Fish with Joel

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Fishing the Fifty #35, North Dakota

As a mostly-rectangular Great Plains state known more for its prairies than its lakes, North Dakota doesn’t hit you over the head with clues about its fishing prospects, but they are solid, and underrated. The “mostly” in mostly rectangular is due to the Red River of the North on its eastern border with Minnesota, and the mighty Missouri River flows in from Montana and out to South Dakota. These two drainages, with their lakes and reservoirs, provide destinations for anglers. Overall there are 1,710 square miles of water, covering 2.3% of its area.

There are a few large lakes that provide ample fishing opportunities. Lake Sakakawea is the largest lake, a reservoir formed on the Missouri River by the Garrison Dam, where walleye and smallmouth bass are popular targets. Lake Oahe is a massive Missouri River reservoir, sprawling down into South Dakota, and another walleye holder. Devils Lake in the northeast is a favorite for walleye, perch, and northern pike, and does ice fishing duty in season. Lake Metigoshe is a state park located along the US-Canada border. Jamestown Reservoir, located between Fargo and Bismarck, holds muskie, northern pike, walleye, and crappie. In the dry area west of the Missouri, the Dickinson Reservoir, or Patterson Lake, in the Heart River system, offers walleye, yellow perch, crappie, and some pike.

The fish species do include most common families. Some not mentioned already are shortnose gar, paddlefish (in Lake Sakakawea), channel catfish (Red River is good for these), shovelnose sturgeon (which must be released immediately), and burbot. The salmonids are present, including rainbow trout (which is widely stocked), brown trout, and chinook salmon (stocked in the Missouri River system). The Garrison Dam tailrace is a good place for these, as the state records for many salmonids were taken from there. For further reading, see “Trout Fishing in North Dakota Then and Now” for a history of the state’s trout stocking efforts.

The featured video is from NDYakAngler, a well-known YouTube fishing account located in North Dakota, in which he calmly pulls in muskie and pike one after another from a dam spillway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q035Hy7w9Rg

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Fishing the Fifty #34, North Carolina

North Carolina has a classic east coast profile, stretching from western Appalachian mountains with their trout streams, through the rolling hills of the central Piedmont plateau with its bass tournament-quality reservoirs, to the coastal plain, home to Cypress swamps and curious Carolina bays. 

The fishing in the western mountain area is primarily in rivers. In the southwest near South Carolina are the headwaters of the French Broad River, which flows west, eventually joining the Tennessee River near Knoxville. Other mountain drainages come from the Kanawha (near West Virginia) and Hiwassee River (southwest, near Georgia). While the fishing hole in the title sequence for the Andy Griffith show was filmed outside Los Angeles, Mr. Griffith grew up in Mt. Airy, North Carolina, where you can fish the trout-stocked Ararat River (a tributary of the Yadkin). The central watersheds are the Catawba River and Yadkin River. Large reservoirs in the central Piedmont are popular for fishing, including Lake Norman outside Charlotte, High Rock Lake which serves as a Bass Master Classic location, and B. Everett Jordan Lake outside Raleigh. In the coastal plain are elliptical natural lakes called Carolina Bays such as Lake Mattamuskeet, Lake Phelps, and Alligator Lake, and near the Outer Banks, and Lake Waccamaw (you’re hearing it in your head, right?) between Wilmington and Myrtle Beach.

North Carolina fish species are varied as with their geography. Trout feature prominently in the mountain west, specifically the state freshwater fish, the Southern Appalachian brook trout, brown trout and rainbow trout. The mountain streams and reservoirs also hold walleye, muskie, yellow perch, white perch, and spotted bass. While not a game fish, the vividly colored tangerine darter is notable for its color, and can grow to seven inches. In the Piedmonts the classic four American fish (largemouth bass, bluegill, crappie, and channel catfish) are complemented by sunfish varieties (green sunfish, pumpkinseed, red breast sunfish, redear sunfish, and warmouth), Alabama bass, smallmouth bass and white bass. Two more unusual species are the Roanoke bass, akin to rock bass, and a hybrid striped “Bodie Bass”, named after outdoors writer Bodie McDowell of Greensboro. The coastal plain is the area to find chain pickerel, bowfin, blue and flathead catfish, along with American and hickory shad during the spring run.

The feature video is from one of the Carolina Bay lakes, Lake Phelps, formerly known as Lake Scuppernong (Algonquian for “the place where magnolias grow”), where two young men in electric trawlers sight fish for bass among the cypress trees: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA5T2D9FYYk

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Fishing the Fifty #33, New York

The “Empire State” nickname was given to New York in recognition of its wealth and resources, and this certainly applies to its waters and its fishing opportunities. From the Niagara Escarpment and access to two Great Lakes, the border follows the St. Lawrence River over to Lake Champlain (with its own monster), which in turns forms a border with Vermont. Then down the Hudson River Valley and out to the Atlantic Coast by New York City. In the interior are the Oswego River watershed with its famous Finger Lakes, the northern Susquehanna River watershed, and the Adirondack and Catskill mountains with trout streams and lakes. The Allegheny River rises in Pennsylvania but has a detour into New York, and is a main tributary by volume to the Ohio River. New York is one state I have been to, in the Adirondacks where instead of ice fishing, I played ice softball on beautiful Schroon Lake.

The state has a fishing reference that breaks down the regions, watersheds, and species. Most of the usual gamefish suspects are there somewhere. First, there are the atypical, like the ancient bowfin, the American eel (found all along the north Atlantic states), and longnose gar. Salmonids large and small are available, from chinook and coho salmon (in Lake Ontario and tributaries), the native Atlantic salmon, rainbow and brown trout, brook trout (the state fish, found everywhere), and lake trout. The pike family is present, including muskie, northern pike, tiger muskie, chain pickerel (in all waters except the Allegheny). There is top-notch walleye fishing in Lakes Eric and Ontario, Lake Oneida, and the St. Lawrence River. Our featured video follows two brothers out in the snow seeking lake trout from the river:

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Fishing the Fifty #32, New Mexico

New Mexico is the 5th largest state, only 0.2% of it water, but the Sangre de Cristo mountains at the southern end of the Rockies create some beautiful settings for trout fishing. There are even spots where you can reliably go ice fishing in season. Even down to Albuquerque, there are drainage ditches stocked with rainbow trout. The state fish is the Rio Grande cutthroat trout, a native species.

New Mexico waters are mainly rivers, beginning with the Rio Grande, with river systems on the east and west of the Continental Divide. The Department of Game and Fish has posters of native fish species. The Rio Grande, the 5th longest US river, rises in Colorado and flows through New Mexico, past Albuquerque. At the southern end of the state, it creates a tiny, jagged exception to the state’s otherwise straight borders, forming a short river-boundary with Texas near El Paso. Naturally, the river is home to its namesake native cutthroat. An alternative is Costilla Creek, a high-elevation tributary. The Rio Grande has other species, including pike and walleye. Northwest of Santa Fe, near the Pedernal mesa landmark that served as inspiration to painter Georgia O’Keeffe, is Abiquiu Lake. This reservoir on the Rio Chama tributary holds walleye, trout, bass, catfish, and crappie. Elephant Butte Reservoir in the southwest is formed from a dam on the Rio Grande and has walleye, bass, catfish, and crappie. East of the Continental Divide are the Pecos and Canadian Rivers. The Pecos flows to Texas (eventually emptying into the Rio Grande there) and holds rainbow and brown trout. The Canadian is the longest Arkansas River tributary. The Cimarron River, set in the gorgeous Cimarron Canyon, is a Canadian River tributary. Eagle Nest Lake in the north is a reservoir on the Cimarron and has trout, kokanee salmon, yellow perch, tiger muskie, and northern pike (anglers must harvest any pike they catch). West of the Continental Divide are the San Juan and Gila Rivers. Heron Lake and Navajo Lake in the northwest are in the San Juan system. Heron features kokanee salmon and lake trout, and Navajo, almost at the Colorado border, has trout species including splake. The Gila River has Gila trout, another native trout species. Bluewater Lake is near the continental divide west of Albuquerque and in view of the Zuni Mountains, stocked with tiger muskie, rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, and channel catfish.

Our featured video is from NM Angling, trout fishing in the Cimarron River: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYI5tiGwMuw

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Fishing the Fifty #31, New Jersey

While New Jersey is densely populated (11th state in population stuffed into the 4th smallest state area), being part of the northeast megalopolis, a full 45% of its area is forest covered, with rivers draining to its Jersey Shore. New Jersey’s west borders with Pennsylvania and Delaware are formed by the Delaware River. The Hudson River, flowing past Hoboken and Jersey City, separates it from New York, and is the location of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. New Jersey has a good variety of fish species, with brook trout being the state fish.

The Delaware River is the longest free-flowing, undammed river in the eastern US, and gives Philadelphia ocean access. It holds almost everything you can get in New Jersey, including bass varieties, eel, herring, muskie, pickerel, pike, shad, sturgeon, trout, walleye, and channel cats. The Passaic River is 80 miles long, and entirely within the state borders. While there are parts flowing through industrial centers that are being cleaned from pollution, the upper part has great fly fishing, and there are stretches downstream where stocked northern pike are flourishing. Passaic tributaries Whippany, Rockaway, and Pequannock cover the northeast, and the Hackensack River roughly parallels the Hudson. The Raritan River is in the north central, with trout, pike, pickerel, and perch, along with usual suspects like bass, sunfish, catfish and crappie. The Musconetcong River, longest that doesn’t drain into the Atlantic directly, is a favorite for trout of all sorts.

Some notable lakes include Lake Hopatcong, located in the north central with trout, bass, and crappie. Lake Carnegie in Princeton is used for the university and US Olympic rowing teams, who glide over bass, pickerel, and carp. Lake Musconetcong in the north central has bass, trout, chain pickerel, and catfish. Farrington Lake near New Brunswick in the central region has all that plus pike, yellow perch, and crappie. Notable to me is the state park named “Cheesequake”. Apart from thinking up jokes (“Cheesequake Factory”? “Try our 18 inch cheesequake stuffed pizza”?), you could be fishing in Hooks Creek Lake near Raritan Bay for bass, cats, and trout. Smartswood Lake in the northwest is a natural glacier lake famous for its walleye, but you can also take lake trout, bass, and chain pickerel.

Our featured video is from a New Jersey channel “One More Cast” (#relatable), “The Day Everything Finally Clicked at Ken Lockwood Gorge”, taken on the Raritan River where he catches rainbow trout, smallmouth, and bluegill:

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Fishing the Fifty #30, New Hampshire

New Hampshire offers freshwater anglers a classic New England profile of northern species like trout and perch with largemouth and smallmouth bass in scenic rivers and lakes. The White Mountains dominate the geography in the center. The borders include the Connecticut River in the west bordering Vermont, and in the southeast, the Salmon Falls River and then the Piscataqua River bordering Maine. The Piscataqua drains to the Atlantic, where New Hampshire has a short, 20 mile section of coast. The lakes region in the east central features Lake Winnipesaukee, with lake trout, salmon, rainbow trout, and bass. Also in this region is Squam Lake, featured in the film On Golden Pond, with bass, pickerel, perch, and lake trout. The Merrimack River, which flows through Concord and Manchester, has trout, white perch, and walleye. Umbagog Lake straddles the Maine border and has bass, trout, pickerel, pike, and perch.

The fish species include some notable points of interest. One is the fallfish, a large minnow species that can grow to 18 inches. Another is that like Maine, you can find the American eel, which originate in the Sargasso Sea region of the Atlantic. The final is more of a language note, that the local name for burbot is “cusk”. New Hampshire trout species start with the state fish, the brook trout, and brown and rainbow trout. On the larger side, there are lake trout (record length 42”, weight 37 lbs 10.4 oz), landlocked salmon (record length over 34”, record weight 18 lbs), round whitefish (not as large, record length is 18”), and lake whitefish (record length 21.75”). The esox and perch families are represented by northern pike, some stocker tiger muskie, walleye, white perch, yellow perch, and chain pickerel. Catfish do not figure prominently, but channel cats are out there, the record weight being under 18 lbs. (For more information, see New Hampshire freshwater fish records.)

The featured video takes us onto the ice of Lake Winnipesaukee, where Bend It Fishing, who targets lake trout year round, catches both those and  a cusk, or burbo, aided by sonar. In another video I learned from him that smelt around 2” long are the primary forage for lake trout, which informs the lures you use:

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Fishing the Fifty #29, Nevada

While Nevada is the driest state and ranks 43rd in area covered by water while being 7th largest in area, there are absolutely still fishing adventures awaiting you there. The state’s southern tip is about even with Sedona, Arizona but runs as far north as 42 degrees latitude, making it even with Chicago. In the north, among the Carson Range of the Sierra Nevada, the rivers hold trout, including the state fish, the Lahontan cutthroat trout, over to Lake Tahoe in the angled border with California, and on over to Lake Mead east of Las Vegas.

The Humboldt River travels across the north, with headwaters in Elko, and holds largemouth and white bass, walleye, trout, and crappie. The Owyhee River is a Snake River tributary also in the north and holds large trout. The Colorado River drains the south and holds rainbow trout and black bass, as well as the unusual-looking razorback sucker that you should return immediately if caught. Lake Tahoe is a large Alpine lake and offers larger fish such as kokanee salmon, Mackinaw lake trout (which can run 5-20 pounds, record size is 37.5 pounds), brown trout, and more. Lake Mead in the south has more of the typical American species of largemouth bass, channel catfish, bluegill, crappie, though it does have some rainbow trout. I can attest to having seen carp hanging around a marina there.

Nevada lists a number of native trout species. We’ve mentioned the Lahontan cutthroat trout, which has lake and river variations, but there are also Bonneville cutthroat trout, Columbia River redband trout, and bull trout. Other species include Sacramento perch, striped bass, white bass, white catfish, wiper, yellow perch, and Yellowstone cutthroat trout. Finally, and don’t go angling for it, but there is the rare Devil’s Hole pupfish. This is found only in Devil’s Hole, a geothermal pool in a cavern across the mountains from Death Valley. That’s right, go to the desert, find a hole in the rocks, which has a pool, in the pool find these little fish that reminded someone of puppies playing when they named them.

Our featured video takes us into the Owyhee River. There is no intro, no background music, no captions (somehow), just a string of cuts beginning with a laconic “fish on, fish on” as a brown trout comes into view. And that’s kind of how you like to see it:

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Fishing the Fifty #28, Nebraska

While its dry great plains weather may have you wondering, Nebraska brings the goods for anglers, with more than 100 species of fish (78 of them presumed native), and many in a place you may not expect.

Nebraska has three main rivers running roughly east-west. The Niobrara River is in the north, and joins the Missouri River that comes in from South Dakota, forming the northeast border with Iowa and Missouri. The Platte River flows across the center, from north and south tributaries sourced in the Colorado mountains. The Republican River flows across the southern part of the state. Then there are the uniquely phenomenal Sandhills Lakes. These sit over the Ogallala Aquifer (a water table aquifer that spans eight states from South Dakota to Texas), formed by spots where the land dips below the water level. These lakes are generally shallow but well-oxygenated, forming an ideal habitat for several species of fish, notably northern pike and yellow perch, and a great deal of other wildlife. This is why according to the Game and Parks Commission, the curse of Nebraska geography is that much of the fishing water is in the west while the majority of the population lives in the east.

There are a number of reservoirs that are good places to start your planning. Merritt Reservoir located in north central Nebraska is a state recreation area and International Dark Sky Park, formed from the Snake River (not the Idaho one), a tributary of the Niobrara. Here you can find walleye, muskie, crappie, largemouth bass, perch, bluegill, bullhead, white bass, and catfish. Lake McConaughy on the North Platte River in the southwest is the largest reservoir, where you can find walleye, channel catfish, Northern pike, wiper, smallmouth and white bass. Lewis and Clark Lake is a reservoir on the Missouri River, on the border with South Dakota, where you can catch walleye, sauger, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, bluegill, crappie and catfish. At Box Butte Reservoir in the southwest edge of the Sandhills you can catch northern pike, channel catfish, walleye, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, yellow perch and rock bass.

The fish species found in the Missouri River drainage include a decent sampling of the northern species like muskie, pike, perch, and trout, as well as more exotic types like shovelnose sturgeon and paddlefish. Then there are the standard mix of bass and sunfish, carp, and the American catfish trio of channel, blue, and flathead. The channel catfish is the Nebraska state fish.

The featured video takes us into the Sandhill Lakes where a pair of old hands take their haul of northern pike:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HItNrfvPf9s

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Fishing the Fifty #27, Montana

The Rocky Mountains, in many ways, put Montana on the map, from its name (“montaña”), the gold rush bringing people, or the trout and friends bringing $1.2 billion worth of tourism in 2024, according to a University of Montana study. 

This fourth largest state can be divided into two main parts, the mountainous west and the eastern plains. While there are not a lot of lakes, the river drainage systems flow to the Pacific west of the continental divide in the Columbia River, to the Gulf Coast east of it via the Missouri River, and in a small area in the north, another divide sends water to the Saskatchewan River and thus to Hudson Bay. Triple Divide Peak plays a hydrologic cycle version of Pachinko, sending snowfall and rain to all three destinations in Glacier National Park. Clark Fork, the largest river by volume, rises in Butte, flows northwest to Missoula, and is joined by the Blackfoot River and then the Bitterroot River and then Flathead River. Flathead Lake on that river is the largest (by surface area) natural freshwater lake in the western U.S. The Missouri River is formed near Three Forks, flows to Great Falls, then to Fort Peck Reservoir. A portion is designated National Wild and Scenic River. Brower’s Spring, then Hell Roaring Creek and eventually the Missouri River, is the most distant point of the Mississippi River drainage.

The state fish is the westslope cutthroat trout (a.k.a blackspotted cutthroat trout), and in its mountain streams you can find cutthroat, rainbow, bull, brook, and brown trout, along with Arctic grayling, and in the southwest even a few California golden trout. If you want a bigger salmonid, try Chinook salmon in the Fort Peck reservoir, or kokanee (landlocked sockeye salmon), lake trout in the western mountain areas. The pikeminnow, the largest of the minnows, runs 10” and up in size. You can also find lake whitefish and mountain whitefish. If you’re wondering what’s in the eastern plains, there is the stonecat, a native catfish species that runs 8-10” long, shortnose sturgeon in the rivers (pallid as well, but are a species of concern), and Federally-protected white sturgeon in the Kootenai River. Northern pike, walleye and yellow perch are all over the eastern side, with some tiger muskie, and white bass in the Missouri River below Fort Peck. And make no mistake, while not native, largemouth and smallmouth bass and sunfish figure into the mix, though mainly in the east.

Our featured video follows CoppersmithStudios1 who is dropped off by plane at Shaefer Meadows Airstrip in Flathead County for a multi-day solo trout trip on the Flathead River: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjFdoroV8kc

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Fishing the Fifty #26, Missouri

Well, the days went along, and the river went down between its banks again; and about the first thing we done was to bait one of the big hooks with a skinned rabbit and set it and catch a catfish that was as big as a man, being six foot two inches long, and weighed over two hundred pounds. We couldn’t handle him, of course; he would a flung us into Illinois. –Huck Finn, by Mark Twain

A central plains state, Missouri’s fishing prospects are bolstered from its geography, with the Mighty Mississippi River anchoring the east and the Missouri River coming in from the northwest and flowing through the center, dividing the northern plans from the Ozarks to the south, with Lake of the Ozarks formed on the Osage River. With plentiful and varied waterways, Missouri has a good variety of species and types of fishing on offer, from the monster river fish to plentiful trophy bass and crappie to walleye and trout.

The stars of the Mississippi River are the catfish, with the record blue weighing 130 lbs, flathead at 77.5 lbs, and channel cat at 34 lbs. Paddlefish are another large species, where you may snag a 5 ft long, 60 pound specimen and not be near the record. If you’re not into being yanked over into Illinois, look for smaller species like the shovelnose sturgeon (with lake and pallid sturgeon being rare), white and hybrid bass, and walleye.

Missouri lakes and reservoirs are a logical starting point if you’re researching locations. The largest is Lake of the Ozarks, where largemouth bass, crappie, and catfish are the big draws, though it also produced the state record paddlefish at an insane 164 pounds, 13 ounces. Next largest is Truman Reservoir, with blue catfish, flathead, paddlefish, crappie, largemouth bass, bluegill, hybrid striper, and walleye. Next is Bull Shoals Lake with largemouth, walleye, crappie, and spotted bass. Then Table Rock Lake with largemouth spotted and smallmouth bass, as well as walleye and paddlefish. The next three largest are Stockton Lake, Norfolk Lake, and Mark Twain Lake, all offering a mix of bass, crappie, and catfish with a chance of walleye.

Rounding out this report are a few northern species. First, the Eleven Point River in the south is a designated “wild and scenic” river holding brown and rainbow trout, as well as chain pickerel. Northern pike can be found in northern and central Missouri down to the lower Osage River. Muskie are stocked in Pomme de Terre Lake, Hazel Creek Lake, Fellows Lake, and Lake 35 at Busch Conservation Area.

The featured video takes us with a catfish guide on the Mississippi near St. Louis, where he teaches the technique of bumping bait:

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Fishing the Fifty #25, Mississippi

Like a lot of the deep south, Mississippi is where you find largemouth bass (the state fish), sunfish, crappie, and catfish in both size and number. The state records include blue catfish weighing 131 pounds, flathead at 77.7 pounds, and channel cat at 51 pounds 12 ounces. Anchored by the mighty Mississippi River that lends its name to the state and the section of Gulf coast, the flatland geography means the waterways are centered around rivers and reservoirs built on them. The exception to the flatlands is a hilly region in the northeast corner by Tennessee and Alabama that features the Tennessee-Tombigbee (or “Tenn-Tom”) Waterway, where a curious Gulf Coast walleye species is making a comeback. Other notable rivers are the Pascagoula in the southeast that empties to the Gulf, the Pearl River in the south-central area, and Mississippi tributaries of the Yazoo (where it joins at Vicksburg) and the Big Black. Reservoir lakes to start with are Sardis Lake (the biggest), Ross Barnett Reservoir, Grenada Lake on the Yalobusha River, and Arkabutla. All these are sources for largemouth bass, white bass, crappie, sunfish (locally known as bream), and channel cats.

The fish you may run across in Mississippi include all the kinds of gar I’ve ever heard of: alligator, longnose, shortnose, and spotted, and chain pickerel and bowfin. You’ll also find the temperate bass, meaning white, striped, and hybrid. In total there are 212 freshwater fish species, with nearly half of those are baitfish like minnows and darters, needed for the food chain in a healthy fishery.

Our featured video is not an epic catfish battle on the Mississippi, or looking for largemouth. It’s not Luke from Outdoor Boys doing a high-low rig for buffalo or some other traveler. It’s old school catch and cook, a father and son fishing crappie around laydowns on the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway, pulling in something like 45 large slabs a day for two days to feed a high school golf team:

For more information, see the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks: https://www.mdwfp.com/fishing-boating/fish-id-guide

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Fishing the Fifty #24, Minnesota

On the shining Big-Sea-Water, With his fishing-line of cedar, Of the twisted bark of cedar, Forth to catch the sturgeon Nahma, Mishe-Nahma, King of Fishes, In his birch canoe exulting All alone went Hiawatha.

The Land of 10,000 Lakes is a top-tier fishing destination, considered by many the best state for walleye (the state fish), along with pike, muskie, trout and salmon. This Great Lake state on Lake Superior hosts the headwaters of the Mississippi, and shares the Boundary Waters Canoe Area with Canada along the northern border.

The northern fish families are all represented: perch, pike (esox), and salmonid, with smallmouth bass figuring into the action. The lake sturgeon was overfished and today is considered a “Species of Special Concern.” It’s worth giving a read to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem “The Song of Hiawatha” (1855), in particular chapter 8 on Hiawatha’s fishing for sturgeon, the king of the lake, and its interactions with the pike and other lake dwellers.

Locations in Minnesota would naturally center around the lakes. Indeed, just scanning the single Wikipedia list of the over 11,000 lake names is fine nerdy entertainment: I found 4 of 6 family member names in the list, but a contender for best name has to be “Lake Full of Fish”. The real question is how to pick where to go? The DNR lists these ten major lakes: Cass, Kabetogama, Lake of the Woods, Leech, Mille Lacs, Pepin, Rainy, Upper Red, Vermillion, Winnibigoshish (part of Mississippi headwaters reservoir). I will highlight three of these. Lake of the Woods appears in my Google searches when I look for the forest preserve of the same name near me. But no, the real Lake of the Woods is way up in the north, bordering Canada, and is known as the walleye capital of the world. It looks fantastic. Lake Pepin is actually a part of the Mississippi River, and is known for being the location of the invention of water skiing. I remember it from the Little House on the Prairie books as the spot where the Ingalls family crossed on the thawing, cracking ice as they left the big woods of Wisconsin. Anglers will know it for the walleye, sauger, perch, white bass, and smallmouth they catch (the DNR cites it for hosting 85 species). Lake Winnibigoshish is part of the Chippewa National Forest, in the area of the Mississippi headwaters, and is home to walleye, yellow perch, and northern pike. 

The rivers in Minnesota deserve their place too. There are three drainage areas going very different places. The Red River of the North (forming part of the border with North Dakota) and Rainy River emptying into Lake of the Woods are part of the Hudson Bay/Arctic drainage system. Most, like the Cedar River, Des Moines River, Minnesota River, Missouri River, St. Croix River, and the Mississippi, of course drain to the Mississippi and then the Gulf. Lake Superior goes to the St. Lawrence and the northern Atlantic. Minnesota rivers are where you’ll find flathead catfish (channel cats too of course), as well as more walleye and sauger.

To emphasize the Walleye Capital of the World angle, the featured video is from the Rainy River, where three young men are part of a virtual flotilla of fishing parties pulling in large walleye as fast as they can, with an occasional hit from a sturgeon:

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Fishing the Fifty #23, Michigan

Michigan is a top-tier fishing state, and one where I have family roots. My grandfather and his brother-in-law would fly fish the Au Sable River every year, starting at Ray’s in Grayling. My own first thrill of catching bass as a teenager took place at the mouth of the Muskegon River. These days, I find myself every year or so buying a few days license to try my luck on the St. Joseph River or a small lake at a campsite. A million people buy a fishing license in Michigan each year, taking advantage of the nation’s longest freshwater shoreline and plentiful interior waters.

Michigan geography is built around the Great Lakes: Lake Michigan and Lake Huron split the state into its Upper and Lower peninsulas, with Lake Superior forming on the northern border of the Upper Peninsula. Almost the entirety of Michigan is in the St. Lawrence River watershed. Add to the Great Lakes plus Lake St. Clair (connecting Huron to Erie), the freshwater location options in Michigan are an embarrassment of riches. Prominent rivers include the Au Sable (trout), St Joseph (trout, salmon), Grand River (lake sturgeon), and the Manistee River (trout, salmon). Black Lake (in the northeast of the Lower Peninsula) is the home of a lake sturgeon season conducted by the Michigan DNR with a target harvest limit of 6 in 2026. Lake Charlevoix and Houghton Lake are also good fishing options. The Upper Peninsula has the Huron Mountains and Porcupine Mountains offer scenic fishing.

The notable list of species is long, with northern families like salmonids, esox, and perciformes but also including whitefish, lake sturgeon, white bass, and some notable smaller variations like pumpkinseed and redear sunfish. The salmonids roaming the Great Lakes are Atlantic salmon, chinook salmon, coho salmon, pink salmon (a whoopsie from the mid-1950’s), lake trout, and steelhead. In the rivers you can find brook trout (the state fish), brown trout, and rainbow trout. Of course Michigan is a place to land muskie, northern pike, yellow perch, and walleye. Whitefish, including lake whitefish and Menominee or round whitefish, are in the Great Lakes mainly targeted by commercial fishing, but they are in crisis, with the invasive quagga mussel filtering too much of the food that baby whitefish need. Smelt can also be obtained, mainly through smelt dipping (with handheld nets) in Upper Peninsula streams.

The featured video takes place at the St. Joseph pier. St. Joseph’s Silver Beach is enormously popular, averaging 718,000 visitors a year. I’ve fished this pier, at the mouth of the St. Joseph river, a couple of times in summer while my family was at the beach. From this accessible spot, the team in the video is landing coho salmon on slip rigs. If you don’t have any luck, work your way backwards up the St. Joseph River; a 30 minute drive away, the Berrien Springs dam area has some great steelhead fishing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQdQ_cQFeZQ

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Fishing the Fifty #22, Massachusetts

This Atlantic coast, New England state is another where saltwater fish figure large in the overall picture (cod is the state fish), so our focus on freshwater includes anadromous fish (spawning in freshwater, living out at sea), but with no shortage of usual options. Massachusetts can be divided into a fairly densely populated eastern side, anchored in Boston where the Charles River opens to Massachusetts Bay, and the more rural western side, anchored around the Berkshire mountains, with the Connecticut River heading south across the state. The standout fish species include striped bass, which are generally out at sea but run back up the rivers to spawn, trout (brook, brown, and lake), landlocked salmon, Esox species like chain pickerel, and shad varieties. Other species you may not see everywhere in the country include American eel, white catfish, brown bullhead or “hornpout”, burbot, fallfish (largest of the minnow family), Redfin pickerel (the smallest Esox species), and white perch. Pumpkinseed can be found all over, but are native and perhaps more common than elsewhere.

Where should you start your search for a place to go? In the west, the Connecticut River has tributaries of Westfield River, accessible from C.M. Gardner State Park, and the Chicopee River, where it joins the Connecticut in Chicopee. Lake Onota is up in the Berkshires in Pittsfield, Ashfield Lake has multiple species including trout, crappie, and bass, and Quabbin Reservoir has landlocked salmon. In the east, Wachusett Reservoir is the 2nd largest body of water, an important water supply that allows fishing under a strict “you don’t touch the water! fish touch the water, you don’t touch the water” rule, where you can pull out lake trout and landlocked salmon. Lake Quinsigamond is a place to seek muskie. Lake options include Lake Denison (trout, bass, pickerel, perch, crapper), and Lake Wyola (trout, bass). The Merrimack River along the towns in northeast hold trout and burbot. In the Boston area, the Charles River is an obvious place to look (including striped bass during the spring run), and Beaver Brook Reservation is an option to seek brook trout. In the southeast, look up Snipatuit Pond, which has a great name, some cranberry bogs, and also some perch, bass, crappie, and bullhead.

Our feature video is from Wachusetts Reservoir, looking for lake trout:

https://youtu.be/XR8CATpraHk?si=Jp3mZqesAf-F7G-q

Overall, even though it’s in a well-developed part of the country, the prospects available across the breadth of Massachusetts are many, from the Appalachians in the west to the streams of the north east and the waters around the Boston area. It provides plenty of opportunity to enjoy the outdoors in a variety of settings.

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Fishing the Fifty #21, Maryland

This is the 3rd in a sequence of states with iconic seafood: Louisiana with shrimp, Maine with lobster, and now Maryland with crab. Since this series focuses on freshwater fishing, we will talk about something other than that, but start off knowing something is in the water.

Maryland provides beauty and remarkable variety. The 42nd state in land area, it’s also all accessible (Friendsville to Ocean City in just over 5 hours, driving at night?), earning the nickname America in Miniature. The extreme west has Youghiogheny River, a tributary of the Menongahela, and thus part of the Mississippi watershed. The west includes the Appalachian Mountains and Blue Ridge mountains. Then comes the piedmont plateau. The Chesapeake Bay divides the state nearly in half, with Baltimore on the west. On the eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay is a flat and sandy coastal plain. Maryland has no natural lakes, due to lack of glacial activity, so there are rivers and reservoirs, and of course the Chesapeake Bay.

This geology gives a corresponding variety in fish species. In the mountains and north are brook trout and brown trout (with rainbow in some places), in Garrett County (Savage River, Youghiogheny River, Deep Creek Lake), Big Hunting Creek and Gunpowder Falls. Deep Creek Lake has many species and is a good vacation spot. Piney Run Reservoir is a manmade lake in north central Carroll County, providing largemouth, redbreast sunfish, striped bass, crappie, channel cats, tiger muskie, and yellow perch. The Patapsco River (smallmouth bass, rock bass, redbreast sunfish) and Potomac (muskie, walleye, trout) and tributaries provide good river options. In spring these two river systems see the spawning run of shad (hickory, American, and gizzard), a historically important food source that is closely managed today, with catch-and-release programs in certain areas (check current rules). Bowfin can be found in the southern Chesapeake watershed, and white catfish are native to the Chesapeake Bay system. Around Baltimore are Liberty Reservoir (3100 acres, bass, gluegill, crappie, white perch, striped bass) and Loch Raven Reservoir (2400 acres, bass, yellow perch, northern pike). Finally, on the eastern shore side of the Chesapeake is St Mary’s Lake featuring trophy bass. Blue and flathead catfish, as well as Chesapeake Channa (a.k.a. northern snakehead) are invasive species.

All in all, Maryland has a lot to offer. The featured video is a multi-species outing at Deep Creek Lake, starting with a walleye: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bbFSdo4dRk

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Fishing the Fifty #20, Maine

Maine is a unique and wonderful place in many ways, and its position as a top fishing destination is part of that. Maine has one end of the Appalachian Trail, and is heavily forested, with plenty of rivers and lakes holding freshwater fish. It is tucked up in the northeast corner of the continental US, sharing a state border only with New Hampshire, but also bordering the Canadian provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick, as well as a maritime border with Nova Scotia. Perhaps owing to its position, the fish species widely available in Maine are different from most of the continent, heavily featuring salmonids, landlocked salmon (the state fish), brook trout, and arctic charr (two “r’s”), and of course rainbow trout, and lake whitefish. There are smallmouth bass in some rivers, but sunfish and temperate bass are not as easily found as elsewhere. Catfish are not widespread; channel catfish in particular are rare and cannot be legally imported, though there are bullheads.

Major freshwater lakes include Moosehead Lake (northwest), Sebago Lake State Park (near Portland), Baxter State Park (north central), Grand Lakes Area (east), Shin Pond, Belgrade Lakes (near Augusta), and Mooselookmeguntic Lake (west, in the Androscoggin River drainage system). Numerous ponds are found all over. Notable rivers include Kennebec River (rising at Moosehead Lake), Penobscot River (drainage area covers a large part of the center of the state, and empties to the Atlantic), Androscoggin River (southwest), and Presumpscot River (from Sebago Lake).

Do refer to the fishing regulations, there may be some surprises, such as certain river sections being restricted to fly fishing only. At the time of writing there is an active court case challenging this restriction.

Even though you are probably not going to Maine to catch eels, it feels worth a mention that Maine plays a surprising role in worldwide eel consumption. Baby eels, or elvers, are collected in Maine, of all places, and shipped to Asia to finish maturing. This article gives some of the surprising history that led to this circumstance: https://www.mainepublic.org/business-and-economy/2018-05-01/why-maine-is-the-only-state-in-the-us-with-a-significant-elver-fishery

Our featured video takes us to western Maine, fly fishing for brook trout:

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Fishing the Fifty #19, Louisiana

“Sportsman’s Paradise”, it says right on the license plate. Louisiana is unique both for what’s in the water, as well as how much. We’ve covered a lot of states, this is the first one where a fishing license mentions it lets you harvest shrimp. 

Since this series focuses on freshwater fishing, I won’t talk about saltwater species, but there is a saltwater region that some freshwater species may still be found. The Intercoastal Waterway, a canal that runs from Florida to Texas, marks where saltwater fishing rules apply to the south, and freshwater rules to the north. The Louisiana Bayou is a smaller portion of this saltwater region, lying to the southwest of New Orleans and including Thibodaux, Houma, and Morgan City.

The key bodies of water must start with the Mighty Mississippi River, with the Red River coming down from Arkansas and joining the Atchafalaya River. Major lakes and reservoirs especially for fishing include Catahoula Lake (near Alexandria), Toledo Bend (on the border with Texas), Caddo Lake (also shared with Texas), Caney Lake (near Shreveport), Lake D’Arbonne (north central) and Bussey Brake (northeast).

The unusual fish species in Louisiana include alligator gar, bowfin,spotted bass, Rio Grande cichlid, Warmouth, and chain pickerel. I’ve come to accept that temperate bass species such as striped bass, white bass, and the hybrid striped bass, are not unusual, but I will mention them as present as well. The common American sunfish species of largemouth bass, bluegill, and crappie, also known by the French name sac a lait (bag of milk) are found in abundance. This is one of the places you come to bend the rod and pull out lunkers. Crappie fishing is excellent, with Toledo Bend a standout for numbers and size, but also Lake D’Arbonne.

Louisiana has a very nice freshwater fish poster, enjoy:

Our featured video takes us into the bayou, for sac a lait. That’s right, we’re below the saltwater line, but fishing for crappie with the French name, pulling them in hand over fist. I think this sums up Louisiana fishing nicely.