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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Aquatic Nuisance Species

By Doug Leier You’ve made your list and are checking it twice, anticipation for fishing is growing faster than your lawn this spring. Current license – got it. Life jackets – check. Next stop, open-water fishing 2004. The only thing holding you back from a day on the water is Mother Nature, but that’s spring [...]

Salmon Recipe

Here’s some favorite salmon recipes of ours. Grilled Salmon Recipe : 6 Salmon Fillets 1 1/2 tbs. brown sugar 2 tsp. butter 2 tbs. Dijon mustard 1 tbs. olive oil 2 tsp. grated ginger 1 tbs. soy sauce   Melt butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan. Whisk in Dijon mustard, grated ginger, olive [...]

Trout Recipe

Here’s some favorite trout recipes of ours. Grilled Trout Recipe (Smoked): 2 c. water juice of 1 lemon 5 cloves garlic, sliced 4 cloves shallot, sliced 2 tbsps. salt 2 tbsps. sugar 2 tbsps. chopped dill Made for 6 (12 oz.) boneless rainbow trout   Start by mixing the brine ingredients together and pour over [...]

Lake Sakakawea in Peril

By Doug Leier Seldom does a week pass without news, political or biological, relating to declining water levels in North Dakota’s huge Missouri River reservoirs. I wonder if people have heard the message so much they are starting to become numb to it. And yet, the message is important. Lake Oahe is at its lowest [...]

Protecting an Important Piece of History

By Doug Leier I was born in Williston and over the course of my life have called many North Dakota towns “home” along the way. It’s easier now, when asked where I’m originally from, to just reply “North Dakota.” I take pride in my roots. From the aspen forest of Bottineau to the Missouri breaks [...]

The Realities of Winterkill

By Doug Leier When it comes to violence and death, nature is not G rated by any stretch of the imagination. If you’ve spent time outdoors, you understand that red fox will efficiently kill plenty of hen ducks keeping watch over a nest. Cormorants will eat many fish. There is no doctor to prevent disease, [...]

Fast & Easy Fish Cleaning Tips for Walleye, Perch, and Panfish

By Chris Hustad The fish cleaning techniques described here are nothing new, and is mainly intended for beginners. This process takes about a minute for each fish, depending on experience. The example shown is using a walleye, but can work all the same on perch, crappies and bluegills. On those crappies, you DO NOT need to [...]

Fishing – A Home Run Every Time

By Doug Leier I  hung up the phone on a Sunday evening and thought to myself. Is it really this easy to enjoy a day of bass fishing? Planning the morning excursion I called Nick and he assured me all I needed was a supply of quarter-ounce jigs and assorted colors of twister tails. Gradually [...]

North Dakota Fish Hatcheries

By Doug Leier North Dakota has its share of variety for anglers. Catfishing on the Red River, paddlefishing on the Yellowstone and Missouri, walleye at Lake Sakakawea and perch at Devils Lake are among the more well-known adventures, but every locale seems to have a unique fishing hole that gives people value for their fishing [...]

Start Practicing Catch & Release

By Doug Leier When I go fishing, I’m a hook and bobber kind of a guy. While I’ve used downriggers, depth finders and detailed contour maps over the years, they don’t help me much and I’ve always been a low-impact type of angler. While I typically get along with simple tackle for fishing – of [...]

Give Drum Fishing a Try

By Doug Leier If you’re planning a summer fishing excursion in North Dakota, I’m here to help. On any given day, if I were to wager, I’d bet most anglers would have fresh walleye fillets in mind, except perhaps for some winter days when perch might climb the ladder of preferred species. For sheer pleasure [...]

The Best Fishing Season Ever

By Doug Leier Did you realize North Dakota’s fishing season opened April 1? Actually, that’s not quite true, as North Dakota’s fishing season is never closed, but April 1 does mark the need to purchase a new license, which is valid until March 31, 2006. While I’m at it, there’s no easier way to purchase [...]

Devils Lake – Lake Sakakawea Water Conditions

By Doug Leier Like night and day. Comparing apples to oranges. Pick your cliché that refers to contrasting situations, and apply it to North Dakota’s two largest bodies of water, Lake Sakakawea and Devils Lake. Sakakawea, a reservoir on the Missouri River, is at its lowest water level since it first filled nearly 40 years [...]

Fishing Deepwater Crankbaits

Lindy Tackle Team The Lindy Tackle team has put together some tips to help you target and effectively use crankbaits in deepwater situations. On Deep Mud Flats:   Many of the country’s reservoirs contain large mud flats. Walleyes will inhabit these flats, especially when insect hatches are coming off the mud. When it’s calm, the [...]

Catfish Recipe List

Here are some favorite catfish recipes of ours. Citrus Grilled Catfish Recipe 4 catfish fillets 1/4 cup oil (I have a preference for olive oil) 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 1/2 tsp. garlic salt 2 tsp. dry minced onion 1/4 tsp. tabasco sauce 4 sliced lemon wedges Rinse fillets and pat dry. Combine the remaining [...]

Perch Recipe List

Here are some favorite perch recipes of ours. Baked Perch Recipe This perch recipe is a crowd favorite for sure. 1.5 pounds of perch fillets 1 med. shallot 2 jalapeno peppers 1 tblspn green onion 1 tblspn minced onion 2 tblspns shredded carrots 1/4 cup red peppers (roasted) 1 tblspn parsley 2 tsp. lemon juice [...]

Lake Sakakawea – On a Comeback?

By Doug Leier I’m a huge fan of comebacks. I love to root for the down-and-out in a struggle to overcome challenges or adversity. In the wildlife world, that might apply to the Giant Canada goose, at one time considered extinct, but now more numerous than ever, or the bald eagle, once an endangered species [...]

New Lake Contour Maps

By Chris Hustad I’ve been around the Internet for a little over a decade now, and I’m still amazed how much information is becoming available for outdoorsmen and women. Everything I’ve learned about hunting and fishing has been through mentors, such as family and friends. I can’t say I know anyone who just picked it [...]

Matching Floats for Slip Bobber Fishing

From Lindy Fishing Tackle There are a lot of opportunities at slip bobber fishing, and this method can be used for a lot of fish species. Thill® has done a lot with their bobbers, or they call, “floats” to increase your fishing success. These aren’t the bobbers of yesterday, and we’ve come a long ways [...]

Dream Job

By PJ Maguire     If you were like me, you would like to have a job that allowed you to spend the workday in the outdoors. Most of us have been told that the most successful people in this world have jobs that they love. It would be pretty sweet to find a career [...]

Chasing Wildlife

By Doug Leier Survival during a typical Midwest winter is more like rolling with the punches than simply fighting the elements. Give yourself credit for acclimating and changing with the weather. Generally speaking, in North Dakota we always have – like it or not – a time to fish through the ice. In some years [...]

Hunting Podcasts – Fishing Podcasts

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson     Every so often, technology revolutionizes the way we communicate, and one such innovation of recent note is growing not only a large subscriber base but also encouraging people to put themselves out there: providing tips, stories and news in all arenas. From ESPN to CBS, all of the major [...]

Hunting & Fishing Trends

By Doug Leier I  grew up without cable television and was never really into video games. We had about three television channels and seldom watched much for that matter. In the mid-1980s video games were just taking off, and thankfully the quarter required pay to play was not really easy to pry out of my dad’s [...]

Looking Forward in 2007

By Doug Leier  I’ve always hesitated when it comes to making predictions, especially regarding hunting, fishing or trapping issues and seasons. However, I am not averse to letting others share their thoughts on what we might expect in 2007. This week, we take a look ahead at what will likely be significant issues within the [...]

Look Into Your Life’s List

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson     The past year has been filled with exciting fishing experiences and great memories. There was a stellar opening day for big bass near Detroit Lakes, Minn., my first white crappie ever caught on Jamestown Reservoir, and my largest walleye to date – just a hair over 29 inches – [...]

Giving Thanks

By Doug Leier I’m a thankful and appreciative kind of guy. I’ve always tried to see Lake Sakakawea, for instance, as the glass that’s still half full. As we advance past Thanksgiving into the holiday season, there’s reason to give thanks for hunters, anglers, trappers and all who enjoy spending more time outside than in. [...]

Time for the Game Warden Exam

By Doug Leier “The North Dakota Game and Fish Department has scheduled an examination to select candidates for the position of district game warden.” I read the lead sentence to this news release recently and couldn’t help but recall a decade-plus ago when I read the same announcement. The exam was scheduled for mid-December 1994, [...]

A Game Wardens Life

By Doug Leier Game wardens should get more credit for the work they do. There’s no two ways about it. For a short time I was a district game warden for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, so I say this with first-hand knowledge. Even as an outreach biologist I’m still peppered with stories [...]

A Visit with a Local Game Warden

By Doug Leier Mark Pollert has served the hunters and citizens as a game warden for over fifteen years. Not the longest by any stretch but enough that he can easily relate what some of the most overlooked problems are– which field violations have decreased, those on the rise and some of the most misunderstood [...]

Outdoor Diversity

By Doug Leier I’ve written extensively on the rich diversity of natural resources that make North Dakota a great place to live if you like the outdoors, or even if you don’t. And who would argue. Within our borders we have opportunities to snag paddlefish, and hunt prairie chickens, sage grouse, sandhill cranes, elk, moose [...]

California Hiking Vacation

By Chris Hustad I  took my first step out of our rented Jeep Cherokee, onto a small, gravel parking area off of a back road in the mountains. The redwoods surrounding us gave off an unfamiliar but refreshing scent. In the distance we could hear the rushing sounds of a mountain creek, flowing heavily from [...]

Competition and the Outdoors

By Doug Leier One look at my 2-year-old son and year-old daughter grappling for a toy is proof positive that competition is instinctive among humans. Many times I’ve sat idly by, observing the escalation in use of force between my children. I intervene when the imaginary line between healthy competition and unwarranted actions is crossed. [...]

Solunar Tables

By Doug Leier When your hunting and fishing skills are comparable to those of Captain Kangaroo, you need all the help you can get. One tool that doesn’t come via mail order or credit card swipe is the solunar tables listed in many magazines and newspaper outdoors sections. Like most people who spend a lot [...]

2008 Goals for the Outdoors

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson     The changing of the calendar on the wall brings with it a flood of memories and prepares me for opportunities that lay ahead in the coming seasons. Unlike the perennial goals of losing weight or eating better, my resolutions focus on raising the bar and undertaking new challenges on [...]

Wishing for Snow

By Doug Leier The middle of winter generally finds me wondering more than wandering. Oh, I still get out, if even for a Sunday afternoon drive just to make sure it’s all still there. If you haven’t tried it, take a drive past some of the haunts you hunkered down in last fall. There’s nothing [...]

A Tough Call in the Fall

Did you ever have to make up your mind? Those words from the Lovin’ Spoonful seemed to run through my head most every afternoon during this season. Of course they are sung quietly in my off-key karaoke voice as I face the dwindling hours of the work day. Decision time: what to do…what to do? [...]

Poison Ivy Prevention

It’s mosquito season again, and vector control is already out in search of the breeding grounds of these annoying little pests. However, during summer there is one itch that is even less fun to scratch than a mosquito bite. For the second time in four years, I have managed to pick up a case of [...]

Exposing Hunting & Fishing Myths and Urban Legends

By Doug Leier I’m not sure who’s credited with saying, “The right tools in the wrong hands can’t fix anything,” but when it comes to the Worldwide Web, I find myself frequently nodding my head in agreement with that statement. Here’s my rub: The Web has made communication and ease of connecting with people and [...]

Winter Jottings

By Doug Leier As winter wears on, a few recent news items give reason to pause and ponder. Rather than keep opinions to myself, here’s a snippet of frozen tundra topics that have crossed my desk, entered my email, been brought up in meetings, on the phone or at the coffee shop. ALUS (alternative land [...]

“A Career Outdoors? Keep your options open”

By Doug Leier As spring gradually thaws the frozen tundra and ice on area lakes becomes mush, I can count on a couple of things. First, I’ll be itching to hear the first song of a western meadowlark. No matter in which part of North Dakota I live, the meadowlark is my quintessential sign that [...]