By Nick Simonson Long Bridge on Big Detroit Lake is a place that most anglers would refer to as a slump buster for its plentiful panfish.  Even now, a week ahead of the walleye opener in Minnesota, it’s a destination because it’s a guarantee that something will bite in the waters along the concrete pilings…

NDG&F Dept. Release North Dakota’s 2024 deer season is set, with 50,100 licenses available to hunters, down 3,300 from last year. In addition, muzzleloader licenses decreased by 66 and restricted youth antlered mule deer licenses remained the same. Casey Anderson, North Dakota Game and Fish Department wildlife division chief, said population, harvest and survey data…

NDG&F Dept. Release May 5-11 is Aquatic Nuisance Species Awareness Week in North Dakota in an effort to raise the public’s understanding of the preventative steps recreationists need to follow to stop the introduction and spread of ANS in the state’s waterways. ANS are nonnative plants, animals or pathogens that can affect the ecology of our lakes…

By Doug Leier When it comes to phone apps, I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the next generation. I’m at best the past generation and hopefully not the lost generation. While I admit I do enjoy having access to all the Game and Fish Department information on my mobile device, I’m much more…

By Nick Simonson While the weather has been a bit unstable for the front half of the North Dakota spring turkey hunting season, hunters have been finding some success and likely will still have opportunities to fill their tags with a bit of scouting and patience, according to RJ Gross, Upland Game Biologist for the…

By Mike Peluso As it’s the week before the Big Muddy fishing tournament, I’m sad to report there are no walleyes being caught between Cannonball River and the Wilton Boat Landing on the Missouri River. All kidding aside, a lot of change is happening right now with the fish migration and the spawn. It’s a…

By Nick Simonson Whether it’s been a converted gravel pit, a dammed-up stretch of creek bottom or gully, or even just an area dug out from the earth itself for the purpose of providing a fishing opportunity, ponds have provided a great deal of insight into the angling process and have held a lot of…

NDG&F Department Release Zebra mussels were confirmed in the lower end of Lake Oahe in South Dakota in December 2023 by South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks staff. As a result, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department is working closely with South Dakota to monitor the colonization of mussels in Lake Oahe during the…

By Nick Simonson While teaching my first fly-tying and lure making course in some time, I was asked by a student as we entered the free-tying phase at the end of the second night, “what’s your favorite way to fish: spinning, baitcaster or fly rod?” I paused hard and thought about it, and knowing it’s…

By Doug Leier A highlight of my early years with the Game and Fish Department as a district game warden was the variety of field-training opportunities. New wardens learn different required skills from seasoned wardens at stations literally in every corner of North Dakota. My primary training warden was Kurt Aufforth, who was stationed in…

By Nick Simonson The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s (FWS) Valley City Fish Hatchery has been host to a number of notable fish species which are raised from eggs and fry up to stockable fingerling sizes each spring and summer.  From more common sportfish such as walleyes and pike, to a notable tiger muskie program…

By Mike Peluso As promised last week, I would let you know what this week’s water temperatures on the Missouri River look like. As of Saturday, they had dropped anywhere from 8 to 12 degrees depending on where you were on the river. As a result, this has slowed the action down when it comes…

By Nick Simonson “You should have been here yesterday,” is paradoxically one of my favorite and least favorite sayings about the outdoors. When I’m issuing it, it recalls a day of excitement, and likely invokes a bit of good-natured envy from a fellow angler, who with me in the newest moment, probably isn’t doing as…

By Nick Simonson For those anglers looking to explore one of the region’s most underutilized but powerful river fish, channel catfish provide a trophy experience and some consistently good fishing, especially on the Red River from Fargo to the Canadian border in North Dakota.  While it may require a bit of specialized gear and a…

NDG&F Dept. Release The North Dakota Game and Fish Department will be conducting numerous tagging studies on walleye populations across the state over the next several years to gain a better understanding of how anglers are utilizing these fisheries. This year, walleye tagging efforts will occur at Coal, Twin, Coe and West Napoleon lakes. These…

By Nick Simonson With each slide of the small bucktail fly over the two rocks in the shallows, I elicited a strike on nearly every cast from the crappies staging on the edge of the flat in the warming spring afternoon.  A slow drag of the brightly-hued minnow imitator kept it moving out and away…

By Doug Leier There’s just something to be said for consistency. Not just because I’m an old man and don’t like change, either. Changing fishing regulations year to year and lake to lake can maximize management at the expense of confusion leading to angler frustration. Same with hunting. Case in point: In my years with…

By Mike Peluso Well, it’s been an interesting week fishing for walleyes on the Missouri River. So interesting in fact that I almost forgot to do this week’s fishing report! That tends to happen when you are guiding every day and even pulling a double shift or two. During the early portion of the week…

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…