All waters · North Dakota · Garrison Dam Tailrace

Garrison Dam Tailrace, ND

River in Mercer County, North Dakota. The cold, fast tailwater immediately below Garrison Dam at Riverdale where Lake Sakakawea releases enter the Missouri River. A renowned multi-species spot famous for fall chinook salmon snagging, plus strong walleye, sauger, smallmouth bass, northern pike, channel catfish and rainbow trout drawn to the oxygen-rich discharge.

51

Overall bite score

Scored 23 min ago · recomputed every 30 minutes

Water tempModeled74
Pressure trendNOAAsteady60
SolunarComputedmoon 62% lit49
Recent stockingState data50
Time of dayComputed40
WindNOAA10
Cloud coverNOAA35
PrecipitationNOAA50

Each instrument reads 0 to 100. The score is their weighted blend, tuned for rivers and streams. No black box: every reading names its source.

What swims here

7 tracked species in Garrison Dam Tailrace, with the months each fishes best.

Walleyeabundant
Channel Catfishcommon
Chinook Salmoncommon
Northern Pikecommon
Saugercommon
Smallmouth Basscommon
Rainbow Troutpresent

Water facts

TypeRiver
CountyMercer
StateNorth Dakota
WaterFreshwater

No live USGS temp/flow gage at the dam itself (06339000 below Garrison Dam is discontinued), so the bite score uses the same-river downstream gage 06342500 (Missouri River at Bismarck) as a proxy and the seasonal baseline. Tailrace access via the Garrison Dam tailrace area and Riverdale ramps. Chinook salmon snagging season runs ~Sept 20 through October; walleye/sauger combined 5/day. Verify on the gf.nd.gov regulations page.

See the full forecast for Garrison Dam Tailrace in the app: best windows, 7-day outlook, what to bring, and offline regulations. The score and essentials are free.

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Not legal advice. Always verify with official state regulations.

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