North Dakota · Channel catfish
Can you keep a channel catfish in North Dakota?
Yes, with limits
west of ND Highway 1 (includes Devils Lake)
Open year-roundSize
No size limit stated
total length
Daily bag
20
per person per day
Possession
40
total you may hold
No minimum size, twenty a day — a deliberately liberal limit the department set for the western two-thirds of the state to build catfish into a bigger gamefish, a real contrast to the tight 5-fish rule east of Highway 1.
east of ND Highway 1
Open year-roundSize
No size limit stated
total length
Daily bag
5
per person per day, only 1 over 24 inches
Possession
5
total you may hold
No minimum size, but daily and possession limits are the same number (5) rather than doubling, and only one fish over 24 inches. Not the rule that applies at Devils Lake, which sits west of the Highway 1 line — shown here for contrast.
What we left out on purpose
- Zander are folded into the walleye/sauger/saugeye combination specifically at Spiritwood and Alkali lakes (Stutsman County) — neither is a water this site covers, so that exception isn't modelled.
- The Red River and Bois de Sioux River carry their own, lower walleye/pike/catfish numbers (3/3 and 5 with a 1-fish-over-24-inch catfish cap regardless of licenses held) — not modelled since this site doesn't cover either river.
- Three tiny posted waters (OWLS Pond, State Fair Pond, McDowell Dam) run full or seasonal catch-and-release rules — not modelled, none is a water this site covers.
- Legal live baitfish (150/150 combined) and leeches (300/300) are bait-possession limits, not sport-catch limits, and are not modelled here — consistent with excluding baitfish species elsewhere in this silo.
- Snapping turtles, frogs, salamanders and crayfish carry their own limits in the same statewide table but are not finfish and are out of this silo's scope.
Other species in North Dakota
Where to try today
- Devils Lake 7/10 · Good