OUTDOOR NOTES
Today: Bighorn sheep season opens.
Saturday: Mink, weasel, muskrat trapping seasons open.
Sunday: Sandhill crane unit 2 and fall crow seasons close.
Oct. 28: Audubon Nat'l Wildlife Refuge Halloween Adventures: Wild Night Life of the Refuge. Call 442-5472, ext. 117 to pre-register.
Oct. 30: Moose, dove seasons close.
Fact Box
The Dakota Recreation Report is compiled by Patricia Stockdill, a freelance writer who lives in Garrison.
Oct. 31: Early E1 season, E2 and E5 elk and units E3 and E4 any elk October seasons close.
Nov. 4: Deer gun season opens.
FISHING
N.D. Game & Fish Dept. Dist. game wardens: Missouri River continues producing a variety of fish with best success in the evening and at night. No reports with little activity on the east end of Lake Sakakawea. No reports from Devils Lake.
Bottineau, Four Seasons, Lake Metigoshe: Limited activity on Lake Metigoshe but those going continue finding bluegill and walleye with occasional nice-sized northern pike.
Bottineau, Lake Metigoshe State Park, Lake Metigoshe: Limited fishing reports.
Coleharbor, Totten Trail Restaurant, Lakes Audubon and Sakakawea: Limited reports from Lake Audubon and Lake Sakakawea. Missouri River tailrace continues producing walleye from boat and shore at night.
Devils Lake, Ed's Bait, Devils Lake: Continued walleye success. Work deep water around rocks in the main bay or around the bridges and Mauvais Coulee. Also try trolling the Golden Highway or pitching crankbaits. Northern pike and bass mixed in with walleye when pitching crankbaits.
Devils Lake, Woodland Resort, Devils Lake: Continued walleye success using spinners.
Dickinson, Andrus Outdoors, Lake Sakakawea / area lakes: Limited activity on Lake Sakakawea.
Estevan, Saskatchewan Environment, Rafferty Dam and area lakes: Area reservoirs remain good but limited angler numbers out.
Foxholm, Upper Souris NWR, Lake Darling: Some activity remains at the Outlet Fishing Area but limited recent reports on success.
Garrison, Cenex Bait & Tackle, Lakes Audubon and Sakakawea: Continued walleye success on the Missouri River with limited reports from Lake Sakakawea's east end. No reports from Lake Audubon.
Garrison, Six-Mile Bait & Tackle, Lakes Audubon and Sakakawea: A few anglers are fishing Lake Audubon but no reports on success. Best success and most activity remains on the Missouri River using crankbaits.
Harvey, Coal Mine Lake and area lakes: Coal Mine Lake closed to fishing until ice-over. Harvey Dam fair for northern pike but little activity. Goose Lake good for northern pike and walleye. Perch fair.
New Town, Scenic 23, Lake Sakakawea: Little fishing activity.
Pick City, Scott's Bait & Tackle, Lake Sakakawea / Missouri River: Lake Sakakawea producing a few salmon from shore. Try casting spoons or crankbaits in the bays. Missouri River tailrace remains good for walleye and salmon with some trout mixed in. Best bite is morning and evening. Try variety of presentations from boat or casting crankbaits from shore.
Ruthville, Ruthville Store, Lake Darling and area lakes: Anglers continue going to Baker's Bridge, Grano and the Outlet Fishing Area but reports are limited on success. Missouri River tailrace remains good.
Williston, Scenic Sports, Lake Sakakawea / Missouri River / area lakes: Yellowstone and Missouri rivers continue producing success but confluence access could diminish with lower water levels.
LAKE LEVELS
Devils Lake elevation, Oct. 19 : 1,453.55 feet above mean sea level.
Stump Lake elevation, Oct. 19 : 1,453.7 feet.
Lake Sakakawea elevation, Oct. 19 : 1,842.2 feet; 26,000 cubic feet per second average (CFS) Garrison Dam daily releases.
HUNTING
N.D. Game & Fish Dept. game wardens: Good numbers of waterfowl in McLean and Ward counties but with abundant wetlands, scouting is even more critical. Some ducks and lesser Canada geese starting to move through. Spotty pheasant numbers and success. Hunters need to be willing to work and walk. Some local waterfowl moved out of southeast and south-central N.D. Remaining local birds are flocking and not as scattered. Pheasant success slowing around the midsection of Lake Sakakawea with hunters working harder for birds. Not many waterfowl hunters in that area but those going continue finding fair to good success. A few northern birds are starting to move through N.D. Highway 200 corridor seems to have some migrating waterfowl moving down from Devils Lake and into the Stutsman, Barnes, Griggs and Steel county areas. Try field decoy spreads for Canada. With scouting duck hunters are still finding success. Continued reports of slow pheasant success even with corn harvest well underway. Bow hunters are seeing increased deer activity with scrapes and some minor sparring.
Arrowwood NWR, Pingree: Increasing Canada geese in southwestern Cass, south Barnes, north and south Stutsman and south Wells counties, especially Cackling geese. Mallards and pintails are more common. Still good numbers of most other puddlers but green-winged teal replacing blue-winged teal. More divers are being seen and harvested as well. Scattered swans in the area but most of cranes may have moved out with lots of reports in South Dakota. Corn harvest is well underway everywhere and birds are finding harvested fields, offering good hunting opportunities. No snow geese yet.
Lonetree WMA, Harvey: Fair grouse and pheasant success. Partridge poor. Good numbers of local ducks in central N.D. but no big migration yet. Fair to good bow hunting success for deer.
Lostwood NWR, Powers Lake: Peak of the crane migration is getting underway so be cautious of identification and avoid whooping cranes. Lots of swans in the area. Waterfowl numbers picking up.
North-central N.D.: Not many reports of migrating waterfowl yet.
Northeast N.D.: Continued waterfowl success. Northern birds starting to move in.
Northwest N.D.: Not as many hunters out in the northwest with pheasants scattered and not bunched yet in the heavy cover. More lesser Canada geese are starting to trickle in around the midsection of Lake Sakakawea. Mixed reports on pheasant numbers but overall they're down.
Southern Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Environment, Estevan, Saskat- chewan: Snow geese starting to show up in small numbers around Estevan and surrounding area but no mass numbers yet. Abundant duck numbers but upland birds remain limited. Geese can now be hunted all day.
Upper Souris NWR, Foxholm: A few bow hunters out but little upland bird hunting activity.
West-central N.D.: Continued fair to good waterfowl success. Mixed pheasant success with birds in pockets. Lots of young birds yet, however. Some cranes and swans moving through but watch identification for whooping cranes that could be flying with sandhills.