Fishing is one of North Dakota’s major attractions.
But it doesn’t all happen naturally.
Mother nature gets a little help in providing a consistent supply of sport fish in the state’s lakes.
Jim Olson takes us to Riverdale for the story.

The crew at the Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery brings in another day’s catch.

(Ben Oldenburg, Garrison Dam Fish Hatchery) “We probably got 70 quarts today. We got 60 on Saturday.”

Yeah, he said, ‘quarts.’ Because these guys weren’t collecting fish. They were collecting fish eggs. Specifically Northern Pike eggs.

(Ben Oldenburg, Garrison Dam Fish Hatchery) “We went down to Lake Oahe and did some pike spawning.”
(Rob Holm, Garrison Dam Fish Hatchery Manager) “These next few weeks there’ll really be a buzz in here with trucks in and out with fish and eggs.”

It’s the start of another busy season of collecting, fertilizing, and then incubating eggs…

(Rob Holm, Garrison Dam Fish Hatchery Manager) “Each jar will have about 360,000 eggs.”

Until they turn into tiny fish and, eventually, get put into lakes across North Dakota and the region. In the case of these Northern Pike eggs with over six million now circulating in these jars, the collecting is about done.

(Rob Holm, Garrison Dam Fish Hatchery Manager) “We’re looking at stocking about 3.2 million. We take a little better than double that for the eggs.”

Before long, crews will be back out on the water, netting Walleye, They’ll be stocking over ten million walleye into lakes around the state – including lakes where winter kill has taken a big toll this year.

(Rob Holm, Garrison Dam Fish Hatchery Manager) “A little larger than typical. We haven’t had a severe winter kill like this for quite a while so there’ll be a bump in the numbers a bit.”

After that, spawning and stocking of Sturgeon, Salmon, and Trout will take center stage in the tanks here at the hatchery. All in an effort to make sure North Dakota remains a desired destination for anglers from across the country.
In Riverdale, Jim Olson, KX News.

Rob Holm from the hatchery says close to 70% of the walleye that anglers catch each year in North Dakota can be traced back to the hatchery’s fish-stocking program.