Nodak Outdoors

North Dakota Fishing License – Free Fishing Days

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:27:00 +0000

by Doug Leier

It’s hard to believe when I glance at the calendar that it’s May, and not June or maybe July.

The early arrival of spring-like temperatures after a milder winter can do that. So while open water fishing has been viable since mid-March, between work, school and other responsibilities not everyone has yet made their initial fishing excursion.

I know die-hard anglers who would question why anyone would let these fine months and weeks pass without fishing, but shether planned or not, some anglers may not even wet a line until June. Regardless, whenever that first trip occurs, a new fishing license is needed.

For North Dakotans, a resident North Dakota fishing license is a mere $10 for the entire season. For senior citizens a license is just $3, and a husband and wife can enjoy fishing for $14, with each also needing the $1 certificate. Visitors to North Dakota from other states have several options, including a season-long individual license for $35, or temporary licenses for three or seven days for even less.

Those reading who don’t fish or don’t pay attention to the license cost might be surprised at the steady price paid compared to groceries, gas, milk and most everything else which has seen marked increase over the past years. A resident fishing costs the same today as it did in 1995

Even with this inexpensive ticket to fish all across North Dakota until March 31, 2013, we still provide a weekend of free fishing for state residents the first weekend of June, which this year falls on June 2-3. On that Saturday and Sunday North Dakota residents may fish without a license during free fishing days.

Some may wonder why with such reasonable license costs that a free fishing weekend is warranted, but my response is, “why not?”

With approximately 150,000 resident and nonresident anglers in North Dakota, there’s still room to add more to the group and what better way than a free test drive, so to speak? Picture a scenario with a class reunion, family or other gathering at a local lake or reservoir. Or, or a dad cleaning out an old shed and finding a couple of fishing poles on a post-card perfect Saturday. On this weekend, dad doesn’t have to worry about buying a license to take a young daughter or son (children 15 and under do not need a license) out to try out those old rods.

Whether it’s a bullhead, pike or perch the best way to get a kid hooked on fishing is to put a rod and reel in their hand. The chance that experience will give birth to a life-long angler is worth a weekend of free fishing.

And one last idea to help catch a new angler is the Game and Fish Department’s specially designed First Fish certificate. First Fish has no qualifying weights or measurements. The only requirement is the successful landing of a North Dakota fish.

Certificates are available to all who request them, and have ample room for all the important information, such as name, age, lake and a short fish story, plus a blank space for a photograph big enough to contain the smile of the happiest little angler.

Free certificates are available by contacting the Game and Fish Department at (701) 328-6300, or send an e-mail to ndgf@nd.gov

Fishing Lake Sturgeon – Rainy River

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 16:05:35 +0000

Fishing Lake Sturgeon

“Well, that hookset didn’t go anywhere,” my brother said as I got about one-third into my sweeping movement against the creature that tapped on the end of my line near the bottom of the Rainy River in northern Minnesota. With the rod in full arc, I began cranking down to meet my opponent as the guys mobilized in the boat.
As we had throughout the day, we manned our respective positions – the connected angler stepping up to the back platform, the net man at the side and the camera man on the bow. It didn’t take us long into our first fishing lake sturgeon trip on the flow which connects Lake of the Woods to the boundary waters of the northeastern part of the state to get the pattern down. Along with three other friends, my brother, Ben Simonson of Valley City, N.D. and Erik Eggert, of Fargo, N.D. and I had registered two boats in the 6^th Annual Sportsman’s Lodge Sturgeon Tournament – despite the fact that four of us had no experience fishing for this fabled prehistoric fish.
The battle with this particular fish that cut my hookset short – which would be my biggest of the weekend – paled in comparison to those that bookended it, but when all 47 inches of it were in the net, I was grateful to have experienced it. I had hooked up with a modern-day monster available in Minnesota’s big northern backyard, and crossed another fish off of my life list. All three of us would, with Erik and Ben doing so in dramatic fashion, with a bit of comic relief mixed in.
The first hint Erik got that his only fish of the first day of the tournament was on the line was a slight bumping of his rod tip. Cautiously, he picked up the oversized spinning combo and began cranking the eighty-pound test line steadily. The heavy rod’s tip bowed slightly and he swept the rod upward, pulling the night-crawler-laden circle hook firmly into the fish. The rod bowed as if tethered to door at the bottom of the river and he made little progress on the fish in the first minutes of the fight. It was then that the leviathan began its bulldogging run against him.
From side to side, the fish wound around the boat, dragging Erik, now bracing his rod with both hands and bending at the knees to keep leverage on the big spinning combo. The reel paid out line and the rod began to thump wildly as the fish ran with powerful tugs. Finally, the fish rose to the surface, fifteen feet behind the boat and did a backflip, crashing down and bulldogging for the depths once again. I readied the net as Erik regained the line and brought the fish toward the transom.
Then, all hell broke loose. The fish nosed into the net, tangling its pointy snout, the circle hook and two-ounce weight in the mesh, preventing the rest of its body from sliding securely into the frame. This snag in our up-til-then flawless process brought a rush of panic from my gut as the fish thrashed about on top of the net, but by no means secured in its grasp.
I threw the net up my side and leaned out into the water, my hips barely keeping contact with the boat. With a bearhug, I wrapped my arms around the writhing sturgeon and hoisted it along with a couple of gallons of water in my sweatshirt sleeves into the boat. I sat up to roaring applause and laughter from the boats around us, including those on the judge’s boat nearby.
“You just about did a header,” one judge laughed as we gained control of the fish, took some pictures of Erik with his sturgeon and handed it off to the official scorers for measuring. Having lost Erik’s biggest walleye ever in the net the previous season, I just kept repeating, “I wasn’t letting this fish get away.”
At the end of day one, we had boated 10 sturgeon, but didn’t put any fish in the top three spots. Our friend Dusty Nielsen, of Valley City, N.D., was in the payout position until a late-day sturgeon bumped his 56-inch fish into fourth place.
Day two opened up cold and rainy as we settled into the spot which had paid off so handsomely the day before, but the action around us was sporadic until, out of the corner of my eye I saw my brother drop his rod tip and begin reeling. He drew the rod back and it curled into the tell-tale bend of a big sturgeon, and as he caught up to the fish which was swimming toward the boat he gained perspective on what was swimming below.
“This is a TOURNAMENT fish,” Ben said excitedly as the sturgeon anchored itself to the bottom below the boat. It then made fifteen minutes of runs, pulling Ben around the boat. He tip-toed up the starboard side, pirouetted and ran across the transom deck to and up the port side in an effort match the bull rush of the fish that would not rise. A moment later he would find himself and his extra-heavy rod bowed back over the starboard side once again. Finally, the fish yielded and made its way to the surface and toward the net. I didn’t give it a second chance as it slid over the metal frame and into the mesh, and we all hollered unintelligibly as I raised the metal loop a foot above the surface as we awaited the judge’s boat.
After the high-fives were slapped, victory whoops shouted and photos were taken, the fish taped out at 57.5 inches with a 23 inch girth with an estimated 45 pounds in weight. The barbeled denizen of the Rainy River was over 50 years old and bore a badge of honor in the form of a rusted 2/0 hook which my brother removed from its mouth – a symbol of the angler this fish had previously tussled with. Ben’s beast would place him third for most of the day, until a 59-incher would bump him out of the money, but the memory of that one big fish was worth the price of admission.
While we ended day two with just three fish for our boat, we were happy that none of our stories were about the ones that got away. Between pre-fishing on Thursday, and the two days of the tournament we landed all 15 fish we hooked into – not too shabby for a trio of rookies. The weekend wrapped with the tournament banquet where it was revealed that sturgeon of 64 and 65 inches won the first and second day top prizes, respectively, and 5 fish were registered that topped 60 inches in length. Between our group of six, we had brought in over 20 fish, with three over 50 inches in length. As we loaded up our boats, packed our tackle and rain gear, and checked out of our cabin, we made sure to put our names down for next year’s event, and another fishing lake sturgeon adventure…in our outdoors.

Best Fishing Times

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:54:40 +0000

by Doug Leier

“Best fishing times?”

I’m the first to admit I’m not a professional angler. When it comes to tips and tactics on how to land a lunker walleye or fill a stringer in short order, I’ve got more questions than answers.

At times, I casually refer to myself as the human cold front because of a perceived lack of fishing success whenever I’m around, and I have a few friends who even nod in agreement, instead of defending my fishing “expertise.” In all seriousness, I enjoy the conversations when I meet new anglers and we begin talking about past fishing success and future plans.

As a biologist with more of a wildlife than fisheries background, however, when I’m asked about the best fishing times or place, my typical answer is wherever you are and whenever you have time.

This is probably a bit disappointing for some who might have anticipated a more detailed answer that took into account the moon phase, barometer, water temperature and natural food competition of the target fish. But my answer reflects my philosophy, that I’m not out there to land a trophy or fill a limit.

I love spring and open-water shorefishing. I seldom go out on the ice or fish from a boat. But I also understand that anglers come in all shapes and sizes, with their own preferences, which is what makes it so difficult to come up with a fishing report that everyone can use.

In many discussions, after an angler relays where he or she prefers to fish and what kind of angling they like best, a question will pop up about stocking. Anglers often ask why certain fish – walleye are a popular species – are or are not stocked in a particular body of water.

In truth, the habitat of a lake or reservoir, plus water quality, determine what species might have success. Think of it in terms of an off-the-wall request of stocking halibut in some North Dakota water. Just because you want halibut – or walleye – doesn’t mean that stocking will work to meet angler expectations of the.

On the other end of the spectrum are the open-ended requests from people who just want the State Game and Fish Department to “stock anything” in slough X so they can catch some fish. But when I ask if bullheads are all right, the acknowledgement is usually “anything but bullheads.”

While bullheads are native to some North Dakota waters, they are undesirable in lakes where they did not exist naturally. They do, however, trigger the adrenaline in a young angler who may just like to see a bobber disappear, and doesn’t care what’s on the line.

I understand that few people young or old really want to catch, keep, clean and eat a bullhead. But I also know that in the spring of the year, I’m not the only nodding his head admitting to eating “poor man’s catfish.” We’ve even deep fried bullhead eggs as a cheaper alternative to caviar.

It’s all part of the experience of fishing.

As May wears on and the summer fishing heats up, don’t get too picky about when, where and what your fishing target is. Remember, the best fishing times, are when you have time to fish.

Early Pike Spawning

admin — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:42:51 +0000

by Doug Leier

As far as I can tell, few people are complaining out loud about the early arrival of spring in 2012.

Since 2009 it’s almost felt like we’d skipped a season, or replaced spring with “flood” season.

This year, it started to feel like spring in February and March and it’s almost as if fall never left.

Regardless, the early spring has been welcomed by humans, fish and wildlife alike.

As a biologist, I understand it’s often multiple factors that influence wildlife behavior. The snow geese arrived earlier this year with many hunters able to find high numbers in early March, almost a month earlier than last year than these birds arrived last year. That’s a solid indicator that the birds don’t look at the calendar to decide when their northern migration should begin.

In 2011 many hunters reported the best numbers of birds spread across North Dakota in April. Heavy snowpack held birds farther south until the snow line receded and geese could continue north.

This year, whatever snow line existed was essentially gone by early March and the bird migration advanced north with little hindrance. It was a good reminder for hunters and even those of us with a wildlife management degree how a combination of factors can influence when and where snow goose will migrate.

The lack of sheet water in eastern North Dakota, as opposed to past years, shifted at least some of the migration more into central North Dakota. Many snow goose hunters jotting down a day of leave from work, tend to target April more than March, but all the planning in the world can wind up a bust as the birds have their own agenda. It’s a reality check, and a good reminder to always have a “plan B.”

Fortunately, this year that plan B could have been a day of open water fishing.

In terms of fish, I’ve always kept one eye on our fisheries crews and another on the calendar, as their pressing spring work is a moving target for getting the pike and walleye eggs needed to supplement stocking needs for North Dakota fisheries. While taxes are due April 15, give or take a day depending on where it lands on the calendar, North Dakota Game and Fish Department fisheries crews simply can’t designate a date to begin setting nets.

Pike spawning typically takes place in early to mid-April. Last year, extensive snow and lake ice kept fish and our crews at bay until almost May, putting pressure to get the job done even more rapidly.

This year, crews for the first time took pike eggs in March.

In the end, fisheries and wildlife biologists are left to react to varying sets of circumstances. Habitat, atmospheric temperature and field conditions all have an influence.

Some wildlife or fish may even benefit from early nesting or spawning. While deer fawns will be born in May or June just like always, regardless of the spring weather, young fish may have their first growing season extended by a few weeks, and resident birds hatched from early nests may be a bit more mature when winter comes, which would be a good thing if winter 2012 looks more like 2010 than 2011.

Slip Bobber Fishing

admin — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:24:15 +0000

By Jason Mitchell

As a guide, I believed that the most effective game plans just kept walleye fishing straight forward and simple. There are plenty of folks in this business who try to make fishing really complicated and you can make fishing akin to rocket science if you wish… I however made a living as a guide by dumbing the process down. I found that by keeping the process simple, I could accommodate people with a wider range of experience and skill levels without making fishing intimidating. I didn’t want to set out and prove my angling abilities or show off some superior intellect… that is not what I wanted to be. My goal was to take people out and put them in a situation where they could catch fish, not watch me catch fish or feel intimidated.

Slip bobber fishing to catch walleyes is incredibly effective if done right. I relied on slip bobbers an awful lot through my years as a guide. The reasons being that I could anchor on a good spot and not worry about boat control… a good anchor is the best boat control there is. My hands were free; I could deal with tangles, interact with the folks in my boat, not burn up a lot of gas and catch a lot of fish. Slip bobbers were also hands on enough where the people get to enjoy the hook set and everybody loves watching a bobber disappear.

Now if the bobbers are not disappearing, using slip bobbers are akin to watching the paint dry on a barn but in the right location… this simple system is deadly. The biggest myth there is regarding catching walleyes with slip bobbers however in my opinion, is just the light line, small jig mentality. There were a group of people who thought you had to add milligrams of shot to the line until the bobber just barely poked out of the water. Now I am not saying that you have to fish like a caveman but there are so many scenarios where anglers shoot themselves in the foot by trying to finesse fish to the point where they are just not efficient. For awhile, there was a mentality that slip bobbers had to be delicate and the presentation had to be natural, which meant; light line, small hooks and tiny amounts of weight.

Here is my take on this mentality of slip bobber fishing. When you combine a tiny little slip bobber and have no weight in regards to split shot or jig, it takes longer for the bait to reach the fish. If you can count to ten and your slip bobber is still lying on its side because the bobber stop hasn’t pulled to the bobber, you are wasting time. Here is the other factor, small bobbers that have just a little bit of the tip poking out of the water can’t be seen once they drift from the boat. I can understand trying to subdue the motion of waves on the presentation but there are better ways to do this without sinking the bobber to the point where you cannot see it. In all honesty, there are so many situations where some resistance is good for walleyes.

The reality is that every fishery is a little different and there are many ways to skin a cat. What we have found however is that we are often much more effective with slip bobbers by being somewhat unorthodox to conventional slip bobber wisdom. The basis of the system is this; put and keep good bait in front of fish. Some of the nuances however surprise some anglers.

I like to use the largest slip bobbers I can get away with. I am not talking jugs but if I were to pick one size, it would be the Northland Tackle Lite-Bite Classic 1 inch oval slip bobber. Why the larger float? Because it will hold up more weight which gets down to the bottom faster as soon as the bobber and bait hit the water. When running several rods, it is easier to manage the course or drift of each bobber. The other advantage is that I can fish further away from the boat and see the bobber in heavy waves. Walleyes don’t have any issue pulling them under, they just disappear. Because I often had to deal with pike and flooded timber, I liked to use braided line for my main line from a durability standpoint but the bad part about braid is that bobber stops slide. Bionic is one of the better braided lines for bobber stops sticking. Use a heavier braid like 14 pound test so that the bobber stop can stick good.

Below the bobber, I rig a small egg sinker instead of using split shot and I tie on a snap swivel. Now why the egg sinker? Egg sinkers don’t get tangled in the net so much or wrap up in itself as bad as removable split shot. Pull on the line and the tangle pops and untangles out of the net after getting a fish, just a little tip to speed up your get back in the water time. Below the sinker and snap swivel, we attach a short snell that either has a plain hook or a small jig. In timber, I would often rig up a snell that would break off versus the main braided line so I didn’t have to chase bobbers around the lake. Another option if you are targeting big fish in really snaggy timber is to forgo the swivel and leader and just tie the hook or jig directly to the braid and use a bobber stop above the jig and below the bobber to keep from loosing bobbers.

When the fish are biting well, you can use either plain hooks or small jigs and catch fish. Obviously, the number one focus is sitting on a good spot. Both plain hooks and jigs however have a place. There are times for example in strong winds where the swells were big when plain hooks and longer leaders were the ticket. I believe what was happening was that the waves were pushing the presentation up and down too dramatically and by using a longer snell and plain hook; the whole presentation was subdued with less up and down movement. Small jigs on the other hand can add a small flash of color which seems to help at times. A great wide gap hooked jig for slip bobbers is the 1/32 ounce Fireball. Most 1/32 ounce jigs have tiny panfish hooks so a small jig with a walleye size hook is real beneficial. Bait selection can really vary from lake to lake but across the board, leeches are tough to beat below a slip bobber. Especially when using a plain hook, hooking the leech through the middle will increase the swimming motion of the leech and is too much for most walleyes to ignore. Half crawlers can be deadly behind the 1/32 ounce Fireballs, just thread the crawler so it can hang straight off the back of the jig. Minnows are another staple. Shiners are often lip hooked. Chubs and rainbows can be tail hooked.

Long rods with some back bone allow anglers to fish slip bobbers further away from the boat allowing you to make longer drifts and cover more water. We designed an eight foot telescoping slip bobber rod that was designed specifically for corking walleyes. One feature we added to the rod which can be used as a tip for any rods that you already own… every foot of the rod blank we marked with a white dot. This allows you to use the rod blank as a ruler for making quick adjustments to your depth setting. When running several rods, you will speed up your adjustment time dramatically as you hop from spot to spot. Our rods already have the markings but an angler can mark any rod with either tape or some other marking to create the same concept.

Slip bobber fishing is effective and efficient because you can sit on a good spot with a good looking presentation, i.e. Jumbo leech squirming and swimming frantically about a foot off the bottom, what is there not to love? My making a few adjustments however, you can fine tune this presentation to become more efficient when focusing on walleyes.

Backyard Wildlife

admin — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:09:12 +0000

Backyard Wildlife

By Nick Simonson

So much of my formative years were spent in the backyard at the old brown-trimmed house along the oak-lined street near the college in my hometown of Valley City. Nestled between the mesotrophic curve of the slow-flowing Sheyenne which forms three of the boundaries of the nearby city park and the steep rise which creates the south edge of the river valley which gave the city its name, my parents’ lot squeezed a two story residence, a garden, a compost pile and a backyard big enough for two boys to learn about those things that lived outside.
There were cottontails and gray squirrels that snuck under the slats of the brown fence which ringed the main part of the yard. There were doves in the summer which cooed in the warm weather, and long-tweeting chickadees that shattered the still of chilly winter mornings. In spring the robins and blackbirds would appear without warning, harbingers of the approaching end of school and the beginning of three months of freedom. In the fall, honking geese and quacking ducks streamed southward and occasionally my dad would bring a few home from a weekend hunt. I’d add those feathers to the collection in my room of things I found outside, which included notable items such as the cocoon of an unidentified caterpillar, the cerulean blue egg shell of a just-hatched robin chick and a handful of acorns from the large oak tree in the front yard.
Even after we made the big move to the other side of town and I was a bit older, the backyard was still a place of wonder and growth. I’ll never forget the first morning in November when I woke to a doe and her fawns pawing the ground beneath our two apple trees. Rooster pheasants crowed along the train tracks and large snapping turtles made their nests in the empty lot behind our house each spring. Large leopard frogs sprang from the grass after a heavy summer rain and garter snakes sunned themselves on the rock retaining wall in the middle of the backyard. And still that river wound through my new neighborhood just a block away, where bullheads and the occasional smallmouth or northern pike connected with the offering under my red-and-white bobber.
This morning, after the cold weekend rain had passed, I went outside in my new backyard – some two decades and two hundred plus miles removed from either of the backyards I knew growing up, and I was met by the same world of wonder I found each spring when I was just a kid. A bright red bird pecked at the dirt in my recently-planted garden and flitted up to his mate holding on a fencepost. It was the cardinal I had seen just a few weeks before. The two exchanged a glance and took off together. Three smaller birds hopped in the grass nearby – black and white sparrow-sized avians with bright yellow mohawks and wing highlights – and I could not identify them, but snapped a picture with my camera for some follow up later this week.
With an alarming chatter-like call, two wood ducks took flight out of a broken side trunk on the neighbor’s old elm tree. The male’s vibrant red eye was clearly visible in his black and white head feathers until the pair banked and turned toward the nearby river. Their appearance, and the fact they lived so close to my backyard, which my lab Gunnar has well patrolled for squirrels, cottontails and other intruders, surprised me. But the fact that I was surprised wasn’t surprising, considering where I was and what my backyard has shown me throughout my life.

Throughout the years I’ve spent in the outdoors– hunting, hiking, fishing, canoeing – few moments have impacted me more than when I’ve just been in the backyard, seeing the natural world around me and that remains true today. Weather it’s the wing beats of a wood duck, the inquisitive and playful foraging of a rabbit watched from the kitchen window or the artful dodging of the gray squirrels that tightrope the fence and jump from the lower branches of the trees, just out of Gunnar’s reach, I see something new almost every time in I’m out in the place that’s always been closest to me discovering backyard wildlife…in our outdoors.

Trout Fishing Tips

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:51:03 +0000

By Nick Simonson

The recently stocked trout in the stream near my house were quick learners this year. With a winter short on snow and a spring that only just recently made up a couple of inches against the lingering drought, water levels were low and the fish were instantly wary after the DNR truck dumped them in. It was a different season from the previous two, where high waters allowed me to be a bit more obvious and gave me more room to work in the water column.
This year, however, it is a different story, the stockers are more like their wild kin, taking quickly to the running water and holding in fast flows – where they can find them. It seems that behind every boulder is now a pocket to be explored, and trout are relating to the fast moving current breaking around the edge of every obstruction. So it goes with fishing – seasons change, conditions change and the way fish relate to those changes requires us as anglers to adapt and look for cues in the flow to help us figure out our quarry.
Take, for example the mid-stream boulder. Whether the water around it is fast moving or slow, this break provides a perfect ambush point and multiple edges that fish can relate to. Whether it’s a streamlined trout or an opportunistic smallmouth bass, structure which creates current seams, eddies and a place of rest against the rushing water is an ideal spot to look for them. The pocket behind the rock might be big, or it might be small. It could be all of the water column, or just a portion due to a short or flat topped rock. It’s worth a look either way.

But checking the pocket created by a rock in the stream, or any other obstruction – bridge pilings or downed trees – is much more involved than just casting out and hoping to hit the target. If you suspect a fish is holding in the seams behind or along side the obstruction, cast beyond the pocket and bring your lure back into it – naturally, like an item of food being swept downstream. Work different areas of the pocket – from pulling the lure over the rock and dropping it in the front of the current break to casting beyond it and bringing a jig or bait through the end of the slack water. If fish are active, you may want to focus on the seams where the slow water and fast water meet, as that is where hungry fish will be looking to intercept food.

As I attempted to figure out the local trout with my buddy Erik this past weekend, I began to find the pattern after just a few fish. I keyed in on fast runs and flows and found the big rocks that provided a point of ambush for these quickly-educated fish. Even after cold front conditions seemingly locked them up, the fish that were holding in the riffles and runs behind larger rocks were the more aggressive ones, snapping at what appeared to be an easy meal. It wasn’t long and I passed the pattern on to my friend and he connected with his first brown trout.

While the fish and the conditions weren’t easy, we were able to exploit the changes in flow to put fish on the line. We connected with enough fish to make each chilly trip to the water worth it, not only for the hooksets and the smiles, but also because we were reminded that even though things change, we can adapt and find familiar places where we’ve caught fish before.

I’ve always seen obstructions in life as just opportunities in disguise. The same goes for obstructions in the water. Because with a well-placed cast and a good presentation, the opportunity to catch fish, no matter how tough the conditions, always exists in trout fishing…in our outdoors.

Paddlefish Snagging Season Opens May 1

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:43:10 +0000

ND G&F Release: Paddlefish Snagging Season Opens May 1

North Dakota’s paddlefish snagging season opens May 1 and is scheduled to continue through the end of the month. However, depending on the overall harvest, an early in-season closure may occur with a 36-hour notice issued by the state Game and Fish Department.

Snaggers need to be aware that Sundays are now included in snag-and-release-only days. Therefore, snag-and-release of all paddlefish is required on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays. Those planning to participate during snag-and-release-only days need to have in their possession a current season, unused paddlefish snagging tag. Use or possession of gaffs is prohibited on snag-and-release-only days, and, if it occurs, during the snag-and-release extension period.

Mandatory harvest of all snagged paddlefish is required on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. On these days, all paddlefish caught must be tagged immediately. The use or possession of a gaff hook within one-half mile in either direction of the Highway 200 bridge on the Yellowstone River is illegal at any time during the snagging season.

Legal snagging hours are from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. One tag per snagger will be issued. Snagging is legal in all areas of the Yellowstone River in North Dakota, and in the area of the Missouri River lying west of the U.S. Highway 85 bridge to the Montana border, excluding that portion from the pipeline crossing (river mile 1,577) downstream to the upper end of the Lewis and Clark Wildlife Management Area (river mile 1,565).

If the season closes early because the harvest quota is reached, an extended snag-and-release-only period will be allowed for up to seven days immediately following the early closure, but not to extend beyond May 31. Only snaggers with a current season, unused paddlefish snagging tag are eligible to participate. Only a limited area at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers is open to this extended season snagging opportunity.

All paddlefish snaggers must possess a paddlefish tag in addition to a valid fishing license and certificate that may be required. Cost of a paddlefish tag is $3 for residents and $7.50 for nonresidents.

Silver Carp Facts & Other Aquatic Nuisance Species

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:11:28 +0000

by Doug Leier

Last fall, an angler caught a silver carp in North Dakota’s portion of the James River near LaMoure.

A couple of weeks later, North Dakota Game and Fish Department fisheries biologists caught another one in a net, nearly 50 miles farther upstream in the James, near the dam at Jamestown Reservoir.

That makes silver carp the most recent aquatic nuisance species discovered in North Dakota, though they are well established in the lower Missouri River and in the James River in South Dakota. Record high flows in the James last year probably accelerated their arrival in North Dakota.

Here are some silver carp facts. Silver carp out-compete native and other game fish in large river systems. They eat phytoplankton, a food item used by zooplankton, which in turn are eaten by small game fish. They concentrate below dams and can drive out desirable fish. When frightened, they can jump several feet out of the water, thereby posing a danger to boaters and skiers.

While silver carp are the latest discovery, North Dakota already has several aquatic nuisance species, and others that aren’t here exist in nearby states.

Most people, if they discovered a potential lake-killing ANS on their boat trailer or in their minnow bucket, would dispose of it properly and not knowingly release or transport it. The difficult part is detecting the ANS in the first place. For instance, tiny zebra mussel velligers would go unnoticed in livewell and bait water, and fragments of invasive plants can look a lot like fragments from native plants.

And so, over the years the state has adopted laws that lift the burden of noticing or indentifying ANS from anglers and boaters.

The good thing is that preventing the spread of hidden or unknown species is not expensive or overly burdensome in terms of money and time. It’s as simple as not dumping the minnows in your bucket back into the water at day’s end, and removing any and all weeds attached to your boat, personal watercraft, paddleboat, fishing gear or other equipment before leaving the lake – not waiting until you arrive at the next lake or at home.

The objective for these laws is not so game wardens can write more tickets. Without a law that is enforceable, however, there’s little deterrence for those who are lazy or simply not inclined to remove ANS.

Since we’re getting an early start to the fishing and boating season, here’s a listing of North Dakota’s ANS prevention rules.

• All aquatic vegetation must be removed from boats, personal watercraft, trailers and associated equipment such as ﬁshing poles/lures before leaving a body of water. That means “vegetation free” when transporting watercraft and equipment away from a boat ramp, landing area or shoreline.

• All aquatic vegetation must be removed from bait buckets when leaving the water.

• All water must be drained from boats and other watercraft, including livewells, baitwells, bilges and motors, before leaving a water body.

• Live aquatic bait or aquatic vegetation may not be transported into North Dakota, and all water must be drained from watercraft prior to entering the state.

• Anglers may not transport baitﬁsh in containers of more than 5 gallons volume, and any other fish species, including game ﬁsh, may not be held in water and/or transported in bait buckets/containers when away from a water body, or held in water in any container, such as a cooler, on shore, unless the water is from melting ice only.

Remember these simple rules to help stop the spread of aquatic nuisances, learn all you can about silver carp facts, and report any findings you may come across.

Fly Fishing Knots

admin — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:41:21 +0000

By Nick Simonson

On Friday night, my fly fishing gear was in a sorry state. It had been almost 8 months since I had last used it on some sunny day in Detroit Lakes, Minn. for the dock-patrolling bluegills at my family’s cabin. In addition to updating the twisted leaders with no tippet and cleaning the lines that were obviously dirty on the reels I dug out of storage, was the task of assembling two new rod and reel combos for a fishing presentation to area youth on Saturday morning for my local Pheasants Forever chapter. I started with the new reels first and pulled the backing, line and leader out from their packages. I aslo refreshed my memory on all the most common fly fishing knots.

It had been several years since I last set up a fly reel, but I remembered the mental picture of a tree growing out of the center of the reel and recalled that the connection between center pin and backing was the arbor knot. The arbor knot consists of two overhand knots; one in the tag end of the line and one in the main line through which the tag – and the first knot – are threaded through. As if by magic, the knots cinched against each other and rested snugly against the center of the reel. Within moments, the backing was spooled up.
With a snip of my scissors, I provided myself with the free end of the backing and found the “connect this end to backing” tag on the weight-forward floating line. I struggled to recall the connecting knot between the two, but was quickly reminded when looking through my copy of my first fly fishing book – “The Idiot’s Guide to Fly Fishing” which I had purchased when I jumped into the sport. It was the Albright knot that would do the trick, with its large leader loop and seven wraps of the fly line around it. I struggled to get a smooth and solid connection on the first two attempts, but the third time was the charm, and a nice fluid knot brought the two lines together.
With a few hundred cranks of the handle, the reel was loaded with perfect new weight-forward fly line, and when I reached the end of the lime green spool I faced an adversary which had plagued me throughout my fishing career – the nail knot. I struggled so badly with this particular knot in the infancy of my fly fishing adventures that I switched exclusively to using the Scientific Anglers’ Reconnect Leaders. But while staring down that link between line and plain leader, I told myself it was time to knuckle up and get the nail knot down.

Admittedly, I found it challenging the first four or five times I attempted the knot, but on my attempt which proved ultimately successful, with a few wraps of the leader around the tag end of the line, and a pull of the small tube I was using as my nail, the knot took shape. As I tightened the knot on that final attempt, I smiled with satisfaction as the wraps settled into place and the knot formed a strong connection between line and leader. The mystery of using a foreign object to create the space between the lines had been solved, and the knot became second nature as I practiced it on some spare backing and extra monofilament I had on the table.
Finally, the double surgeon’s knot represented my last hurdle in getting my gear ready for the kids’ fishing day the next morning. I paired my leader and tippet lines and created the loop which I ran the tag end of the leader and the full length of the tippet through three times. I moistened the knot area and with a pull of both tags and main lines, the knot came together, forming a strong bond for leader and tippet.
I felt as if I had some sort of memory breakthrough. I completed the second fly fishing combo and then took each reel of my own, stripped it bare and made each connection again: Arbor knot, Albright knot, nail knot, double surgeon’s knot. By the third rod and reel, I was in the groove. I was so confident in my renewed knot skills that I even cut off my old Reconnect leaders and tied standard leaders in their places with the nail knot.
Perhaps it was the Norwegian heritage in my blood – and their love of confusing mind games, knots and mechanical puzzles made up during the long winters in northern Europe – but I found myself enjoying each successful link I made in the fishing line chain.
By bedtime, five fly rods and reels, fully loaded and ready to cast rested against the wall in my den. I shut off the light and went upstairs, happy I had overcome my slight concerns regarding fly fishing knot tying and ready to face some early spring bluegills on the instructional pond the next morning…in our outdoors.

Nodak Outdoors

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