By Nick Simonson It happened more than a decade ago.  My wife won a 20 gauge over-under at our local Pheasants Forever banquet and gifted the featherweight shotgun to me.  In my hands, it felt tiny, but it snapped to my shoulder with a quickness and a natural flow unlike any other shotgun I had…

By Doug Leier The goal of the Private Land Open To Sportsmen program is to provide walk-in public access for hunting on private land. Just because hunters are allowed access doesn’t mean it’s open for any type of use. Even if you are hunting, PLOTS agreements do not allow activities such as horseback riding, camping,…

By Nick Simonson Ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian partridge and sharptailed grouse opener in North Dakota agents of the state’s Game and Fish Department (NDG&F) report solid rebounds for both birds on their summer surveys, particularly in the west.  According to Upland Game Management Supervisor Jesse Kolar, Hungarian partridge are doing very well and are…

By Mike Peluso Like most years, I usually take a couple day break from walleye fishing over my birthday (September 2nd) to recharge my batteries and my boat batteries. This year has been a busy season no doubt. It has also been probably one of the best years of fishing I have seen. I know…

By Nick Simonson Summer bookended the season with a Labor Day weekend of epic proportions as stable weather and warm temperatures produced a three-day September holiday unlike any other in recent memory.  While lazily fly-rodding bluegills just after sunrise from the dock at the cabin, I listened to the distant thunder of shotgun blasts beyond…

NDG&F Release Hunters can help in the effort to manage upland game birds in North Dakota by collecting feathers from harvested birds and sending in wing envelopes. Birds included in the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s (NDG&F) upland game wing survey, which has been in practice for decades, are ring-necked pheasants, sharp-tailed grouse, Hungarian…

By Doug Leier When it comes to seeing, hearing and understanding the issues hunters encounter firsthand, North Dakota Game and Fish Department game wardens are reliable sources for issues such as hunter safety. Their guidance provides hunters with points of emphasis to keep themselves and other hunters safe.  The same goes for one of the…

By Brad Durick Angling for channel catfish on the Red river this past week provided a variety of conditions, with different weather each day.  As a result, the catfish reacted in kind by moving from on current, to off current and back on again. The good news is the cats have basically been in the…

By Nick Simonson North Dakota’s deer populations find themselves in a rebuilding phase following the challenging winter of 2022-23, which thanks to significant snowfall and brutal cold temperatures from November into May, resulted in increased mortality of both white-tailed and mule deer across the map.  With an accommodating late spring and summer under their feet…

By Mike Peluso It’s hard to believe we are already at the beginning of school and football season. Summer buzzed by us way too quickly here. I still have quite a few days left here of guiding for walleyes on both Devils Lake and Lake Sakakawea, so here it goes. I left Devils Lake in…

By Nick Simonson About this time of year I start to get really primed for what’s to come.  Sure the cool mornings and warm afternoons behind a good dog while under a clear blue sky surrounded by the beiges and golds of rolling grassy hillsides are a moment in time to be held in memory…

By Nick Simonson While near-record snowfall across the southeastern portion of North Dakota hampered survival of the state’s white-tailed deer population over the winter of 2022-23, those animals that made it through the challenging season have had conditions helpful to their recovery since spring.  Temperate conditions and ample rainfall have helped those does able to…

By Doug Leier August means the early Canada goose season and the beginning of the 2023 hunting seasons.  Part of the process is looking for places to hunt from the first geese to ducks, deer, pheasants and grouse.   Did you know about 93 percent of the land in North Dakota is privately owned? It’s no…

NDG&F Dept. Release State Game and Fish Department migratory game bird biologists expect a fall flight of ducks similar to 1998, 2004 and 2020. If those past seasons don’t ring a bell, the fall flight is anticipated to be about 23% above last year’s fall flight, based on observations from the annual mid-July duck production…

By Brad Durick The feeling of fall is setting in while we’ve been fishing for cats on the Red River of the North The water temperature on the flow has dropped down to around 70 degrees and all the fronts throughout the past week have pushed the catfish to an off-current pattern. This means the…

By Nick Simonson North Dakota’s Private Land Open to Sportsmen (PLOTS) program added approximately 5,000 acres of access opportunity to hunters for this fall, but what drives the system which has been in place for nearly 25 years now is a focus on better habitat. In the era of lowered conservation reserve acres, a heightened…

By MIke Peluso It’s been a great week for walleyes up here on Devils Lake. We have caught lots of fish and they are ranging in every size imaginable! The lake is healthy with small fish and a nice mix of bigger walleyes too. The combination of good spawning and good management of the system…

By Nick Simonson There comes a day in every August where the shift to fall is heavily hinted at.  Some years, it’s the chill in the night breeze as the boat comes up the launch after a humid evening of walleye fishing that implies autumn is on the way.  In others, it seems as if…

By Doug Leier  High school fall sports practices are underway, school has either started or will begin soon. Like it or not, it’s hunting season. The good news is the fishing season in North Dakota never closes so hunters who lament the loss of the true summer can choose not to take part in the…

By Brad Durick For Red River catfish, the past week has been really good for numbers and more and more big fish are showing up. The pattern has not changed all that much in terms of locations with fish still mostly right down the middle of the river. What has changed, however, is that we…

By Nick Simonson While yellow perch are most notably pursued through the ice and are a primary target of many anglers throughout the region during the cold weather months, these fish can provide fast summertime action and a stockpile of delicious fillets that can rival the stash that winter anglers accumulate.  Connecting with roaming schools…

By Mike Peluso This report will be a quick recap of what I know on two bodies of water and what I’ve heard on another. Once again, my job has taken me to both Devils Lake and Lake Sakakawea this week. As far as Sakakawea goes at this time of year the bulk of the…

By Nick Simonson Late summer brings with it fast fishing, but it can provide challenging conditions as well.  Gearing up for the home stretch of the season and the start of fall, which produces some of the biggest and fastest bites of the year, requires anglers to rethink some strategies, remain persistent on others and…

By Doug Leier It’s been nearly 20 years since the first legal mountain lion season in North Dakota.   To think there’s a generation that has grown up never knowing a time when there wasn’t a season. It puts into context the label of “new” or “experimental” when describing one of the more recent additions to legal…

By Nick Simonson The modern ranks of anglers throughout the upper Midwest are armed with uncountable lures, amazing watercraft and technology that rides the cutting edge.  As a result, this concentrated core of well-equipped sportsmen is able to make up for the increased pressure that equally-endowed anglers have produced in recent seasons, making fish just…

By Mike Peluso Since my arrival on Lake Sakakawea on June 15, the lake has risen probably 12 feet. Maybe more maybe less. The fact of the matter is, with that much water, the walleyes tend to spread out a tad. The one thing I have noticed a lot this week is how the fish…

By Nick Simonson Second perhaps to the day after New Years, the Sunday following the Fourth of July is one of my most dreaded days of the year.  I know it’s just a number, and I know that health and fitness overall is more than the red-line numerals on the readout in the dim light…

By Nick Simonson With a recharge of wetlands from the winter and spring snows, conditions were improved across North Dakota for returning waterfowl.  While this spring’s survey report from the North Dakota Game & Fish Department (NDG&F) showed a slight increase in breeding duck tallies, behind the numbers, Ducks Unlimited (DU) is finding good indicators…

By Doug Leier I’ll apologize in advance as I’d rather not dig up bad memories, but this past winter started too early and stayed too long. But sometimes as a friend reminded me, “we can turn the page, but don’t forget what you’ve read.” The winter/spring of 2023 lasting impact on deer, pheasants, livestock, landowners…

By Brad Durick Catfish on the Red River are starting to get into the swing of summer.  The post spawn phase now has the fish starting to move to a more summerlike mid-river pattern. The best fishing has continued to be in the holes in or near the main current in the middle of the…