So I was looking through the North Dakota fishing regulations and on the limits and possession page at the bottom it mentions Zander, which are the european equivalent to a walleye. Has anybody caught one? I tried looking for the survey information on the lake but could not find it.
I cant help but notice your “chive on” picture.. i love that website too 
I didn’t know they even were able to sustain. I grew up in ND and was there when the efforts to stock zander were happening. From my memory I thought it was a failure and the program was abandoned.
Just checked the website for the ND Game and Fish and no inidcation of zander. It wasn’t in the brochure for fish in ND. The stocking records for Spiritwood go back to 1997 and only have walleye and pike.
I’m guessing there isn’t a sustainable population but I left the state in ’99.
If you’re looking to target them, I’d check out a couple European fishing websites for common techniques. Supposedly they get up to 44lbs. Just checked out a couple pictures on the web… They get pretty huge. Could you imagine catching a 40lbs walleye?
They stocked Zander in Spiritwood in the late 80’s. They have had a few show up in test nets that are young of the year so they say they have been established. The population is very small though. This link below explains it a little better. It’s the only lake in the US that has Zander in it.
I also saw that the state record of 8lbs and 29in long was caught in 2007 in North Dakota.
Quote:
They stocked Zander in Spiritwood in the late 80’s. They have had a few show up in test nets that are young of the year so they say they have been established. The population is very small though. This link below explains it a little better. It’s the only lake in the US that has Zander in it.
THANKS! I had been wondering for years what happened. The last I heard was that it didn’t sustain but now it looks like there is a really small population there.
I think I see what they are talking about. Someone put in in the size requirements for making the whopper club. On the state record listing there is no zander.
Would be interesting to catch one but the odds seem to be very, very low. For my time I would find somewhere else to fish unless I was stuck in Jamestown. I know they’ve got walleye bigger than 8lbs in Devil’s lake or all through the Missouri river system.
No to derail, and I do think it would be cool to catch one, but who ever thought this was a good idea? Sure the idea of supersized walleyes is cool, but did anyone think of the environmental impact?
If you read the link above, the lake flooded out once, with potential for non-native fish to spread. Isn’t this exactly how other invsaives (all kinds of carp) got into our waters?
You are correct Dfresh, it was not a good move. They were probably on the fence about it as this was the only lake in the US where they did this aside from a couple ponds in PA.
The good thing is that they probably won’t be as bad as the asian carp as they don’t reproduce like rabbits and take over a waterway. There will just be a few LARGE walleye like fish swimming around. 
The one thing that I find amazing about that link is the fact that they have no hybridization between species. They have been there since ’89 and no Zanders have hooked up with a walleye. 
I can take a stab at the question as well. I was in high school when all this was going on.
There was no oil boom at that time and the farm economy was in the crapper due to several years of drought. The thought was to get this cool oversized wallye and tourists would come.
At the time nobody around there realized what other invasives would due like the carp we talk about now. Most of the objections were coming from Canada. ND was so starved for help on the economy that was the driving factor.
Other factors included a significant lack of environmentalism overall.
Another would be some of the prior experience with other invasives such as pheasants. The late 80’s was when pay to hunt got it’s foothold. Sucked for those of us where were locals without cash but good for the economy and the farmers. Could Zander bring in the MN fisherman with fat wallets?
Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose. At the time I thought zander was a great idea. It was supposed to be a landlocked lake(who knew lakes flood?). Now I look back and can’t believe this was even tried.
They tried to stock Zander more than one time, if I remember the eggs had a chance of contamination or something on several more attempts. Spirtwood is a closed basin.
No different than a trout pond stocking.
I wonder if zander would eat asian carp? I sure would like to catch a zander opposed to an asian carp
Did you guys watch River Monsters last night. He was catching some nice fish in Chernoboyl.
Zander are definitely in Spiritwood Lake; and are a challenge. Game & Fish usually find a couple of 2 yr olds annually in their net checks of the lake; and in 2012 another 8 pounder was caught. My son and 2 friends pulled in a new state record in mid July this year (2013) at 11 pounds, 3 ounces…32 inches long. They look amazingly like walleye. I think it’s a great challenge for anyone wanting to catch North American Zander…ya gotta come to Jamestown ND and fish Spiritwood Lake!
Very cool. Congrats to your son and his friends on the new state record. 
By the way, the NDGF dept has a great website where you can check on Whopper catches over the years. Go here:
http://gf.nd.gov/fishing/other-fishing-information/whopper-clubcatch-and-release-club
Scroll down and you’ll see Whopper Club/Catch And Release Data Search.
If you click on that, you get a box where you can search for any fish species or any year or any lake, etc. Do a search for ZANDER and you’ll find that only 3 Whopper Zander (8 lbs or larger) have been caught. They were in 2007, 2012, and 2013. I’ve seen reports of a 6.6 pounder in 2006, and a 12 pounder (not certified) in 2008, and many others. Seems that there is a nice population in the lake, and they are elusive. Put them on your Bucket List!!javascript:void(0)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
