Saddle Butte, North Dakota – The Odland Dam in western North Dakota contains a 120-acre reservoir. In this week’s episode of North Dakota Outdoors, Mike Anderson takes us to this body of water after finishing a big enhancement.
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department, the Golden Valley County Water Resource District, local landowners, and an Outdoor Heritage Fund grant have all contributed to the enhancement of fishing and boating opportunities at Odland Dam.
“Sediments totaling 130,000 cubic yards were removed. Those enormous off-road haul truckloads, or 6,450 of them, would be the equivalent. or stacked 60 feet high, covering a football field. “They pumped out 166 million gallons of water,” said Bud Ordahl, of the water resource agency.
North Dakota Game and Fish’s Jeff Merchant, a fisheries specialist, expects that the silt removal will help with fish management.
Winter kills are one of our largest management challenges since they happen regularly. Odland is capable of producing some fairly nice fish, although this is severely hindered when winter kills happen frequently. The quantity of perch in this area has become another issue for us in recent years. Therefore, according to Merchant, this endeavor is actually offering us a chance to start fishing again.
The project was essential for the neighborhood and the local community because there aren’t many bodies of water in that part of the state for recreational boating and fishing.
“I’ve been working on it for years and years and years just because the community wanted it, and over time it just got to the point where we couldn’t even go out on a boat in it anymore. The shallow depths were simply causing the weeds to come back too quickly. Additionally, the lack of depth was putting the fisheries in poor condition, according to Ordahl.
Water is already flowing again through Odland Dam, where Merchant and his team stocked fish earlier this spring.
“We’ve already stocked adult bluegills in Odland this year, and we’re hoping that they’ll breed. Additionally, we’re going to stock fingerling walleyes, said Merchant.
People are already utilizing it for recreational boating even though it will take a few years for the fish to grow to the point where they can be caught.
Odland Dam is situated north of Beach in western North Dakota.
