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 the number of angling opportunities available to its members and the public. The founders established the following 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 along with one Canadian province.

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 three (3) fish cleaning stations.

On June 15th in 1987 the Lake Region Anglers Association filed their incorporation papers for Non-Profit Organization status with the Secretary of State of North Dakota. It was at this time that the Association established the first set of By-Laws and the Constitution that we operate under today.

One of the main reasons that LRAA chose to incorporate as a Non-Profit Organization was because it enabled us additional opportunities to be able to effectively raise funds in order to broaden out our work in the area of Conservation, Lake Access and Education. This decision has enabled LRAA to act as the local lead entity in our collaborative efforts working with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department to be able to maintain our existing Lake Access facilities, work with the development and building of new Lake Access locations, along with the installation of a number of fish cleaning stations through-out the Lake Region. In addition to our support of Lake Access projects we use this funding on programs such as educating the public on conservation projects such as the negative effects an Aquatic Nuisance Species would have on our fisheries and in promoting our Youth Activities and Education programs.

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 outside of today’s Association has increased our emphasis in the promotion of projects related to Youth Education and Youth Activities.