By Doug Leier What’s the key to a memorable fishing, camping or boating trip? Before you finish your thought, I’d like to suggest that safety should top the list. Period. No discussion. If it isn’t, let’s make it. My argument is if you don’t have a safe fishing, boating or outdoor outing, it doesn’t matter…

By Seth Owens Winters are tough, especially those that are as long and brutal as this last one was. But it does eventually end, and as the last few snowdrifts melt out from the tree rows in May, spring has finally settled across the North Dakota prairies and it brings a rebirth of color, sounds,…

By Mike Peluso It’s hard for me to believe this is my last Missouri River walleye fishing report until fall as it just never felt like we had much of a spring. With late ice off, muddy water and terrible weather, it just made for a frustrating time. I’m hoping Mother Nature repays us with…

By Nick Simonson Calculating when fish will be where is as much a part of the angling process as threading a plastic on a hook, switching up the blade color on a spinner, or firing up the boat motor.  For most of us, life limits the windows in which we can access our favorite waters,…

By John Bradley Despite the hard winter in North Dakota, North America’s most recent glacial period ended about 10,000 years ago. As the ice sheets decayed, they left thousands of shallow depressions across the northern part of the continent. Today, those potholes and kettles fill with water, either each spring or permanently, and create the…

By Brad Durick We are in the river! The Grand Forks north landing on the Red River is open and clean for those catfishermen looking to get out and scratch the itch. The river level is sitting at 25 feet and some change, which is still fairly high for many anglers. If you are not…

By Doug Leier For many deer hunters the application is automatic. You’ve put in for the same unit, same first tag option forever and don’t plan to change. Others may look to different units with better odds, opting for a doe tag in a unit with less competition and opportunity to secure deer sausage for…

By Mike Peluso These past two weeks on the Missouri River near Bismarck have been a fast-forwarded version of normal spring walleye fishing. Good friend and past Big Muddy Winner Corey Perman had to remind me that the walleyes in this system are like death and taxes. At some point it is inevitable that they…

By Nick Simonson Smallmouth bass in spring stake out premier spawning sites, with the biggest fish getting the best pieces of territory.  Typically, the shallows where they make their beds have many structural elements and knowing what to key in on as these fish make their moves will help connect you with more bass this…

By Doug Leier  When it comes to work in the outdoors and natural resources fields, most people understand the role of fisheries and wildlife biologists. Talking to an upland game biologist about the pheasant counts or seeing a fisheries crew stocking pike in spring or checking nets in summer is a pretty frequent occurrence. If…

By Brad Durick Boat ramps around Grand Forks should be opening any day as the Red River has gotten below flood stage. Water levels are still dropping rapidly which is generally not good for catfishing but according to projections they will level off late this week. Water temperatures on the Red are in the low…

By Nick Simonson I first saw our new neighbors in the dim light of an early February morning.  As I walked the dogs past their driveway, they cautiously eyed us over but, unlike the residents who had been on our block for a while, they didn’t take off when both my large lab and German…

NDG&F Release North Dakota’s 2023 deer season is set, with 53,400 licenses available to hunters, down 10,800 from last year. In addition, muzzleloader licenses decreased by 146 and restricted youth antlered mule deer licenses by 145. Residents age 11, 12 and 13 who hold a youth antlerless white-tailed deer license are no longer restricted to…

By Nick Simonson Success in fishing, as in life, comes down to doing the little things right.  If you’re not familiar with the cautionary tale dubbed “for want of a nail,” it’s well worth the ten second read in any of its poetic forms.  The base lesson is that due to missing the smallest detail…

By Doug Leier  Where are the fish biting? How are the deer numbers? These are the two most often asked questions I get.  Along those same lines, the most popular licensing inquiry deals with the firearms deer lottery and bonus points.  Let’s establish from the start these are “bonus” points and not any kind of…

By Mike Peluso Confused, frustrated, and depressed are all words that can be used when to describe what is happening on the Missouri River near Bismarck right now. You could probably even throw in a couple swear words. If you have fished the river as hard and as much as I have for over 40…

By Nick Simonson The water was cold, fast, and dingy rushing out of the gates of Baldhill Dam, as atop the spillway the ghostly blue-gray ice still held fast to the shores of Lake Ashtabula at its generally widest and deepest point of the 12-mile reservoir, despite being a single day away from the month…

By Nick Simonson With our increasingly condensed spring, the spawning runs of fish are beginning to stack up.  Pike have just begun in earnest, well behind normal.  It’s likely walleyes across the region will get going shortly as well.  Behind both of those species, smallmouth and largemouth bass will next stake out their nesting sites. …

By Nick Simonson While the late ice-off for much of the state’s waters is delaying spring angling for many sportsmen, it is also hampering some of the North Dakota Game & Fish Department’s (NDG&F) efforts when it comes to egg collection and stocking. With many lakes just beginning to lose their ice cover, however, processes…

By Doug Leier  One of the most unique seasons in North Dakota’s outdoors is the paddlefish season. For some the season is an annual reunion of family and friends, sort of the spring version of deer camp. And if you can’t make it, your excuse better be good.  For those who don’t know, here’s a…

By Mike Peluso I wish I had more news on the fishing end of things for this week’s Missouri River Fishing report, unfortunately the update is not much in the form of catching fish, but hopefully we are trending in that direction. The ramps are all pretty much usable up and down the entire river…

By Nick Simonson Business End To complete the rig, tie on a chosen hook or jig.  There are many options that can be fished under a slip float for all sorts of species.  An octopus hook in size 2 or 4 works well for walleyes, and smaller hooks like the size 6 will do the…

By Cara Greger While taking a walk at the Belfield “Dam” Park (some locals told me they want to change the name, but my kids and I kind of like it), my ten-year-old Chocolate Labrador Retriever Muffin and I were looking at last year’s prairie skeletons. 2022 must have been a good moisture year for…

NDG&F Release A total of 47,590 North Dakota deer hunters took approximately 25,093 deer during the 2022 deer gun hunting season, according to a post-season survey conducted by the state Game and Fish Department, down from 57,086 hunters and 32,793 harvested deer in the 2021 firearms season. Game and Fish made available 64,200 deer gun…

By Doug Leier While working the Outdoors Show in winter one of the more frequent discussions centered on electronic posting of private land for hunting.  For example, one landowner didn’t appreciate a neighboring hunter/landowner accessing land left unposted by others before returning to hunt his own posted property. While few would support the morality of…

NDG&F Release North Dakota’s paddlefish season opens May 1, and snaggers should note that the sale and distribution of tags are similar to last year. Paddlefish tags are available for purchase online at the Game and Fish Department’s website, gf.nd.gov, at license vendors, and during normal business hours at Game and Fish offices in Bismarck,…

By Mike Peluso With the winter we had I was hoping Mother Nature would have at least given us a little break this spring. Unfortunately, she has other plans. As of April 16, the Knife River, Heart River and all the smaller tributaries are roaring. The Knife is the number one culprit of the muddy…

By Nick Simonson While spring has just arrived and most of the region’s lakes remain ice covered, and only a few rivers have broken free of winter’s grasp completely, it’s hard not to think about the gamest fish that swims – the smallmouth bass.  When the water warms, smallies become more aggressive, and with their…

By Nick Simonson As rivers open with a swell of meltwater, bringing the first openwater fishing action of the season, anglers are hooking up their boats and heading out. With that spring rush of angling excitement comes watercraft traveling across the North Dakota prairie between those first open rivers and then the lakes as the…

By Doug Leier I’ve always appreciated the complexities of nature, including the connection of individual fish and wildlife species to food, water, space and where they call home. If you hunt upland game, the importance of grassland habitat and pollinators is mutual to game and hunters. Much of the information the North Dakota Game and…