By Nick Simonson With this weekend’s news of the North Dakota state walleye record falling, and the conditions aligning for early angling opportunities, it is a picture-perfect time to catch some huge spring fish.  If you plan to take some photos of your angling success this spring or any time during the openwater season, here…

By Doug Leier One of the nationwide hunting and fishing agency priorities is referred to as R3. Recruiting new participants; retaining the current; and reactivating past hunters and anglers who have fallen away from outdoor recreation. Cayla Bendel is the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s R3 coordinator. She joins a growing list of conservation…

By Nick Simonson For Jared Shypkoski of Dickinson, his spring walleye adventures were already off to a great start after catching a personal best 31-inch fish on a trip to the Columbia River two weeks ago.  However, he broke his personal walleye record and potentially that of North Dakota – pending review by the state’s…

By Nick Simonson With spring seemingly on fast forward and any precipitation or runoff on pause, concerns for a successful spawning effort are growing on many of North Dakota’s lakes and rivers where the natural phenomenon occurs and helps sustain populations of popular species like pike, perch, and walleyes.  However, the state’s stocking program is…

By Nick Simonson I questioned the wind and the chill blowing in the mist rising off the wavy surface of the small powerplant lake, a place I frequent this time of year to cure cabin fever, prepare things for openwater, and chase the largemouth bass and crappies that are two months ahead of their brothers…

By Doug Leier Information and education are important components of the fight against chronic wasting disease, or CWD as it is often abbreviated. Ironically, shortening the identifier doesn’t give credence to the concern posed for deer species, big game biologists and wildlife managers. The Game and Fish Department website is home to details about CWD…

By Nick Simonson In the formative years of my upland experience, CRP was at its peak, grouse, partridge and pheasants were plentiful and there was an area of PLOTS, WPAs and WMAs just up the hill from my backdoor that provided a young hunter and his dog everything they could want in a walk.  A…

By Nick Simonson Early spring-like conditions have many fans of the outdoors thinking about returning flocks of snow geese, Canada geese, mallards and other waterfowl flying into the area as a sure sign that the season has come ahead of schedule.  As the limited snow recedes and things begin to warm up, some concerns about…

By Nick Simonson When it comes to marketing, a good lure needs a good name.  No angler is going to buy lures called The Skunk, Zippo, or The Blanker.  Lures must have two essentials to catch the attention of anglers.  First they must catch fish, and second they must have a moniker to remember, that…

By Doug Leier It’s hard to believe that it was more than 20 some years ago when I was working as a game warden when the first spring light goose conservation order arrived.   Time flies.   The purpose then — and remains today – is to reduce light goose (snow goose) populations during spring as the birds migrate north to their nesting grounds.   While the opening…

By Nick Simonson In the cold of early spring, it’s not uncommon to see anglers patrolling those initial openwater areas for the first walleyes of the season.  As they stage for their spawning run, these fish provide a welcome bite for those looking to break out the long rod and shake the rust off with…

By Nick Simonson As a weather junkie, I know that any forecast over five days out is not to be trusted.  As an angler though, especially the glass-half-full kind who relishes the thought of the season’s first cast over running water, I know that even a 16-day experimental forecast which shows a hint at extended…

By Doug Leier My duties as an outreach biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department are varied. For example, I help with other Game and Fish functions such as checking on fishing access sites, possible fish kills or conducting upland and small game surveys.  One of the surveys is a count of waterfowl…

By Nick Simonson What outdoor product has a higher hold rating than Bitcoin?  What is getting pricier than a 1960s-era Mickey Mantle baseball card as collectors take stock of their youth-based memorabilia?  What is seeing a run unlike anything we’ve recently witnessed, beyond perhaps Charmin and Cottonelle last March? The answer to all three of…

By John Bradley Winter is a challenging season for North Dakota’s wildlife, with below zero temperatures, snowfall, and limited forage. People can help animals by leaving them undisturbed, so they have a better chance to survive the season. During a normal winter without extremely frigid temperatures, or unusually deep snow, about 90 percent of adult…

By Doug Leier A year ago, the pandemic created a unique set of circumstances for the North Dakota hunter education program. With a goal of training safe hunters, the Game and Fish Department and hundreds of volunteer instructors were faced with a challenge – providing the necessary coursework and gun safety while adhering to safety…

By Nick Simonson Despite the chill of winter settling in across the region, now is the time for making spring plans for habitat work.  Whether it’s a ranching, farming or conservation-focused operation, landowners have more technology and options at their fingers than ever before, and a host of helpers across the upper Midwest to connect…

By Nick Simonson In mid-February my mind often wanders toward spring, and if allowed, into the warmth of summer and thoughts of fishing trips past under the heat of a shining sun.  One of my most formative fishing memories is that of catching bluegills off the dock on those sunny days that blur into the…

By Doug Leier   When my son, dad and I went spearing, Dad had his ice saw in the back of the truck. We put it in the sled and hauled it out. But we didn’t use it. We could have, but the lithium ion auger popped the holes and within minutes the ice was clear and…

By Nick Simonson By this point in the ice season, what was once a well organized ice house is now a disaster.  Okay, well, not a complete disaster, but definitely showing the signs of use to a point where it needs a mid-season clean up.  Where at the end of December the well-worn unit was…

By Nick Simonson Habitat and food.  Food and habitat.  The two biggest driving factors for the survival and propagation of pheasants in North Dakota often hang on what happens in winter, and where birds live and eat are often affected by the conditions that arrive from December to March on the northern plains.  In years…

By Nick Simonson To say this winter has been unusual would be an understatement.  According to the University of Illinois’ Midwestern Regional Climate Center, this winter has tracked along the line of that season in 2011-2012 as the all-time mildest for Bismarck, and remains in the very mild category for Fargo.  While the general population…

By Doug Leier   With the oversaturation of 2020 year in review columns and news, I elected to wait a month before the annual over-the-shoulder look North Dakota outdoors from the past year. The message wasn’t going to change, so no need to rush.  Here’s a brief review.   Record Lakes Stocked   Game and Fish Department fisheries personnel…

By Nick Simonson Advertisements for boat shows, the arrival of 2021 tackle catalogs, and a pileup of daily email blasts highlighting new rods and reels are all signs that we’re turning the corner toward spring.  While it’s still January and there’s plenty of on-ice action left, the promise of spring and openwater fishing keeps anglers…

By Nick Simonson Crappies through the ice remain one of my favorite winter angling pastimes.  While slightly more mysterious in their ways than other panfish, when found they can provide fast action and teach anglers a lot about timing, tackle choices and tactics.  What follows are some tips to turn the attention of winter slabs…

By Nick Simonson Shortly after purchasing my first boat, a used 1986 Grumman Sportsman found on the classified ad page of a regional fishing website that has long since gone under, I added a Humminbird 300 TX fishfinder to the console and snaked the black wire back to the transom of the craft.  With its…

The woolly worm is a fly pattern steeped in the history of fly angling itself, and many branches and regions of that history claim it as their own.  From trout in Europe to bass in the American southeast to panfish in the upper Midwest, the pattern has many origin stories for its popularity and resurgence,…

By Doug Leier Wildlife management and biology – science as a discipline – is a function of learning through time, research and analysis. Really not much different than life where we better understand, with a little more time and learning, the past to help plant the future.  Years back when discussions were being held on…

By Nick Simonson “I bet you can’t eat just one” was the long-time slogan of Lay’s potato chips, and really with about half a century of food science and consumer studies behind the product at the time, the tagline for the easy-to-consume junk food was right on, and still probably is.  The light and airy…

By Nick Simonson With a bump and a full pull of my spring bobber signaling a none-too-subtle bite, I set the hook on a whirling fish that took my line around the ice hole in a 720-degree spin, clicking and pulling off the slightly uneven edge of the cylinder. With sunlight still filtering through the…