History of LRAA

The Lake Region Anglers Association (LRAA) was founded in 1975 through the efforts of a group of local anglers who wanted to establish an organization to enhance the fisheries located with-in the Lake Region and increase the number of angling opportunities available to its members and the public. The founders established the following 5 objectives to accomplish the vision they had for LRAA; Conservation, Preservation, Sportsmanship, Fellowship and Lake Access.

The organization was focused on promoting the sport of fishing through the sharing of ideas and experiences while developing programs to educate the public on the importance of conserving and preserving our natural resources. The founders created an environment where the members were able to interact with each other in, social, business, recreational and competitive activities which enabled a strong bond of fellowship and a spirit of sportsmanship to be built up amongst its membership. The founders knew that Lake Access would be an area of primary importance in order to make its vision of LRAA a reality so they worked hard to make available Lake Access sites for their members and the fishing public.

The initial membership was the five original members who founded the organization. Those five (5) original founding members with-in one year’s time had recruited and grown the membership of LRAA to well over one hundred (100+) members from the Lake Region community. The membership of the Lake Region Anglers Association has grown over the years to include members from many different states through-out the US and Canadian provinces.

In 1979 the Lake Region Anglers Association established one of the first fishing tournaments held in the state of North Dakota. This tournament later evolved into the current Devils Lake Chamber of Commerce Walleye Tournament which is the longest continuous running fishing tournament in the state of North Dakota.

The first Lake Access project that was undertaken by LRAA was in the summer of 1981 at the Lakewood Beach Landing site comprising of the development of a launch site, the installation of a boat ramp and a boat dock. Over the years LRAA has been part of the planning and development of nine (9) Lake Access sites and the installation of four (4) fish cleaning stations including the first ever 4-Season Fishing Cleaning Station with-in the state of North Dakota. Most recently in July of 2015 the Lake Region Anglers Association lent their financial and physical support to establishing three (3) Handicap Access projects; Channel A Access, Hennegar Access and the East Ditch Access locations.

On June 15th in 1987 the Lake Region Anglers Association filed their incorporation papers for Organization status with the Internal Revenue Service and the Secretary of State of North Dakota. The Lake Region Anglers Association is a 501-C-4 non-profit organization. It was at this time that the Association established the By-Laws that we operate under today.

The current vision of the Lake Region Anglers Association remains basically the same as the one that the original founders had for LRAA when we were first established back in 1975. In 2000 the Lake Region Anglers Association added a 6th organizational Objective the emphasis in the promotion of projects related to Youth Education and Youth Activities.

The Lake Region Anglers Association is proud to announce that our organization was inducted into the North Dakota Fishing Hall of Fame on July 20th, 2017 at a ceremony in conjunction with the North Dakota Governor’s Cup at Garrison, North Dakota.