Expect Lake Sakakawea's game fish population to be hungry this year.

Based on the lake's falling water level, Jeff Hendrickson, north-central district supervisor for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, isn't expecting much of an increase in the rainbow smelt population this summer.

"They were spawning well, but unfortunately the lake dropped," he said Tuesday. "We are not expecting a very big hatch, but you never know."

Smelt, a primary food source for walleyes, northern pike, salmon and sauger, typically spawn in about a foot of water. Lake Sakakawea has dropped more than a foot since the spawn ended about two weeks ago, Hendrickson said.

That falling lake level left many eggs exposed to the elements, which destroys them, leading Hendrickson to predict a poor year for smelt.

"By the end of the summer, we should have a better idea," he said. NDGFD fisheries researchers will do trawls in June in hopes of finding larval smelt.

"We should have some kind of an estimate for the population in August."

The expected poor smelt hatch this year follows two "average" years, Hendrickson said.

"The bottom line is there should be more hungry walleyes," he said. "Walleye fishing should be good."

But the big picture for smelt is not very rosy, Hendrickson said.

"We need a lot more rain than we had the other day. That's what's going to save our smelt."

Hendrickson said NDGFD constantly is getting on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the Missouri River system including Lake Sakakawea, about the spawn and holding Sakakawea's water level steady or rising during and after the spawn.

"If (the corps) managed the water levels for fish, (smelt) probably would do a lot better, but since it's a multi-use reservoir they don't do that," he said.

With the lake holding lower smelt numbers during low-water years, Hendrickson said the lake's predator population will be affected.

The biggest impact will be on salmon because they eat only smelt, he said.

Fewer salmon, which don't reproduce naturally in Lake Sakakawea, will be stocked in Lake Sakakawea this year, Hendrickson said, falling from a normal stocking of 400,000 to 200,000 salmon.

Since walleyes, northern pike and sauger eat other species of fish in addition to smelt, Hendrickson expects minnows, worms and leeches to "look pretty good to them this year."

Next year should be Lake Sakakawea's turn for steady to rising water levels during the spawn. According to the revised master manual, the corps rotates which of the big three reservoirs - Sakakawea, Lake Oahe and Fort Peck - gets steady to rising water levels during their spawns.

With Lake Sakakawea on deck for better conditions, Hendrickson is hopeful.

"Hopefully we'll get a good spawn for smelt next year," Hendrickson said. "It's about all we can do. Hopefully, smelt can pull off a good reproduction year any time they get a chance."