Cattail Kettle and Bitter Lake will also be good, suggests Brian Blackwell, SDDGFP fish biologist at Webster. "In winter, perch and walleyes are the primary target," he said. "There is some bluegill activity on Enemy Swim."

The midsized walleye population is also doing well. Blackwell says that many are 14 to 18 inches long, with some larger.

"Waubay will be the best lake for numbers of fish," he said. "We have pretty high catch rates for walleyes over there right now."

And he also expects Waubay to have some of the best perch populations. Average perch size there is 9 to 10 inches, which is down from the 11 1/2-inch average last winter.

"It is the 2001 year-class they are fishing this year. After that, there is basically nothing left. Our perch are tied to rising water, and we have not had a winter with snow since that winter before 2001. When we don't get runoff, our perch populations show it."

The South Dakota perch limit is 10, and even with dropping populations in coming years, Blackwell doesn't anticipate that limit will change. "I don't see us lowering it further," he said. "We are probably in the good days right now. It will go down for a few years until we get some natural reproduction. We have seen numbers go down in other lakes, too. Our lake levels are still good, but without that spring runoff, we definitely see the effects.

"It is the same with other species such as walleyes. There are a few crappie in some lakes, but they are so cyclical that sometimes we only see year-classes every fifth or sixth year."

Northern pike are also going to decline after this winter. Natural reproduction has dropped.

An exception is Bitter Lake. According to Blackwell, the chain of lakes near Bitter filled later in the wet cycle. There are 6- to 10-pound northerns there, with a few going more than 15 pounds. Still, the biologist sees fewer people going after northerns than in the past.

"There are a few people who go ice-fishing for them," he said. "But not as much as a few years ago when they were the mainstays of the area. With the high water, people wanted walleyes and perch, and we haven't seen as many northern pike fishermen."

"We in the east are in much better shape than in the middle and the west," said Gene Van Eeckhout, North Dakota Game and Fish Department fish biologist at Jamestown. "Our water has been going down, but I think we are in good shape. Last winter it was not hard to find fish in many places. We didn't observe very many floaters (dead fish) last spring. So I would anticipate a few left for this winter."

But despite what appears to be good numbers of perch and other species, North Dakota biologists are gun-shy about predicting good fishing. For somewhat mysterious reasons, good fish numbers last winter did not translate into good fishing much of the time.

"The fish really threw us a curve the past couple of winters," said Eeckhout, "especially for perch, where we are trying to manage the temporary waters. It is unpredictable."

The newer, smaller, shallower perch lakes are the ones that have failed to produce good fishing at a time when many thought the fishing would be great. And biologists' test nettings have turned up good fish numbers. It could be that the fish are just too full of other food to be interested much in baits presented by ice-fishermen. And sometimes, good fishing just doesn't materialize.

"Why it doesn't happen we don't know," said Eeckhout. "But we do know that some of the lakes have a surplus of forage."

Still, Eeckhout expects the old standbys to have good fishing. Lakes such as Jamestown, Pipestem and Lake Lamoure should be fine places to catch fish through the ice.

An interesting fishing experience can be enjoyed due to the changing ecosystem in Lake Ashtabula. By most anglers' standards it would be considered a failing lake. It has been taken over by hordes of ravenous bullheads.

"Lake Ashtabula is not in too good of shape," said Eeckhout. "We are struggling. We are at a high in our bullhead density. We are having a hard time establishing age-classes of game fish. On top of that, our perch fishery collapsed."

Bullheads are warmwater fish. Their metabolism slows during winter, and usually, anglers can't expect to catch many through the ice. But there are so many of them, and they are so hungry, that they just may do some biting during winter.

"If we could move that lake to within a few miles of some metropolitan area and have a pay-for-fish operation, you could have a fortune overnight," said Eeckhout.

The bullheads weigh in at more than a pound apiece. "Anything organic will catch those bullheads," said Eeckhout. "Usually, when the density gets this high, even the guys who fish artificial baits have trouble not catching them."

Yellow perch remain the chief objective for most North Dakota fishermen, along with walleyes. "But we have developed a bit of a crappie culture the past few years," said Eeckhout. "Jamestown produced crappie the last 10 years. But Pipestem has been producing crappie now for the last three to four years."

The harsh winters and shallow natural lakes produce continual boom-and-bust cycles of fish. Of course, it's yellow perch, walleyes and northern pike that fit into that type of ecosystem.

It's possible that the tail end of the boom period is at hand this winter. Already, some areas of North Dakota have shown the beginnings of a downward trend.

"The northwestern part of the state took a beating last winter," said Eeckhout. "They were marginal areas. We had a couple (of die-offs) in our standard lakes, but most of the fish kill last spring was in the real marginal areas. I would like to see the 1- to 1 1/2-pound perch harvested. We certainly have a lot of perch in the 1 to 1 1/2-pound range."

That goes against some of the conventional conservation techniques of catch-and-release fishing. But with shallower northern Great Plains lakes very subject to winterkill, some will eventually have total die-offs. So harvest is encouraged when, it's felt, that may be about to happen.

"We have been encouraging the harvest in some of these shallow lakes that came on line in '93 because we hate to see them winterkilled or summerkilled," said Eeckhout. "That is what ultimately will occur. There is no doubt in my mind.

"We are encouraging harvest, though it might seem like a lot at times - 35 perch, crappie or bluegills per day. That might be a stretch for bluegills, but there are some places you could do that with crappie, and more places for perch. We sure would like to see some of them harvested rather than be floating next spring."