By Nick Simonson The final weeks of February are a crucial time for fish under the ice across the northern plains.  It’s at this point in the winter when dissolved oxygen levels are typically at their lowest and the risk for winterkill on smaller bodies of water increases.  With heavy snow cover on lakes throughout…

By John Bradley 2022 marks the 85th anniversary of the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, more commonly known as the Pittman-Robertson Act. For hunters and conservationists, this anniversary stands as a testament to the power of the sportsman-conservation community and should fuel within us a sense of pride. Given the current state of politics…

By Nick Simonson Through the magnification of the reading glasses which middle age now requires me to wear at the lure making desk, I caught sight of the hook point on the most recent in a series of streamer patterns I was tying for crappies.  More accurately, it was the blunted end of what should…

By Doug Leier Questions about fishing have been frequent this winter and the North Dakota Game and Fish Department has a full section on its website (gf.nd.gov) to help inform anglers. Here are a few common questions that have come up this season. Why doesn’t the Game and Fish Department pay for opening access to…

By Mike Peluso We have finally seen a bit of a warming trend up here in North Dakota. We have also seen some strong winds and major pressure changes along the way as well. All of these changes seem to shift the mood of the fish. Unfortunately, it usually means the fish get finicky. We…

NDG&F Dept. Release North Dakota’s spring light goose conservation order opens Feb. 19 and continues through May 15. Residents must have a 2021-22 (valid through March 31) or 2022-23 (required April 1) combination license; or a small game, and general game and habitat license. Resident youth under age 16 only need the general game and habitat license….

By Nick Simonson With the deadline looming for spring turkey hunting applications to be submitted by Feb. 16, there’s reason for optimism across North Dakota, and increased opportunities have set the stage for new hunters looking to explore the pastime.  The thoughts of warmer spring days to come paired with expanded habitat programs spearheaded by…

By Nick Simonson To help anglers better connect with an array of fisheries information complied by the North Dakota Game & Fish Department (NDG&F), the agency recently upgraded the search functions associated with its “Where to Fish” page.  Where previously the landing page provided separate links to various pages and files containing information, it now…

By Nick Simonson I recognize a strange duality in the way I approach the outdoors with technology – going low teach or high tech – and the options I’m provided for any given trip on the water allow me to indulge either side of that coin.  On the ice, I was an early adopter of…

By Doug Leier While ice fishing in North Dakota kicked into full gear back in December, it’s never a bad idea for a refresher on rules and regulations. Winter fishing regulations include: ● A maximum of four rods is legal for ice fishing. ● Tip-ups are legal, and each tip-up is considered a single rod….

By Mike Peluso I have definitely learned one thing these past few winter seasons. Don’t try and predict anything, that’s a waste of time. Just as soon as you think you know, or think you know what is going happen, the ice fishing gods like to mess with you. Mother Nature has really been a…

By Nick Simonson While many school sports struggled coming out of the pandemic in 2021, the USA High School Clay Target League (USA CTL) and its North Dakota State High School Clay Target League (ND CTL) affiliate were back on track, providing shooting sports activities for thousands of students across the country and the Roughrider…

By Hannah Hayes It’s the little things that draw me to the uplands. Fishing, hunting, and falconry are just a few of the many hobbies I enjoy. I love ice fishing and open water angling, upland hunting and duck hunting, and it doesn’t get more exciting than catching rabbits with my red-tailed hawk. However, in…

By Nick Simonson A heightened wind gust flapped at the canvas of my flipover shack as my youngest son, Jackson, sat next to me sounding out the longer words in his brother’s book which I had tucked into the pocket of my ice fishing jacket and provided to him after our run of fishing had…

By Doug Leier With so many state, national and local news stories wrapping up 2021 and previewing 2022, life in North Dakota’s outdoors can get lost in the shuffle. Without further delay, Jeb Williams, North Dakota Game and Fish director, provides a look back on some of the issues for the department, hunters, anglers and…

By Mike Peluso In this week’s Devils Lake report, I’ll touch on what is taking place up here for us right now and also the next chapter of my fishing adventures, which is approaching extremely fast! What’s going on right now on Devils Lake? Well, for me and most of our crew things are definitely…

By Nick Simonson In addition to providing a means for anglers in North Dakota to flex their muscles with the fly rod and pursue a species that normally would not be present in our region, stocked trout offer incredible fun on the ice and are generally ready biters throughout the winter.  What follows are some…

By Nick Simonson The Holographic streamer came about as a modification of the Holographic wet fly, a smaller pattern used on eastern waters for trout.  When modified to the tastes of crappies and white bass – with its highly customizable components of tinsel, marabou, ice dub and hackle – the Holographic streamer can be tailored…

By Nick Simonson Midwinter is the trough of the natural world, and the challenges above the ice reflect what’s going on below it.  Conditions are rougher, colder and there’s less movement out there.  Everything that runs, flies or swims sometimes seems to be saving up its energy for the warming days coming in just a…

By Doug Leier When we think about proper catch-and-release, we often think of stressed fish in warm water during the dog days of August. Most anglers who choose to release fish they catch, or may be required by law – for instance, undersized fish on waters where length regulations exist – take great pride in…

By Mike Peluso Man, I have to admit this winter is starting to get tough, with more snow, cold temperatures, and lots of wind! I can handle the snow and cold, the wind, however, is getting a bit ridiculous and it is making travel on the ice and moving around difficult. You want to go…

NDG&F Dept. Release The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is offering 7,647 wild turkey licenses for the 2022 spring hunting season, 635 more than last year. Ten of the 22 hunting units have more spring licenses than last year, one has fewer licenses and 10 remain the same. Unit 21 (Hettinger and Adams counties)…

By Nick Simonson They’re out there under the ice, scattered throughout North Dakota’s slough country; jumbo perch that just a couple of decades ago were limited to major reservoirs in the Peace Garden State along with the noted population in Devils Lake.  With the onset of the wet cycle experienced in the upper plains since…

By John Bradley My uncle and I go pheasant hunting a couple times each year.  We usually hunt over our labs in Montana and during the holidays in Minnesota.  He has a couple catch phrases that will undoubtedly be said during each hunt.  The first is said upon seeing other hunters out in the field…

By Nick Simonson You don’t hear much in the way of hymns from a congregation of alligators, which is the name for the reptiles when they’re found in a group.  Likely, you don’t turn to a shrewdness of apes for advice as they’d most likely be chasing you off, especially if they are of the…

By Doug Leier Thankfully, winter didn’t really start until December. Living in North Dakota we’ve felt winter begin in October some years and drag into what should be spring.  The later winter begins and the earlier it exits is mostly better for resident wildlife.  So far, this version of North Dakota winter has been benign…

By Mike Peluso A few words come to mind this past week up here on Devils Lake: snow, wind, cold, warm and Covid. Yes, I said the bad word – Covid – and while it has not hit me, we have had a few groups cancel on us here as of late due to Covid….

By Nick Simonson The traditional image of a hunting dog on the prairies of the upper Midwest may suggest the statuesque shorthair holding point over a covey of grouse, or the staunch vigilance of a chocolate lab watching the skies from the cover of a duck blind. A growing number of hunters, however, are taking…

By Nick Simonson In college, at the local grocery store was one of those old-timey scales from the 1930s or 40s with a large dial at the top displaying weights from 0 to 300 pounds.  Each time I’d step on it, I’d watch the needle zip up to the high 200s, then back down to…

By Doug Leier The current status of winter fishing is better appreciated and understood with a look back at where we were when the ice retreated last spring. “At that time, we had roughly 430 lakes in North Dakota and as we go into the new ice fishing season, we still have about 430 lakes,…