after walleyes have a good chance of having a successful spawn and adding million of young fish to the system. In addition, high water has led to a significant increase in baitfish such as emerald and spot-tailed shiners. Increased forage means an increased chance that Game and Fish may return to artificial stocking of walleyes in Lake Sakakawea next year.

"It's what we've been waiting for. We've got the forage. More than likely we're going to stock walleyes next year," said Fryda.

Successful fishing was sporadic on Lake Sakakawea this past summer, certainly not producing what anglers have become accustomed to on the popular reservoir. However, when walleyes were caught, they showed none of the gaunt characteristics of the past few years. Biologist say that's because of a better balance between predator and prey in the reservoir. Fishermen have been seeing an increase of school of baitfish on their sonar units this year, something that had been rare or absent a year ago.

Another indicator that forage is abundant is the growth rate of this year's hatch of northern pike. Fryda calls it much better than normal with some pike reaching nearly a foot in length over the summer months.

"The young pike vary in size but they'll be there in two to three years for the angler," said Fryda.

It is a rare year when all Lake Sakakawea fish do well. There were some species that took a hit this year due to cooler than normal temperatures that produced less than ideal conditions for late spawning species. An example is smallmouth bass. Smallmouths had good reproduction in 2008 but didn't fare very well this year.

"Smallmouth didn't appear to do so good, but last year they did very well," explained Fryda. "We did see a lot of year one smallies in the nets this fall which tells us last year's fish made it through the winter. That doesn't always happen."

Production of other late spawning fish, primarily crappies, white bass and goldeyes, was also noticeably less than in warmer years. Those that were netted were smaller than normal, an indication of a late hatch that may struggle to survive the winter months. Late spawning species not withstanding, life in the reservoir is much improved over a year ago.

"We've finally turned the corner on everything," said Fryda. "Hopefully we can stay the course. Next spring we should be sitting good for water levels."