By Andrew Slette Stable weather and water temps have the muskies very active and transitioning into their late spring patterns. The bite out on local lakes following the cold front a week ago has been phenomenal. This provided us with multiple fish most days and six muskies this past Friday. Casting and trolling have both…

NDG&F Release North Dakota’s spring pheasant population index is about the same as last year, according to the state Game and Fish Department’s 2021 spring crowing count survey. R.J. Gross, upland game management biologist, said the number of roosters heard crowing this spring was up about 3% statewide. “The statewide number might be a bit…

By Mike Peluso Well, I’m pretty sure I completely jinxed myself with my last report talking about my boat puller “Old Blue.” Unfortunately, Old Blue is no longer with us today and I’m looking for a replacement. Thank goodness for my dad letting me borrow his vehicle until I can figure something out. What I…

By Nick Simonson While much of the hustle and bustle of spring is wrapping up at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Valley City Fish Hatchery, after a season full of rearing northern pike and walleye eggs to stockable sized fish to be distributed throughout the upper Midwest, an expanding project is underway to see…

By Nick Simonson Summertime means an uptick in fish activity, and it also means fish are looking up for food.  Frogs, small mammals, insects and even ducklings find themselves on the surface this time of year along with growing young of the year fish, providing easy targets for both largemouth and smallmouth bass.  The warmth…

By Hannah Hayes Recruit, Retain, Reactivate, or R3, is a nationwide effort aiming to increase participation in various outdoor recreation activities like hunting, fishing, nature photography, hiking, and many more. Focusing on hunting, R3 efforts aim to increase accessibility, education, and support to facilitate new hunters to dive into the world of hunting, ensure current…

NDG&F Release North Dakota’s deer gun lottery has been held and more than 7,900 deer gun licenses remain. Only resident applicants who were unsuccessful in the lottery can apply for remaining licenses.More than 79,000 individuals applied for a deer gun lottery license, in addition to over 12,400 gratis applicants. The 2021 deer gun proclamation allows…

In the grasses along the ditch that drains to the small trout creek down the road from the family cabin grows a reminder of the summer solstice.  While I’m not always there to see them in full bloom, and sometimes they’re not yet at that stage due to seasonal timings and conditions, I often look…

By Doug Leier  Even with more places to fish, boat and enjoy the water than ever before in North Dakota, the increase in opportunity also means an increase in anglers, boats and personal watercraft.   It’s a unique combination that can lead to isolated problems at boat ramps when everyone has the same idea: Get on the…

By Mike Peluso My truck has 275,000 miles on it and I hold my breath every time I have to make the journey from Devils Lake to Lake Sakakawea. So far, the limp back and forth has gone okay, and old blue is still grinding. I have a bunch more to go this summer, so…

By Nick Simonson Long before I owned a boat, I spent much of my summers in high school, college and law school at my grandparents’ cabin on the shores of Detroit Lakes.  Between Memorial Day and Labor Day in those later years, as graduations loomed and then passed, and the liberty of post-secondary education waned…

By Kellen Latendresse When it comes to fishing, central North Dakota is in that magical month.  I live in Minot and right now you can go north, south, east or west and find fish for the frying pan or a picture.   Walleyes have been heating up on most prairie lakes as water temperatures are in…

By John Bradley We have all seen it, the empty beer can in the ditch, the plastic bag that tangled in a branch – anywhere humans go we tend to leave trash behind, including sportsmen and women. While we should all strive to leave no trace when are in the woods and water, we can…

By Nick Simonson Through the valleys and hills of the sporting clays course east of town, we tracked the movements of our five high school shooters logging their final rounds of the season.  Sunday’s rounds were different, in that they comprised the last 100 targets of the year and the first to be entered into…

By Brad Durick Water temperatures on the Red River are nearing 80 degrees this week and many of the flow’s catfish are now on the nest or getting ready to spawn. This week fishing has been spotty in most areas with lack of current to hold fish and make them predictable, as most sections of…

By Andrew Slette With the hot days, rising water temps and high skies, muskies have been seeking shelter in the deep weeds.  There is a small window of opportunity in the mornings and evenings that has fish out actively chasing baitfish during those low light periods. Muskies can be found suspended over deeper water or…

By Mike Peluso Fishing remains good all over the state of North Dakota right now, especially throughout our three big bodies of water: Lake Sakakawea, Devils Lake, and the Missouri River system. I’ve been mostly on Devils Lake the past couple of weeks with a trip or two up to Sakakawea and Devils Lake fishing…

By Nick Simonson For standard tackle fishing and connecting the line directly to the hook, a swivel, or even a small lure, the Palomar knot shines above most others not only in its simplicity but also its strength.  With just four simple steps that retain more than ninety-five percent of a line’s given pound-test rating,…

By Nick Simonson The North Dakota State High School Clay Target League (ND CTL) will be holding its annual state tournament at the Shooting Park in Horace, N.D., June 18-20, playing host to approximately 1,000 shooters from 60 high schools and showcasing some of the best shotgunning talent in the state over those three days…

DEO Release Beginning June 15, Dakota Edge Outdoors is teaming up with Andrew Slette, one of the most accomplished young muskie guides in the upper Midwest, to bring readers weekly reports on the fish of 10,000 casts just across the Red River in west-central Minnesota’s lakes country.  Having previously held the Minnesota catch-and-release state record…

By Brad Durick With incredibly hot temperatures over the weekend and to present, the catfish on much of the Red River are heading to the nest.  I have started seeing males protecting the nests and others acting like they are looking for a nest. The bad news is the bite will slow, the good news…

By Nick Simonson On the final day of vacation in the Black Hills, I knew it was possible.  Having landed my first brook trout along with many more and discovered swarms of willing and readily biting large rainbow trout in the same lake-and-stream complex near our cabin over the week; and staked out a small…

By Doug Leier The lack of winter snowpack created a bit of mystery as to when the spring snow goose migration would begin, which route the birds would take and if the lack of snow would slide the geese through without delay. Coming up with the answer was a combination of biology, gut feeling and…

NDG&F Release Very dry conditions, along with a decline in numbers of breeding ducks compared to last year, were found during the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s 74th annual breeding duck survey. The 2021 May water index was down 80 percent from 2020, and nearly 68 percent below the 1948-2020 average. The percentage-based change…

By Mike Peluso I promised last week that the reports would switch over to mostly to Devils Lake and Lake Sakakawea for the next couple of months, so with that said, let’s get to it! First off, I’d like to let everyone know, in case you didn’t know already: we are extremely spoiled here in…

By Nick Simonson In all my fly fishing efforts, a brook trout has eluded me.  While I know some of the waters which I have fished, particularly small streams on the north shore of Lake Superior, have contained the fish so often found at the chilly head of creeks, I had yet to catch one. …

By Nick Simonson In the pool before me on Spearfish Creek sat so many trout I could hardly contain myself.  Having scouted the run the day before, my jaw dropped as brookies, browns and rainbows lazily sat all within a foot of each other, rising and picking off the unseen midges in the surface film…

By Nick Simonson My first experience with wild trout came in Montana just before my senior year of high school.  There, alongside a ditch that we were told was a trout stream by the man at the shop in the nearby town, I wandered out toward the bank and looked down to see a dark,…

By Doug Leier I’ll never be mistaken for a master gardener, and it really doesn’t bother me. Beyond borrowing the neighbor’s tiller and breaking up the ground, I lose interest in the garden even before the first spuds are planted.  But I also fully understand the pride many gardeners take in their summer produce, as time is measured in weeks…

By Brad Durick Get ready for some catfish shock. The forecast is everything we don’t want: nice stable comfortable weather shifting right to nasty hot. Water temperatures will be rising very fast into the 70s and shocking the fish for a few days and then I suspect the spawn will be close behind. In the…