I've been seeing more and more anglers on and in the water recently. Some of them are fishing from boats, some are wading, others are fishing from docks or shore. Some of them are catching fish, some aren't catching too much. If you want to catch more fish early in the fishing season, following...

For many of us, the ice-fishing season is over, but open water fishing is still a little ways off. Some will make a trip to a river to get in on some open water angling, and others will travel north to find ice that is still safe, but for many, now is a down time for actually wetting a line...

When it comes to conversations about hunting and fishing, it's pretty easy to understand when someone relates they caught a five-pound walleye or bagged a limit of mallards. For me, those references bring to mind a stream of different fish and fowl I've seen, caught or shot for a comparative...

Autumn has arrived in the Midwest. In a couple of weeks the countryside will be alive in color and lots of outdoor enthusiasts will have departed the lakes for tree stands in search of deer or the fields looking for pheasants or geese or ducks. Nothing wrong with that: hunting is a wonderful...

When we go fishing, we want to catch fish, big ones and lots of'em. But we also want to have a good time, and really, we usually remember the good times more than we remember the big fish. There are things we can do to have a better time fishing that have nothing to do with catching more fish...

July is here. Time goes by faster every year. We had an early ice-out this year, but the weather stayed cool and the water didn't warm up as quickly as we thought it would. But for the most part, fishing has been pretty good darn across the Midwest. Following are some ideas that will help you...

We're into the summer season, and in the summer fishing changes a bit. So far this year our open water fishing in many situations has been taking place in fairly shallow water, often near where the fish spawned. Now that the fish are done spawning, they will be wherever their food is. If you're...

It's pretty much official: the open water fishing season for 2016 is here. Minnesota walleye season opened this past weekend, Wisconsin was the week before, and northwest Iowa was the week before that. Most of the other states in the Midwest don't have a closed walleye season, and while there...

I've always enjoyed my final column of the year and first column of the next year, as a kind of closing one door and then looking ahead to what may or may not be coming for the next year. This year, instead of one review and one preview, I'll cover the past and future for several topics over...

Open water season in my part of the world is winding down. There might be a couple more trips in the boat, but I'm getting the ice-fishing stuff ready to go. It's at this time of year that I like to look back at the season just completed. Every year has trips that are more memorable than others...

Fall has fell in the Midwest. When we left the dock at Kabetogama Lake in northern Minnesota last week at about 8:00 a.m., the air temperatures were in the high 20's. That's pretty chilly, but we hadn't traveled to Kab to sit on the shore. We pulled on the Guidewear and headed onto the lake in...

I bought a fishing license this year, just like I have every year since I turned 16. I bought a license for my wife, and my kids still aren't old enough to need one (16 or older) but we all fished the past year, just like we do every year. I'm not sure I'd say we fished often enough, but when...

Labor Day indicates to many people that the end of summer is near, and to some that means it's time to put the boat and their rods and reels into storage. Anglers who quit fishing in early September are missing out on two months of some of the best fishing of the year. Keep the following ideas...

by Doug Leier The 2015 North Dakota legislative session recently wrapped up. While the number of bills related to hunting, fishing, trapping and outdoor recreation was down somewhat from previous years, it was still a busy session as the North Dakota Game and Fish Department tracked 23...

By Bob Jensen Too much of the time we hear about bodies of water or fish species that are experiencing problems, and it's good that we learn about those problems because if we don't know about them, we can't fix them. We're often hearing about the water being too dirty or too clear, the fish...

by Doug Leier To the delight of many anglers, spring fishing this year got an early start, and few seasoned residents of North Dakota will ever lament a shorter winter. From the Red River and Devils Lake to the Yellowstone, there was no shortage of open water. And, with lower fuel and...

By Bob Jensen As we enter a new open water fishing season, it's good to get some thoughts together regarding changes in fishing techniques and fishing ideas. Some of us consider ourselves to be "walleye fishermen", some fit the bill as "bass fishermen", others narrow it down even more and...

by Doug Leier One of my first work details after I became a game warden in 1996 was as part of a detail during the paddlefish snagging season. And since then I've watched them, weighed them, even tried the caviar, but I've never landed one of the prehistoric native fish that can weigh well...

By Bob Jensen As the days get warmer and longer, more anglers are making it to the lake or river or pond in search of a fish that wants to get caught. Fish, being the coldblooded creatures that they are, respond to our lure presentations differently depending on the season. They like their...

by Doug Leier My first open-water cast of the 2015 fishing season came before spring turkey season, and even before Easter. While the first fish of the year didn't happen on the same trip, it was reason to smile. Just getting outdoors in early April without mud boots or winter jacket was...