By Nick Simonson The midnight-tinted sides of the spawning black crappie from the north bay of the power plant lake was a welcome sight.  It confirmed that both my timing and my location were on, as my first cast into the area of the sunken rock crib where the fish spawned each spring connected soundly,…

NDG&F Release The North Dakota Game and Fish Department announced the winners of the 2024 Earth Day Patch Contest. Over 2,000 students from 100 schools entered this year’s contest. Winners in three age categories are Ella Haagenson, Leeds (K-4); Isla Anderson, St. Johns Academy, Jamestown (5-8); and Deegan Kierschemann, Barnes County North, Wimbledon (9-12). Haagenson’s design was…

NDG&F Dept. Release North Dakota’s paddlefish season opens May 1, and is scheduled to continue through May 21. However, depending on the overall harvest, an early in-season closure may occur with a 24-hour notice issued by the state Game and Fish Department. Paddlefish tags are available for purchase online at the Game and Fish website, gf.nd.gov,…

By Nick Simonson For more than two decades, the North Dakota Game & Fish Department (NDG&F) has enlisted the help of citizen wildlife watchers in tracking active bald eagle nests throughout the state.  Through the process, the agency has watched a fledgling population of these once endangered birds grow to be present across the Peace…

By Doug Leier The work of North Dakota game wardens is so much more than checking hunting and fishing licenses. The men and women wearing a badge and working the frontlines of game and fish law enforcement are the first called when a hunter has a question or a landowner is dealing with deer depredation….

By Nick Simonson Springtime brings with it some interesting water conditions.  In years such as this one, where limited snow and low runoff are the norm, many streams and lakes can be super clear.  In springs like 2023, where a seemingly endless supply of snow provided a rush of meltwater for a long period of…

By Mike Peluso The good news is we are finally in full swing this spring. The bad news is that the weather really hasn’t been that great, with lots of wind making walleye fishing on the Missouri River difficult. When the weather permits, however it seems the fish are willing and able. For my guide…

By Nick Simonson The two men in Carhartt body suits watching their rods along the far side of the creek below the rock dam were a welcome sign.  Though their pickups in the parking lot when I arrived suggested there may be more traffic at the out-of-the-way feeder creek where a number of seasons ago…

NDG&F Dept. Release The North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s 2023 bighorn sheep survey, completed by recounting lambs in March, revealed a record 364 bighorn sheep in the grasslands of western North Dakota, up 5% from 2022 and 16% above the five-year average. The count surpassed the previous record of 347 bighorns in 2022. Altogether,…

By Nick Simonson Population jumps in walleyes and bluegills and a decrease in the surveyed number of bullheads in the North Dakota Game & Fish Department’s (NDG&F) late summer sampling of Lake Ashtabula in 2023 have made the reservoir on the Sheyenne River a destination for anglers seeking a variety of gamefish and panfish and…

By Doug Leier Do you think much about wild turkeys in North Dakota? If you’re like me, when you see a turkey you call them out: “tom, jake, hen … how many are there? Are they on private land? Where did they come from and where are they headed?”  Game and Fish biologists wonder some…

By Nick Simonson Springtime is smallmouth time, and as the waters warm up and bronzebacks stage for their spawn in late April and early May, targeting them provides a welcome challenge. Upping your odds with some choice soft plastics helps better connect with these fish this time of year and provides an arsenal that often…

By Mike Peluso Things are just starting to get going here on the Missouri River near Bismarck. The weather has been a little up and down, but it’s trying to get better, and it has given us a few little windows to get out. It seems like once you are out there you will see…

By Nick Simonson In the coldest waters of spring, every bit of realism, enticement, and apparent edibility a lure can project is an advantage to anglers.  That’s why, as the last few handfuls of lures come together on my vise ahead of the open water season, whisps of marabou pile up in drifts of red,…

By Nick Simonson Over time, I’ve amassed my share of tackle boxes, bait binders and other compartments big and small that hold everything from a large selection of tiny flies, to a catalog of soft plastics. In those years and seasons on the water, I’ve found those that best fit my style of fishing and…

By Doug Leier We live in a world of point, click, instant access and information. Patience is a rare commodity, but when it comes to hunting and fishing, it’s not an option. Waiting for the right deer or the hot bite is as important as finding the right lure or spot. In the same way,…

By Nick Simonson The North Dakota Game & Fish Department’s (NDG&F) survey of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) – a prion-based illness of the brain and nervous system which always results in the fatality of the animals it infects – in the state netted 11 positive samples in fall of 2023. With an intensified focus on…

By Mike Peluso Well, here we go again. I think it’s a prerequisite for me that if I’m coming home from a season of ice fishing, we are going to get hit with a blizzard. So, yes, here we are again. I did get out a couple times fishing walleyes on the Missouri River just…

By Nick Simonson A co-worker once said to me after I had announced my first robin sighting of the spring that there would only be three more snow events to go.  Puzzled, I inquired further, and she explained it was a saying her mother used to make after she saw her first robin of the…

By Nick Simonson With spring on hold for the next week or so (depending on this weekend’s storm track) there’s likely some time to think about what comes when that snow melts.  Of course, the fishing will be fast and furious once we flip the calendar into April, but after the solid spring bite and…

From NDG&F Dept. Releases A total of 45,927 North Dakota deer hunters took approximately 25,146 deer during the 2023 deer gun hunting season, according to a post-season survey conducted by the state Game and Fish Department.  Numbers were similar to the 47,590 hunters and 25,093 deer harvested in 2022. Game and Fish made available 53,400…

NDG&F Dept. Release North Dakota’s 2024-26 fishing proclamation is set, with regulations effective April 1, 2024, through March 31, 2026. New fishing licenses are required April 1. Anglers can find the North Dakota 2024-26 Fishing Guide online at the state Game and Fish Department website, gf.nd.gov, or at Game and Fish Department offices and license vendors throughout…

By Nick Simonson Drag is that mechanism by which anglers tire big fish out and prevent their lines from being broken in the process.  Few things excite in the outdoors as much as a big muskie, pike or channel catfish charging off into the depths with the resulting whir, whine or pinging of a drag…

By Mike Peluso As I’m writing this very last report from the ice on Devils Lake, I can honestly say this has been the most challenging ice fishing season in my lifetime, but it has also been very rewarding at times, too. There were lots of ups and downs and highs and lows. I’d say…

By Nick Simonson The tip of the flock came over our house on the north end of town as my wife and I looked up from the deck to the high-pitched cacophony riding the northwest wind over our neighborhood.  A blur of blue and white in a pair of overlapping vees of light geese organized…

NDG&F Release Elk, moose and bighorn sheep applications are available online at the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s website, gf.nd.gov. The deadline for applying is March 27. A total of 833 elk licenses are available to hunters this fall, an increase of 230 from last year. Licenses in units E1E, E1W and E3 increased due to…

By Emily Spolyar In North Dakota, Pheasants Forever (PF) chapter members are putting their money where their boots and birddogs want to be most: in high-quality, accessible habitat. Recognizing the significant loss of habitat in their area and the implications of these lost acres, the Pheasants Forever MonDak Chapter 619 hatched a plan to bolster…

By Doug Leier Growing up, living or even moving to North Dakota you understand the connection to the outdoors and how important fishing is to “quality of life.” While each individual has their own unique factors which contribute to why we live here, the outdoors is part of it for some and more for others….

By Nick Simonson When it comes to tiny tackle, no piece is more overlooked than the split ring.  Whether it’s used as a tie-in point on spoon to provide a little bit more wiggle or utilized in securing a pair of treble hooks to a favorite crankbait, the split ring is a small part of…

By Mike Peluso I’m on the 18th tee box for the ice fishing season, I just need to keep it in the fairway and get up and down to close it out. It is hard to believe it’s coming to an end already, but it goes fast and I’m already getting excited for the open…