By Doug Leier Many hunters and anglers understand the work of the Game and Fish Department. From game wardens checking hunting and fishing licenses and keeping everyone outdoors safe, to fisheries biologists stocking and surveying lakes, to wildlife biologists and land managers maintaining and enhancing habitat, assessing wildlife populations and setting seasons. One often overlooked…

By Mike Peluso The past week has definitely been a curveball up here on Sakakawea when it comes to the walleye fishing. East winds, more east winds and goofy weather have made move around more than in weeks past.  Sometimes you land on the bite right away. Other days it takes a little while to…

By Nick Simonson In the bright sunshine of midday, I couldn’t resist the flip of a long-tailed slumpbuster streamer off the dock in between raking the beach and my next set of cabin chores.  The size six fly was a beefy offering for the schooling bluegills and was sure to keep the smaller panfish off…

By Nick Simonson Midsummer brings its share of weeds to front lawns and gardens which require some time on the hands and knees cleaning things up, a whip of the weed whacker or a a quick tour of the tiller in a skillful weaving around those tomato plants, there’s other weed work that can be…

By Brad Durick Catfishing is getting better every day now on the Red River of the North. Fish are being caught most places on the flow around Grand Forks with mid-river holes being the best areas. One area that has NOT worked over the past week, however, are those stretches of shallow or fast water….

By Doug Leier For many, a career as a game warden might sound like a dream job. A life spent outdoors, checking fishing licenses and keeping hunters safe and catching poachers. For most the job goes far beyond the glamour of a uniform or the thrill of patrolling the open landscapes of the state. It’s…

By Mike Peluso It has been a crazy week of walleye fishing up here on Lake Sakakawea! I don’t know if the North Dakota Game & Fish Department knows this yet, but the management of this walleye gem is really shining right now, especially on the east end of the lake!  I’ve been able to…

By Nick Simonson If I could bottle up these 85-degree days in July and save them for early February, I would, especially if the fishing that is part-and-parcel with summer comes along with my preserved point in time.  From sunfish and crappies to white and largemouth bass, this time of year presents fast fishing and…

By Doug Leier Without fail, when I think about bighorn sheep in North Dakota, big game biologist Brett Weidmann pops into my head. For good reason. Brett is the Game and Fish Department’s bighorn guru and has forgotten more about bighorn sheep than I’ll ever know. Brett is one of those guys I like to…

By Brad Durick It has been a trying week on the Red River for those of us who catfish a lot. For me, it’s been a lot of stress and even a little sleep lost but things appear to be looking up. The water on the Red has fallen back and leveled out around the…

By Nick Simonson If you’re a new angler or one just passing the passion along to someone coming up the learning curve, knowing where to cast for fish will help generate more success on the water.  Whether fishing on moving water like a river or stream, or angling still options like ponds, reservoirs and lakes,…

By Mike Peluso It’s been another up and down week up here for walleyes on Devils Lake.  It seems like the fish are starting to transition a little and pulling out to main lake structures.  Of course, there is still a casting and pitching bite happening.  As things move forward here more and more walleyes…

By Nick Simonson I can’t tell you exactly when I started to notice how our summers have changed, but it was likely while fishing a bunch in that summer of 2021, while wrapping up the trend of social distancing, which looking back here in the more crotchety years of late middle age, was pretty nice….

By Brad Durick When the river comes up, the river must go down. The water on the Red River is falling fast around Grand Forks, and the catfish don’t like it. On Saturday of last week, the bite went from a pretty easy to navigate pattern to no pattern at all. By Monday when a…

By Doug Leier You’ve heard for years about aquatic nuisance species but what are they? The zebra mussel is likely the most famous. Or infamous. Let’s get back to the basics and review some of the most important information on ANS and zebra mussels What Are Aquatic Nuisance Species? Aquatic nuisance species – nonnative organisms…

By Nick Simonson Slip floats not only represent a step up for a young angler from the red-and-white clip on bobber, but also a great way of targeting many species of fish.  From walleyes along a breakline or crappies against a developing summer weed edge, floating a live bait offering to any gamefish can be…

By Mike Peluso This week has shown that with just a little wind, the walleye fishing on Devils Lake can really improve!  We haven’t had much wind up here, but the little bit we have had over the past seven days has made a drastic improvement in the mood of the fish.  I won’t say…

By Nick Simonson The window in the attic bedroom at the cabin stays open most summer nights, letting in the night breeze, at times the rumble of distant thunder, and many of the other sounds that come with the season.  Most notably among nature’s noises that filter through the old screen are the varied calls…

By Nick Simonson The added challenge of clear water is universal across all fish species.  Many game fish – from bass, to walleyes, to muskies – all rely on keen sight to find their prey.  This also makes them more discerning as the water gets clearer from the introduction of invasive species such as zebra…

By Brad Durick Our week-to-week changes continue for catfishing on the Red River and this time the rains have brought levels up to light flooding in the Fargo area and just a lot of logs and wood flowing through the Grand Forks are. The water here is muddy and 59 degrees right now. Even with…

By Doug Leier I was compelled to jot down some interesting numbers that pertain to North Dakota’s outdoors as Jeb Williams, Game and Fish Department director, recently addressed the joint Senate and House Legislative Natural Resource committees. Did you know the Game and Fish Department manages 439 fishable waters which make up 851,462 acres? For comparison…

By Mike Peluso A lot has happened since my last fishing report! I’ve made my way over to Devils Lake for a 22-day push before I head over to Sakakawea.  I’ve also accepted a winter job that will take me away from the winter guiding side of things.   I won’t be doing the winter…

By Nick Simonson Through the gin clear waters of Memorial Day weekend came the first of a handful of early morning walleyes.  The deep golden sides of one I brought up shimmered in the rising sun which had just crested the eastern shore’s greening treetops as it slid across the surface and into the black…

By Doug Leier Before you apply for your 2025 North Dakota deer license, with an application deadline of June 4, we should review the 2024 numbers. First let me remind you these are numbers, statistics. What you can’t read in deer “success” are hunters who chose not to squeeze the trigger waiting for a bigger…

By Brad Durick My, what a difference a week can make. We went from air temperatures in the 90s down to the 40s in just a day or so. Water temperatures as a result are back down to 57 degrees as of Monday morning. In the last report I said that the bite had slowed…

By Nick Simonson For a big, meaty, chuck-and-duck kind of fly that sets off huge trout and elicits vicious strikes from smallmouth bass, the slumpbuster lives up to its name.  When water is high and dingy, or when fish are looking for a mouthful, this fully customizable squirrel-based streamer is all but guaranteed to connect…