Lake Sakakawea Salmon Fishing article for Dakota Country Magazine.

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“Salmon are very good fighters. Sometimes they go deep and sometimes they want to come right to the surface. Sometimes they will take out 100-150 feet of line in 10 seconds,” explained Aaron Hayden owner and guide for Big Lake Guide Service which is going on their 10th year guiding.

Zach Kjos said, “Chinook salmon were first stocked into Lake Sakakawea in 1976. The salmon are stocked in the lake to take advantage of the cold-water habitat and the forage not utilized exclusively by other species. He added currently chinook are the only species of salmon stocked in Sakakawea and the simple reason is because they have done better than any other trout/salmon that have been stocked in the past.” Kjos is the Missouri River System Fisheries Biologist, this is his second year at this position and he has been with the department for 12 years.

Skylar and Levi Johnson with a nice one.

Salmon need pristine cold-water streams to reproduce naturally. The tributaries of Lake Sakakawea are too warm and turbid for natural production to take place. This is why they are stocked annually, the fishery is reliant on it said Kjos.

Salmon are stocked as smolts, roughly 3-5 inches long. They can also grow quickly, almost 3 pounds in the first year. Kjos explained, “Smelt are the main forage fish for salmon in Sakakawea. They will also eat young cisco when available. Lake Sakakawea only produces sporadic strong year classes of cisco. When a strong year class is recruited, salmon grow a bit larger. Salmon this year were a bit larger due to a good year class of cisco in 2023.”

Salmon do compete with other species that feed on rainbow smelt such as walleye and sauger.

Adam Johnson with a keeper.

“Water levels are important to salmon and their forage. The most important thing is having enough cold-water habitat available for salmon, rainbow smelt and cisco. During droughts emotive cold-water habitat is diminished and populations of cold-water fish will follow,” answered Kjos.

When fishing for chinook salmon the general range for temperature they like to be at is from 52-58 degrees. Kjos who gets a chance to fish for salmon on Sakakawea explained in the spring they can be caught by anglers in 10-20 feet. As the water warms, they will be found deeper to stay in their preferred cold-water habitat. In August and September, they can be found in 60-100 feet. In October when they come into spawn they can again be found up shallow and along the shorelines.

Stephanie Hayden with a 12 pound salmon from the 25 season.

This means depending on the time of year you can catch fish from shore if you don’t have a boat or you’re up to the challenge.

“August and September would be my suggestion for the best time to target salmon. Downrigging in August and early September and then switching to long-lining crankbaits in September,” explained Kjos.

Hayden who has been fishing Sakakawea for salmon since the late 90s agrees. He says, “Mid-August through mid-September is when I guide for salmon on Sakakawea in deep water, downrigging. I still chase them when they are shallow but not a lot. When they come up shallow they are slowly dying, getting ready to spawn and by that time I am salmoned out. That’s when they are going off the feed, not eating as much. The salmon actually turn darker when coming up shallow. They usually like 52-55°. When they are slowly dying, they can handle warmer water and this is when they go shallow to spawn.” He added some guys use downriggers for them late June and July as well. 

Hayden who also fishes Fort Peck and Lake Michigan every year plus fishes for salmon in South Dakota every other year says that he catches a good percentage of his salmon on Sakakawea from 9 AM until 4 PM. He went on to say you can catch them early morning and late evenings but he and his fellow guides on the lake agree on that midday time for catching.

“Salmon are the least consistent fish that he has ever fished. You may get 10 one-day and none the next,” explained Hayden. He considers catching 10 salmon a day to be a good day. Hayden added, “The last three or four years have been really good. We don’t get that 10 every day but that’s what they hope for. Before this last three or four years, five fish a day was considered a good day. Last year we actually hooked 26 and landed 17 in one day and I have never done that before.” The biggest salmon he has ever seen caught on Sakakawea was caught by his wife Stephanie, who reeled in an 18 lbs 5 oz slab.

With potentially big fish, Hayden runs 8 ½ to 10-foot medium rods with 40-pound braided line and leaders being 30–50-pound mono depending if they’re running flashers or spoons. Most of the time they like to use a flasher with a fly or a flasher with a squid. The squid is just an artificial lure. They also use herring with spoons. They run downriggers and dipsy divers plus certain times of year he uses copper and lead core. Hayden added salmon are a structure fish even though they spend a lot of time trolling for them in deep water but they do like structure also.

Dad Adam Johnson and son Levi with a double.

If you do find yourself with some salmon in your boat or freezer, Hayden likes salmon when they are smoked or grilled. But they also find canned salmon a treat also.

Salmon are the number two species targeted on Lake Sakakawea, according to the NDGF creel survey period which is from May through September. That means at certain times a year a lot of anglers do target salmon on the big lake.

Hayden added, “Yeah there is a lot of pressure on Sakakawea from fishermen targeting salmon because it is such a confined area compared to fishing salmon in South Dakota or Fort Peck. Those places you can fish 40–50-mile stretches. All the salmon fishing on Sakakawea is from the dam up to a place called Dead Man, the lower end where all the deep cold water is at. This is where the fish congregate before they go shallow. And this is where you find the mass of fishermen also. He says you can fish them all up the lake but the chances of getting a bite are not good compared to the lower end.”

The NDGF started tagging salmon in 1991. Kjos added the last year we tagged any salmon was 2022. This year, 2025, was the last year of any tagged salmon returning to anglers or to spawn. From now on the fisheries department will now be able to age the salmon using otoliths. They will give the game and fish similar information that the tagging did.

When Kjos was asked if there is a good year class of salmon in the lake right now, he answered, “We just finished with spawning operations and we had good numbers of one-year-old males show up, which we call, jacks. This is an early indicator that we should have good returning numbers of fish into 2026.” When asked if he predicts a good year for fishing salmon, he laughed and said, “Things look good for the next year but I won’t make a prediction on how the fishing might be.”

Records:

Chinook Salmon - 31 lbs 2 oz. - 41" - Garrison Dam Tailrace - 6/10/86 - Thomas Schwartz.

Chinook Salmon - 31 lbs 8 oz - Lake Oahe - 7/29/2016 - Darrick Koch.

Chinook Salmon - 32.62 lbs. - 38” - Fort Peck Reservoir - 08/08/24 - Jim Fauth.

Thanks for reading, Clint.

Do what you love more and more often…

Every year I tell myself this summer I am going to fish more and fish more often. Every year I tell myself this summer I’m going to shoot more and shoot more often. The fact is, it seems like I have done less and less fishing and shooting the last few summers. But this year is going to be different.

I don’t think I have done open water fishing the last two summers for sure. I have been lucky enough to get out on the ice on a local lake a handful of times the last two winters. That doesn’t suck. But I love fishing so much I can’t waste another summer of not enjoying my line in the water waiting for that tug that we all crave.

The last handful of summers I always tell myself I’m going to shoot my rifles more often just to make sure I’m still on and I just love the aroma of used casing. If they would bottle that smell and use it as a cologne, I know what I would be wearing. I was lucky enough to draw a North Dakota turkey tag this Spring, so I will have to shoot my shotgun a couple times before the season.

During the summer I usually fish the local rivers in my area which consist of the Maple and Sheyenne. I usually don’t catch much but if I do it’s either a walleye, northern or bullhead. I have a couple holes in each river that I like to go to and also a couple bridges that I like to hang my line off of. We are lucky in Enderlin because our park board purchased a fishing pier that gets placed in Patrick Pierce Park on the banks of the Maple River right in town. That doesn’t suck. Thank you park board. Hopefully this summer I will be at these fishing spots more and more often.

Where I can go fishing is limited because I am in an electric wheelchair but this does not stop me from getting out there. Being limited to the spots I can get to doesn’t mean I don’t have the opportunity to catch fish; I just need to be more particular in the spots I can get in and out of. There have been numerous times I thought I was never going to get back up the banks of the river but my buddies would drag me through some pretty gnarly spots just to get my line in the water. Good times.

Years ago, I was gifted an electric fishing reel from some family members that got me fishing again after my accident. It works pretty slick. A friend made a rod holder that attaches to my chair and the reel’s battery cord goes from there to a battery that hangs in a bag from the back of my wheelchair. I cannot cast due to my limited arm movement but I usually just drop the line and start fishing unless one of my buddies’ casts for me.

Just like fishing, I have failed to get out and do more shooting during the summer. Every spring I tell myself I am going to shoot my Ruger 22, Tikka 270, Weatherby 12gauge and crossbow more often. I love shooting just at paper and am lucky that our local wildlife club’s shooting range is only a couple miles away.

Many years ago, I was gifted a rifle mount that attaches to my wheelchair from a friend. This thing does not suck. All of my rifles and shotgun work with this mount. It attaches to the wheelchair pretty quickly and my friends have gotten good at strapping down my guns in a hurry if needed. But always safe. The elongated trigger my friend made for me is really the key to all of these guns working for me. It doesn’t suck. It attaches straight to the trigger guard on each weapon and can even attach to my crossbow.

I love shooting my crossbow. It is a Carbon Express Intercept. It is built AR platform, meaning parts can be changed and taken off easily. My dad made my crossbow mount that attaches to my wheelchair with just one bolt. This also is pretty slick. I aim with my chin and pull the elongated trigger with my right arm, even though I have less movement in my right arm it somehow works better on that side. I was born right-handed but after my injury I have learned to do most things left-handed. But my left-handed writing looks like chicken scratch.

 I have had my newest crossbow for probably 10 years with no problems. It can easily shoot out to 70 yards but I only set up while hunting around 20 yards or even closer. For me there is nothing more fun than shooting an arrow. Hopefully this summer I will be shooting crossbows and guns more and more often.

I still do more in my position than most do in a wheelchair but I would like to do a lot more. No matter what our physical conditions are, we all want to do more fishing, shooting and hunting right? Nobody knows how much time they have left to do what they love. Don’t take it for granted.

So, I challenge myself and everyone reading this to get out there and do what you love to do more and do it more often this summer.

Thanks for reading, Clint.

Spring Turkey Season 2026.

So, I drew another turkey tag for this year’s spring season. I believe this is my eighth tag and I have yet to fill a turkey tag. But this year I just knew this was going to be the year. I kept telling myself over the years when I would fail to fill the tag, if I ever do kill a turk it will be my once-in-a-lifetime tag. Meaning it will be my last. But after that hunt, I’m not so sure it will be my last.

My cousin Christopher was more excited about this turkey hunt that I think I was. He had a bunch of turkeys on his land and he wanted me to come down and exterminate one. All spring long he had been planning and scouting them. Yesterday April 21 was perfect weather and Chris was going to be home so Don B and I decided to head east of Kindred to try and fill my tag.

Chris told us to get there around 4 PM and I think we got there right at 3:30. Chris filled us in about the set up and where the turkeys should come from while Don B got my gun mount attached to my wheelchair and got the trigger on the shotgun. We made our way to the food plot where the pop-up blind was set. As we were still chatting, Don B noticed a lone hen working her way towards us slowly. We panicked. They lifted the pop-up blind and I drove in. Chris skedaddled back towards the house and Don B snuck into the blind with me.

That hen walked around and walked around the whole evening. She even took a nap 5 yards from us for a while. She had no clue. Evidently she was knocked up earlier and was just looking for food.

My cousin Christopher who is the landowner was about 100 yards behind us running the electric call. The speaker was about 20 yards behind us. It worked perfectly. We had four decoys in front of us; one jake and three toms. In front of us was a food plot, it is a couple acres. Behind that was some trees and then the Wild Rice River. On the other side of the river is a huge grove of trees, really thick stuff. It was a perfect set up.

Every time he would call the four toms across the river would start bugling. We played with them for 2 hours until they made the mistake to jump the river and head our way. They hung up for about 30 seconds and then came right into the decoys. 

They came like a string to the decoys in front of us. They first picked on the standing jake and then they moved to the tom laying on the ground. They did their little dance with their fans up around that decoy numerous times. At this time I was trying to maneuver my chair without making too much noise in the blind. They were less than 10 yards away. But they were making enough noise that they didn’t hear me when I engaged my chair to move.

They were completely twitterpated. No care in the world except for beating up that decoy. This gave me plenty of time to get the elevation right for my shotgun to be lined up. I just needed them to move to my right a little bit and I could take a shot. They were zigzagging in between each other strutting their stuff. It was hard to pick just one out. I didn’t want to kill two of them or all four. Then one made the mistake of coming directly in front of me and I pulled the trigger. He dropped like a sack of taters. After the shot the other three toms didn’t even move. They started beating up on the dead one now. Don B and I were smiling ear to ear as I think we were both amazed at what just took place and I actually killed one. Don B has been along with many of my failed turkey hunts. It was great to have him there. He was also videoing the whole thing. Shining times.

The three remaining toms didn’t leave until Don B got out of the blind and Chris and his son Carter came to congratulate us. I was just about to give up because it was warm in the blind but glad I didn’t. It was 71° but it was like a sauna in that blind.

Now it was story time and we went over how everything happened. Then Staci Chris’s wife, Ellie Chris’s daughter and Ellie’s boyfriend Jack came with the side-by-side and we started taking pictures and some shenanigans happened.

After pictures we all made it back to the house as there was roast beast in the crockpot along with pasta salad. That didn’t suck. It was also Staci’s birthday that day so we celebrated that also with well-deserved cocktails. It’s always fun hanging out with them. Good people.

Don B and I stayed for little over an hour and made our way west. Don dropped me off at home and then I called my cousin Luke, my next-door neighbor and we cleaned the turkey in his garage. Going to make a fan mount with the beard and the spent shotgun shell. Now I need to find room on my wall…

Thanks Don B for always being there when I ask to go on any kind of hunt. Thanks to my cousins who let me on their land and made the day truly memorable. You all don’t suck…

Thanks for reading, Clint.