Freshwater Shrimp

By Doug Leier
As a child growing up in northwestern North Dakota, seafood was a special treat, to the point that even fish sticks were considered a pretty rare dinner at home..
Thirty-five years ago “fresh” North Dakota seafood came frozen in a box and was usually deep fried. One of my fondest memories of dining out [...]

Livewell Maintenance

By Doug Leier

For the better part of 10 years I’ve written a weekly column, none of which have explored the topic of livewells. The recent discovery of a zebra mussel veliger in the Red River, however, is changing that.
Livewells and veligers link together because veligers are the tiny larvae of zebra mussels. They float suspended [...]

20 Years Outdoors

By Doug Leier
One of the consequences of having four distinct seasons is that we slot various activities during certain times of year. Spring is big for graduations and a few weddings, while in summer we cram and squeeze in vacations, long weekends and more weddings, along with family and class reunions.
This year it’s my turn [...]

Fishing Memories

By Doug Leier
Every so often as the kids and I set off on an unknown excursion, I’ll quip, “let’s go make some memories.”
I understand full well that setting off intentionally to make a memory is part tongue-in-cheek, and the purpose of most outdoor outings for me is spending quality time with the family. As a [...]

Bluegills for Kids

By Doug Leier
Late in the 1980s my family moved from LaMoure to Valley City. I’d fished the Jim River and Lake LaMoure prior to the move, and enjoyed an array of fish, from pike to perch and even the lowly carp.
In Barnes County around Valley City, I spent a good chunk of time fishing Lake [...]

Youth in the Outdoors

By Doug Leier
The 2009 North Dakota Legislature continued a recent nationwide trend by creating a few new opportunities designed to recruit and retain hunters.
A year ago, elected representatives of North Dakota endorsed an apprentice license for hunters who haven’t taken and passed a certified hunter education course. The legislature also reduced the minimum age for [...]

Fish Disease

Throughout the year, North Dakota Game and Fish Department staff field an array of calls and questions on oddities in the fish and wildlife world. Just the deer season alone results in many calls about rank meat, abnormal growths or sick looking deer.
As spring and summer fishing gets into full gear, inquiries turn to the [...]

Frabill HiberNet

Now You See It, Now You Don’t
Most stowable – not to mention most anticipated – landing net soon to disappear from store shelves.
Jackson, Wis. – Retailers and writers first cast eyes on it at ICAST (International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades) last summer in Orlando, Fla. Since then, expectancy has brewed like beer to the [...]

Fishing North Shore Steelhead

By Nick Simonson
If you’ve ever laid eyes on a steelhead, you know the color they bring to a spring fishing trip. The hens are a glistening chrome with a faded pink stripe down their sides and a light green top. The bucks turn a deep pink – almost purple – throughout their sides [...]

Fishing Gear to Remember

By Bob Jensen
When we go fishing, so often we spend a lot of time making sure we have the right lures, fresh line, charged boat batteries, and all those other things that are part of the actual fishing process. And, no doubt, those are important considerations. But there are some other things we [...]

Missouri Rivers on the Rise

For the first time in years, both of North Dakota’s Missouri River reservoirs are starting off the spring at normal pool elevation, which should mean good things for fishing in the future. In the case of Lake Sakakawea, that doesn’t necessarily mean better angling this year, though, as it takes a few years for fish [...]

Horizontal Jigging

By Nick Simonson
Have you ever watched the way minnows move? When I was in Grand Forks, N.D. attending “The School that Shall Not Be Named” I had multiple chances to jump the Red River into East Grand Forks, Minn., and watch as trout, bass and pike preyed upon minnows that the staff had dumped [...]

Wildlife Photo Periods

By Doug Leier
In the name of positive thinking, I’ve always operated under the assumption that spring arrives with March and winter isn’t officially on the table until January. That makes for a short eight weeks of winter in my mind.
However, when the first snow flies in October and shelterbelts are still packed with white when [...]

ND Fishing Reg Changes

By Doug Leier
Rather than wholesale changes on a yearly basis, the bulk of North Dakota’s fishing rules and regulations are implemented every two years, and 2010 is one of the years when we get a new fishing proclamation. The new regulations begin April 1 and are in place until March 31, 2012.
By no means does [...]

Fishing Diary

By Nick Simonson
There have been a lot of changes in my life over the past five years. I’ve lived in two states and three towns and have had six different jobs, with this one being the most consistent. In that time I’ve fished over 60 lakes and rivers, gaining some level of familiarity [...]

President Obama Attacking Fishing Industry

Sport Anglers Alarmed by Proposed Obama Policy
A controversy has erupted in the sport fishing community over a new federal management plan for oceans and Great Lakes waters. Recent opinion pieces circulating on the internet and reported on numerous radio stations have stoked the flames through revelations that the policy, if implemented, would prohibit recreational fishing [...]

Time to Get Moving

By Nick Simonson
It was hard to hear the beep of the cash register as I stood in line with the few items that my wife requested I pick up from the grocery store. Behind me, a four-year old girl screamed bloody murder each time her mother pried the candy bar from her hands and [...]

Outdoors Online Licensing

By Doug Leier
With the possible exception of a first driver’s license, few people spin a nostalgic tale about buying a license “back in the day.”
In fact, I struggle trying to come up with any story associated renewal of my North Dakota driver’s license. Same goes for my fishing license, except perhaps buying a trout stamp [...]

Sculpins

For the Presidents’ Day weekend, I had planned out a solid day of fishing on a lake near my mother-in-law’s house where I knew the fish would bite all day. A couple hours at sunrise put me on some good-sized, fast-biting bluegills with the occasional crappie mixed in. The agenda was to meet [...]

Wetlands Key to Spring Flood

By Nick Simonson
Reports this month have many people across the region looking out their front windows with worry. In the wake of back-to-back blizzards, the National Weather Service (NWS) released its early-season forecast for this spring’s flood potential for the upper Midwest. Some form of flooding is expected when the snow pack melts, [...]

Give New Memories a Chance

By Doug Leier
Most hunters and anglers remember their first deer, goose or big fish, but it’s the little things that happen in pursuit of game and fish that also help keep people interested in the long term.
Think about it. I’d bet most readers would have a favorite story to share about getting stuck on the [...]

Challenges of Stocking Fish

By Doug Leier
Since the late 1990s a number of North Dakota lakes have lost their fisheries because of declining water levels. Now, after near-record snows last winter and abundant rain this summer and fall, many of them are “topped off” again and have the potential to support fish.
This is part of the natural cycle of [...]

Ice Fishing for Panfish – The Right Ice Rods

By Jason Mitchell
More ice anglers are discovering that the tip of the rod we are using has as much influence on our presentation as the actual motion we put on the rod while fishing. A rod with a fast tip for example will give the lure a distinct flash and pound that is more abrupt, [...]

What is a Frog?

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

 
You might be thinking “what does he mean, ‘what is a frog?’ It’s green, hops, eats flies and goes ‘ribbit, ribbit.’” It seems like a pretty easy question, but two out of five kids, ages nine-to-11, when showed a picture of just that animal, could not identify it. Another stumper for the youth [...]

Shore Fishing

By Doug Leier
As a youngster, I was part of a group of buddies who spent a lot of time fishing. We sometimes chuckled about the people with the biggest and the nicest boats and equipment probably who probably didn’t spend near as much time in and on the water as we did with, let’s say, [...]

North Shore Steelhead Initiation

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

 

 
Though the weather is an element that is always out of my control, I try not to let it dampen the spirits of a fishing trip; particularly when that trip is my first of the season and my first to a new place. Despite highs in the forties, rain and cold swollen streams, [...]

Managing Fish Habitat

By Doug Leier
We’re heading into that time of year when the majority of our outdoors thoughts turn toward fishing. The bulk of the snow geese are well beyond North Dakota. The excitement of the first couple of weekends for spring turkey are past, and those of us who applied for a bighorn sheep, moose or [...]

Discovering Trinity

By PJ Maguire
Easter weekend, with most of my peers hunting snow geese somewhere from Nebraska to North Dakota, I was in Northern California. My father and I had made the journey from St. Paul together by plane. We were going to visit my sister and her fiancé and their new child my first nephew Martin. [...]

Tying Egg Flies

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
In my quest for steelhead knowledge, I have found some interesting patterns, from complex streamers to simple nymphs. Stocking the fly box has been both rewarding and exciting as my arsenal takes shape for my trip to the shores of Lake Superior this spring.
The most enjoyable box to compile has been the one [...]

Life Jacket Lesson

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
The weather is cold and hot this time of year, and the fishing can be the same way. Streaky, inconsistent and uneven until the first warm stretch of weather brings April into May. One thing that should not be inconsistent is the attitude of anglers toward boat safety at this time of year. [...]

The Woolly Bugger

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
In my journeys into fly fishing and fly tying, I have not found a more enjoyable fly to put together on the vise and put under the water’s surface than the woolly bugger. The beauty of this streamer comes from its simplicity, both in how it is tied and how it is fished.
The [...]

Getting Kids Hooked on Ice Fishing

By Doug Leier
Much has been written on the means and methods to get kids hooked on fishing, and I’ve tested and tried the best of them. Honestly, it’s not that high of a mountain to climb to generate some lasting interest during warm summer days.
On the other hand, convincing a youngster like my 6-year-old son [...]

Spouse Ice Fishing Trip Tips

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
Fishing is a social sport; ice fishing even more so. I can’t recall a morning after a hot (or not-so-hot) dawn bite that I haven’t stepped out of my shack to see who else was punching holes in the dark, ask how the fish were biting fifty yards away and shoot the breeze [...]

Prepping for an Ice Season

By the Ice Team
Here’s a toast to your best ice season ever.
To help you get off to a good start, here are a few key things you can do.
They’re all important, but in no particular order.
Keep Your Line Prime
One of the most important– and universally overlooked– things you can do: keep the line on all [...]

Counting Coup

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
The term “success” varies among sportsmen.  For some, success is three roosters tucked into a vest, or a limit of walleyes on the cleaning board.  For others, success is simply walking the fields or wetting a line.  Getting away from the everyday with the expectation of success is an easily accomplished goal and [...]

Recapping 2007 in North Dakota

By Doug Leier
Over the last five years or so, I’ve written many times that we are living in an era that most anyone else with an outdoors interest will remember as the good old days, at least as far as hunting goes.
As I look back at the last 12 months, it seems that 2007 will [...]

Partridge Patterns – Tying Fly Patterns for Panfish

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
As hunting season hits full stride and the first few birds are placed in the pouches of my upland vest, I can’t help but plan for two things – dinner, of course, and the number of patterns I will tie with the feathers attached to the birds I harvest. With the first partridge [...]

Catch & Release Tips

By Doug Leier
I’ve always preferred simple tackle for fishing – bobbers, jigs, spoons and hooks – though I’m not categorically against using the latest tools and technology. Provided, of course, their use is within the constraints of the law.
I call it low impact angling. Some call it bobbers and worms. Whatever you declare, it’s more [...]

Sunrise, Sunset

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

Most anglers are told from an early age that the best times for fishing are dawn and dusk. While these hours of varying daylight provide another transition that fish key in on, the this adage might simply be to get anglers to appreciate moments in the outdoors that many are not privy to.
Daybreak
An [...]

All You Need Is Luck

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

 
It has been said that luck is just an excuse for bad fishing. That’s mostly true. If one knows the seasons, the species and the patterns that result when the two cross, fishing success, or at least a couple fish here and there, isn’t tough to come by. Nevertheless, there are items of [...]

My Favorite Things

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
Smallies on orange jigs and crappies on minnows,
Waking up to the lake sitting calm out the windows,
Shore lunch fillets as the hot oil sings,
These are a few of my favorite things.
Black striped largemouth and polka-dot gators,
Fishing spring walleye in holey green waders,
Being outdoors, where the phone never rings,
These are a few of my [...]

Fly Fishing Tying – Terrific Terrestrial

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
The Fourth is behind us, and summer is in full swing. If swarms of mosquitoes weren’t a sure sign, the vast numbers and array of other insects present during the day and at dusk is a definite reminder. The table is set for summer’s great binge, and every fly fisherman needs a few [...]

Spice Up Your Angling

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

 
Each November, I assemble the best photos of my fishing trips throughout the region. I then upload the top twelve to the photo site Snapfish.com and make a calendar for my parents and grandmothers as a Christmas present. While showing the 2007 edition to one of her friends, my grandmother shared in her [...]

Fishing Laydowns

Joe Zentner
 Bank sloping trees that have fallen into the water, known as lay-downs, attract fish throughout the Midwest. Long-time anglers are keenly aware of the value of immersed trees. The primary cover choice of freshwater fish is, in fact, submerged wood.
A lay-down is a tree that has fallen into the water and is somewhat if [...]

Arbor Vital – Fishing Flooded Trees

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
I  think that I shall never see structure lovely as a tree. Pardon the take on Ms. Kilmer’s poem; let’s consider it the angler’s version. But timber – be it live on shore, a deadfall along a river or a man-made reef on a lake – is structure that all anglers should develop [...]

Boater Safety

By Doug Leier
Summer outdoor safety is more than applying sunscreen before you head outdoors and wearing a seatbelt as you travel.
In this day and age it’s a habit for most of us to secure ourselves with a seatbelt after entering a vehicle. Sunscreen protection is routine.
So why is it that few people take a similar [...]

Bluegill Fishing

By Ted Takasaki and Scott Richardson
Fresh, golden brown bluegill fillets are bound to bring a smile when you lay them on a plate beside baked beans and coleslaw at the summer cookout. Bluegills are a summertime favorite for a lot of good reasons.

They are abundant and nearly everywhere.
Their populations can stand good harvests, within reason [...]

Getting Kids Hooked on Fishing

By Doug Leier
I  could try to tell you how to catch whopper walleye, but my advice would be about as reliable as suggestions for chess strategy.
I could also pass along the latest tips for limiting out on pike, but that too would be a farce. Five years ago I caught a 38-inch pike, but it [...]

The Old Crappie Fishing Hole

By PJ Maguire
In my day I have lost my share of fishing gear to the bottom of many lakes. Along the way I have heard many stories of family members and peers losing fishing equipment as well. I have often thought about how cool it would be to take an underwater adventure to the bottom [...]

The Golden Bonefish

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
It was a heavy Tuesday morning; the air was a humid blanket over the dew-soaked grass. There wasn’t a breath of wind according to the neighbor’s flag. Storms were brewing on the southwestern horizon, and I hoped to get some fishing in before work.
I had walked the dog, like every morning, a mile [...]

Battling Aquatic Nuisance Species

By Doug Leier
A few months ago I wrote about the expanding concern regarding aquatic nuisance species and their current and potential impact in North Dakota waters.
While North Dakota doesn’t yet have ANS as significant as, say, zebra mussels in the Great Lakes, unwanted plants and animals continue to steal time and money away from state [...]

The Ugly Fish of Freshwater

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
It never fails. There’s that walleye-like tap at the end of the line, and the sensation of a fish swimming off with the bait. I tighten up the slack in the line, drop the rod tip and gently sweep the rod. Two fillets coming right up; but when the line starts to spin, [...]

The World Wide Web and the Outdoors

By Doug Leier
Every day we are bombarded with information about websites. But a lot of it is good information. Websites are a great tool to learn more about a specific company or topic.
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department website is no exception. While access to the Internet is an indoor activity, a few minutes [...]

Fly Swap

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
Quilters have their bees and bakers have their cookie exchanges. At these events, the artists in their respective hobbies get together to exchange patterns and recipes, adding a little more to each other’s experience, each taking away something new to try. The equivalent for fly anglers, the phenomenon that is fly-swapping, accomplishes the [...]

Take Out the Trash

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
As the snow has melted away – once, twice, and now for the third time this spring – sportsmen are able to get out on area shorelines for some great early season fishing. What they are often confronted with on the trip is a reminder of how uncivilized we are as a society. [...]

Paddlefish Changes in North Dakota

By Doug Leier
North Dakota’s wildlife and fisheries resources provide some interesting opportunities, such as sage grouse and prairie chicken hunting, and the chance to snag a paddlefish.
These species, because of their limited and isolated populations, require cautious management. However, taking a few sage grouse, prairie chickens or bighorn sheep will not hurt the overall population [...]

An Every Day Ice Fishing Adventure

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

 
My brother and I set off a couple weeks ago to fish a local lake for perch. I had forgone a trip to Minneapolis due to the impending bad weather and figured we could kill some time before it arrived with some pre-frontal fishing, often recognized to be the best.
We arrived at the [...]

Hoppin’ & Poppin’ – Tying Flies

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

 

 
The exciting thing about tying flies and fly fishing is trying out new patterns. Questioning whether a fly looks edible, how, when and where it should be fished and more are part of figuring out the grand puzzle.
The trial for every tied fly comes in two phases; first, the selection and assembly of [...]

Approaching Perch in the Month of March

By Bill Mitzel

 
Soon, it’ll be rotten out there. Not rancid like spoiled produce, but soft and dark nonetheless. I’m talking about the ice. It’s thick and resolute now, but it won’t last forever, actually, scarcely longer than a few weeks, less in some areas. Fortunately, though, ice fishing’s swan song is a cheery tune; one [...]

Fishing Lures – What’s in a Name?

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
When it comes to marketing, a good lure needs a good name. No angler is going to buy lures called The Skunk, Zippo, or The Blanker. Lures must have two essentials to catch the attention of anglers. First they must catch fish, and second they must have a moniker to remember.
As winter begins [...]

Time to Start Tying Flies

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
Over, under, around and through, that’s the way to tie…a fly? Well, that’s the way I finish them at least.
Another great start to a fall bird season and the switch to daylight standard time has dashed my hopes of anymore after-work hunting trips. But once again those pre-standard time hunts have given me [...]

The Legend of the Grumman Boat

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
The fisherman’s dictionary defines the word “boat” as a hole in the water into which money is thrown.
Similar to a hunting dog, the price paid for a boat is rarely reflected in the purchase. There’s winterizing, summerizing, trailer repairs, motor tune ups, depth finders, rod racks, lure holders and much more that are [...]

Fishing with Light Tackle

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

 

 
Lighten up! If I had a nickel for every time I’ve been told that I’d be a rich man. However, there is one time no one has to tell me to lighten up and that is when I am angling for panfish, trout and finicky bass.
The allure of light tackle angling is threefold: [...]

Fly Fishing for Beginners

By Doug Leier
At this stage in my life I feel satisfied with what I’ve bagged, tagged and caught, including deer, birds and a few lunker fish. A 40-inch pike is a favorite memory because of the light rod and tackle I was using and my struggle to boat the fish. It was a classic case [...]

Save Our Lakes

By Doug Leier
Lakes and reservoirs in North Dakota are like a trusty shotgun – when you find one you like, it stands to reason you’ll make every effort to keep it working as long as possible. But you also understand there may come a time when the gun just might not perform like it did [...]

Why Do I Fish?

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
Why do you fish? Now that is a question with as many answers as there are people to ask it to. And it is likely that anglers will have more than one response when posed with such an inquiry.
I was asked this question recently, and all I could come up with (to my [...]

Hunting and Fishing Wirelessly

By Chris Hustad
Our evening scouting run started just minutes after we got off the highway. We spotted a flock of snow geese on the horizon, and then another, and another and another. The flock extended for quite a distance, with every bird pointing west/southwest towards a damp cornfield that was just days away from drying [...]

Best Bass Fishing Lures of Today

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

 

 
Topwater fishing for bass is nothing new. Anglers have experienced the excitement of having bass explode on lures such as the Zara Spook, Rebel Pop-R, and pre-rigged surface plastics like the Bass Rat for decades. But recent revolutions in plastic baits have bass anglers buzzing at the tackle shop and new frog baits [...]

Life Jackets Save Lives…Period

By Doug Leier
 I  subscribe to the theory that the only sure-fire guarantee to enjoying your time outdoors is to stay legal and safe. Didn’t bag a deer? No fish in the live well? Returning safely from your outing, and yearning for the next trip outdoors, should ease your mind to some degree.
On the flip side, [...]

Oh Deer, it’s Smallie Time!

By Nick Simonson
 

 

 
While the tension mounts as you await this year’s deer application results (enjoy the next eight weeks), take some time to relax with the hardiest fish in our waters – the smallmouth bass. Just don’t expect your heart rate to get any lower. With a few simple items of tackle and the following [...]

Outdoors Pests

By Doug Leier
Growing up in North Dakota, I was no stranger to the outdoors and all that accompanies exploring the nooks, brooks and crannies. My outdoor explorations included fish, ducks, deer, camping, hiking and just about any other activity possible. I enjoyed – and still do – spending more time out than in.
Along the way, [...]

Catch and Release Fishing

By Doug Leier
I’m a casual, low impact angler. I have never caught a fish that would qualify me to receive a Whopper patch from the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.
Seldom do I catch a limit, or even a fish to keep. It doesn’t bother me to put a worm on a hook and watch [...]

In Pursuit of Rock Bass

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

 

 
Recently, my fishing buddy Einar came for a visit, and in between largemouth and smallmouth bass, rainbow trout and walleye, there was one fish he hoped to tangle with that he had not landed in the states before and was not available to him in his home country of Norway.
Muskie? Nope. Catfish? Uh-uh. [...]

Carp

By Doug Leier
Few words evoke more negative connotations in the angling world than carp, though I suspect in these parts that cormorant might come in a close second.
It seems we’re an angling community that has come to hold certain species as desirable, and any threat to those . well, let’s just say anglers prefer not [...]

Fly Fishing Basics

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

 

 
When most people think of fly fishing, they think of the movie “A River Runs Through It,” pristine mountain streams and a glistening rainbow trout held aloft by the L. L. Bean-clad angler. But that isn’t fly fishing; at the most it is a minute part of it. Just like walleye fishing isn’t [...]

Bullhead Fishing & Kids

By Doug Leier
 On a morning not long ago, my kids woke up begging, and it wasn’t the usual quest for Cheerios or to crawl in bed with mom. The dawn-breaking whines were designed to encourage a fishing trip. Specifically, they wanted to catch bullheads.
Understand that Joe is 4 and Kaitlyn is 2, and the simple [...]

A Trip to the Fish Hatchery

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
Big things start out small, and many area youth have recently had a chance to see just where such colossal fish such as the northern pike, walleye and jumbo perch get a jump start on life.
On April 24, 2006, as part of the Barnes County Wildlife/US Fish and Wildlife Service-sponsored Junior Naturalists program, [...]

A Little Spring Cleaning

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
As I shuffled down the rain-soaked bank I paused and swore something was following me. I took another step and heard the grass rustle behind me. I slowly looked back over my shoulder, expecting to see a mountain lion, an angry mother goose or at least a muskrat. There was nothing. Only after [...]

Sorting the Fly Box

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
What’s in a fly box? Flies, obviously, but it is the stories those flies tell of a winter gone by and the promises of an upcoming season that make the arrangement special.
Monday night, after a particularly frustrating evening of fishing current rushing by at 1300 CFS, I called it quits and went home. [...]

The Importance of Fish Stocking Programs

By Doug Leier
I  learn something new everyday, even if I don’t want to. It’s part of life.
Sometimes, I realize that what I thought was fact, is not. Other times, when I think I have something figured out, it turns out I’m way off base. As I said, that’s just the way life is. And the [...]

Maintaining Fish Populations in ND

By Doug Leier
The fishing fun never ends in North Dakota, where except for a few specific situations, the season never officially closes.
March 31, however, marked the expiration date of the 2005-06 fishing license, so starting April 1 a new fishing license is required. If you haven’t done so already, take a moment to log onto [...]

Top 10 Fishing Lures of All Time

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
Springtime means stocking the tackle box with jigs, spinners, twisters, spoons, crankbaits and more; usually more lures than I’ll ever need. However, if it came down to it, there is a handful of them I couldn’t go without. For whatever species I was pursuing, I would forsake all other jigs, rigs and plastics [...]

Smallmouth By the Numbers

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

 

 
What a surprise! A stretch of warm spring days shook winter’s chill off some bronze scales and more than a week earlier than last year, I landed my first smallmouth bass. There’s no better time than now, during the prespawn, to search for big brown bass for some spring catch-and-release fun. By doing [...]

Spring is Around the Corner

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
Did you feel that? It felt like spring.
Yesterday was that first warm day of the year, reminding us that winter can’t last forever and that there is a lot of work to be done, and a lot of work left undone.
Arsenal inspection
Days like yesterday have me doing two things; checking my tackle situation [...]

Free Fishing Log – Printable Fishing Log

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
“Putting together the fishing pieces of the puzzle”
Fishing, no matter how good a person gets at it, is still the grandest puzzle of all. There are so many elements that have to be put into place such as weather, season, bait, lures, and so on. When looked at in hindsight, these puzzle pieces [...]

The Worst Dressed List

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
This is continued from last week, The Best Dressed List.
In keeping with last week’s “award show” theme, it’s now time to focus on those fisheries fashion faux-pas. As with Hollywood, even local lakes and streams have their worst-dressed individuals, and much like US magazine or some other tabloid that makes its money off [...]

Don’t You Know How Lucky You Have It?

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

 

 
I  met Ted late last March at the rapidly melting mud-covered boat launch on a small lake in LaMoure County. He was a fellow of about fifty or so, with a slight accent leading me to believe he wasn’t from North Dakota; though he did possess a lot of knowledge regarding the little [...]

The Best Dressed List

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
With awards show season in full swing, it is not unusual to flip on the tube and see celebrities parading down the red carpet wearing fancy suits, elaborate dresses, and sporting more bling than in every Nelly video combined. For a few nights each winter they dress to the nines, promoting fashion designers [...]

Beat the Wintertime Blues

By Nick Simonson
What a tease this winter has been. Knowing full well we’re at least two months from open-water fishing, Ma Nature gives us days with highs above freezing, frequent melts and not much in the way of severe weather. She sure makes it feel like spring is just around the corner.
This is still North [...]

Bluegill Ice Fishing Tips

By Mark Strand
Depending on where you live, ‘early ice’ can be a brief period right after the ice forms or an ongoing phenomenon as fishable ice comes and melts, comes and melts.
In general, bluegills are good biters during this time, but you must locate them to be successful. No matter what you might read or [...]

Deciding on Limits for Fishing Panfish

By Doug Leier
One of the more enjoyable aspect of outdoors communication is the debate that sometimes surrounds current issues. 
Should spinning wing decoys be limited? 
Should deer hunters be allowed to hunt after sunset? 
How do you define baiting, and should it be legal? 
What about issues such as roadless areas on public land, or restricting all-terrain vehicle use [...]

Looking Ahead to Fishing in 2006

By Doug Leier
Fishing, and the rules, regulations and prospects surrounding it, was a major topic at this fall’s round of North Dakota Game and Fish Department Advisory Board meetings.
That’s as it should be, as 2006 is an even-numbered year, and that means a new fishing proclamation is in the development stages and most of the [...]

Unlocking the Perch Fishing Limit Theory

By Nick Simonson
A friend of mine in college, who was a part-time locksmith and adept at his trade was the first person to tell me the adage, “locks keep honest people honest.”
It almost seems hard for me to believe that in the 1980s there were no limits, no controls, no locks on panfish. I [...]

Heart Butte Reservoir – Lake Tschida Fishing

Location: Fifteen miles south of Glen Ullin North Dakota
Species: crappie, walleye, catfish, perch, white bass, pike, bluegill, large and smallmouth bass

REPORT:
Lake Tschida (Heart Butte Reservoir) is located in southwestern North Dakota approximately 15 miles south of Glen Ullin. The lake was created in 1949 when Heart Butte Dam on the Heart River was completed. The [...]

How to Beat the Heat – Hot Summer Fishing

By Doug Leier
Too hot to fish?
Nah, it’s never too hot to fish, at least for me.
Many anglers, however, commonly blame hot weather for a reduction in fishing success as summer wears on, and they tend to slow down because of that perception. Is that perception based in reality? Do fish stop eating, or
just slow down [...]

Carolina Rig Fishing

By Kevin Dahlke

 

 
The Carolina Rig is a technique that has been around for quite some time. It is used to cover an area quickly to find out what kind of structure you are fishing. Personally, I have put this technique on the back burner for the last number of years, but as of the last [...]

First Ice

By Chris Hustad

 

 
No matter how many times you ice fish, no matter how “tough” you think you are, you’d have to be a liar to say you’re not somewhat afraid the first time you step onto the ice each year. The same was true for me this year, when I ventured onto the ice for [...]

Our Outdoors – The Next Thing On My List

By Nick Simonson
 

I’ve made a list and checked it twice, and last year it turned out to be pretty nice.
In what has become a recent year-end tradition I assembled and updated the list of the various species of fish which I have caught since I first started fishing. In this past year, I am happy [...]

Fly Tying Kit Becomes the Gift That Keeps on Giving

By Nick Simonson
I couldn’t even cast a fly rod last year at this time. In fact, my only experience with longrodding was a lame attempt a few summers ago on an Idaho stock pond near a hotel we stayed at while my dad attended a conference.
After awkwardly whipping the rod through the air for [...]

River Smallmouth

By Nick Simonson
 

 
As the last few inches of ice fade from the shorelines of area rivers, it is next to impossible not to think about springtime fishing. It is even more difficult not to think of the hundreds of bronze flashes from springtime fishing trips in the past.
In the land where the walleye is king, [...]