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Jamestown Reservoir Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

A James River impoundment: Jamestown Reservoir holds walleye, pike and perch in central North Dakota.

4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Flow
164 cfs
Air / High
68 / 72 F
Wind
SSE 17 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 06470500, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

4/5Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Jamestown Reservoir is in transition: bait on the move and predators following. The nearest gauge is running 164 cfs, falling. Today brings cloud cover, wind SSE around 17 mph, falling pressure near 1005 hPa and a high of 72. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:10 AM-12:10 PM and 10:41 PM-12:41 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

WalleyeExcellent

Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Northern pikeExcellent

The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

White bassGood

The spring run happens in this band: tributaries, shoals and the upper ends of reservoirs as the water reaches about 55Β°F.

CrappieGood

Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

Tomorrow: Cooler at 63 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

North Dakota requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $29.00 for residents. What a North Dakota licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing walleye here? Check the size and bag limits with NDGF before you keep anything. The season dates for North Dakota, read off the agency, are on the North Dakota seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from James River at LaMoure (below).

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 06470500.

97208319164 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp68 F
High / Low72 / 56 F
WindSSE 17-35 mph
Pressure1005.3 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 13%
Sunrise / Sunset08:04 / 18:32
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Jamestown Reservoir this week

Today is the pick of the week on Jamestown Reservoir, at 4 out of 5.

Best day this week: today, Oct 23 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Good

Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Solunar majors
10:10 AM-12:10 PM and 10:41 PM-12:41 AM
Minor period
4:35 AM-5:35 AM
Sun
08:04 to 18:32
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 22 mph
Rain chance
13%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Jamestown Reservoir: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

White bass illustration

White bass

Best: the spring run up the tributaries, then summer surface schools

A silvery temperate bass of rivers and large reservoirs, also called sand bass, that schools in open water after shad and runs up tributaries to spawn in early spring. The spring run happens in this band: tributaries, shoals and the upper ends of reservoirs as the water reaches about 55Β°F.

Northern pike illustration

Northern pike

Best: cool water, from ice-out through spring, in fall and under the ice

A long, duck-billed predator of weedy lakes, slow rivers and backwaters that ambushes fish from vegetation. Wisconsin DNR points out that, unlike most of the state's common game fish, pike do their best feeding in cool water. The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

When to come: the Jamestown Reservoir calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Walleye
White bass
Northern pike
Crappie
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Jamestown Reservoir today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Walleye led the card at good. High of 75 F, wind to 19 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Walleye led the card at good. High of 65 F, wind to 10 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Walleye led the card at excellent. High of 70 F, wind to 16 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

North Dakota requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

North Dakota license. Walleye, pike and perch limits per current Game and Fish regulations.

Access

Corps ramps and recreation areas around the reservoir; Jamestown provides services.

About this water

A 2,000-acre Corps flood-control reservoir on the James River, Stutsman County, North Dakota.

Fishing Jamestown Reservoir: the full guide

A prairie reservoir

Jamestown Reservoir spreads about 2,000 acres on the James River north of Jamestown, a Corps flood-control lake in central North Dakota farm country. It is a straightforward prairie fishery: walleye, northern pike, yellow perch, white bass and channel catfish, in fertile, often turbid water with modest structure and plenty of wind.

Walleye and pike

Walleye hold the points, rocky shorelines and the deeper flats: jigs and live-bait rigs in spring, trolled harnesses through summer, with wind-blown shorelines producing best. Northern pike work the weedy bays and shallow arms, taking spoons and spinnerbaits, and provide steady action through the ice as well.

Perch and the seasons

Yellow perch school over the flats and anchor the winter fishery, which is popular given the proximity to Jamestown. White bass appear in numbers in some years. Water levels vary with flood-control operations, sometimes substantially after spring runoff, which changes structure and access.

Stutsman County logistics

Ramps and recreation areas serve the reservoir, with Jamestown minutes south providing services and Interstate 94 running past. The area also holds Pipestem Reservoir nearby, giving anglers an alternative when wind or conditions make one lake unfishable. Ice fishing draws steady local traffic in winter.

Common questions

What is the main species?

Walleye, with northern pike in the weedy bays and yellow perch supporting the winter fishery.

Is there an alternative nearby?

Yes: Pipestem Reservoir sits close by, useful when wind or conditions spoil one of the two.

Does the level change?

Yes, with flood-control operations, particularly after spring runoff: check conditions before towing.

Is fishing good at Jamestown Reservoir right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Nearby waters

Pipestem Reservoir5 miLake Ashtabula32 miDevils Lake72 miSheyenne River83 miMissouri River100 miRed River of the North100 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 06470500 β€” James River at LaMoure (below)
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 19:15 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 47.0200, -98.7000 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.