TALE OF TWO DAYS.  Saturday will be the calm, mild, melting day of the week.  But light breezes will give way to a very gusty overnight as winds soar up over 50 mph.  We take a peak at your weekend weather and get you caught up on the ins-and-outs of wildlife management, the upcoming CTL…

By Nick Simonson Building on the classic Blonde streamer made popular by fly fishing forefather Joe Brooks, the Marablonde is a crappie-catching machine which substitutes marabou feathers in for the standard bucktail used to tie the original pattern.  With its soft, pulsating tail and wing along with a flashy body, the Marablonde is an easy…

FAST FRIDAY! Whew – just in time, it’s Friday again!  We’ve got a wrap-up from around the region in today’s Outdoors Roundup.  There we cover a simplification of turkey tags in Minnesota, an emergency plan underway in Wisconsin and the noted spread of CWD in Montana.  A good Saturday is setting up for your weekend…

By Nick Simonson   On the slope to the farmstead and the western horizon, the reason for the lack of flushing pheasants became clear.  A golden wall stood at the end of the snow-filled drain where the mostly frozen creek flowed down to the small impoundment where my lab Ole and I started our final…

FEELS LIKE MONDAY?  Shake off that holiday hangover and get back to it, but know that it’s Thursday and the weekend is in sight once again!  We’ve got some cool sky news and some lake updates that will help you find success in today’s Outdoors Roundup. Featured Photo:  IN THE HOLE.  A panfish comes up…

By Doug Leier, NDG&F Dept. The turning of the calendar has many of us reflecting on the past year. The outdoors is no different. Here’s a few highlights from the State Game and Fish Department in 2019.   The Fish Department’s 72nd annual spring breeding duck survey conducted in May showed an index of 3.4 million birds,…

A FRESH START!  Welcome to 2020!  A whole new 365…er, 366 with it being leap year…sits before you!  So, you even get an extra day to make the most of your time outdoors!  We review upcoming Hunter’s Education alerts, take a peak at the first week’s forecast and check out the Winter Severity Index at…

THAT’S A WRAP!  Welcome to the final day of 2019!  It’s been a wild year with lots of great stories, challenging conditions (including this most recent snow storm), and battles for the future of hunting and fishing in North Dakota.  We cover all of those items and more as we look back on some of…

COUNTDOWN.  A few hours remain in 2019 and we’re also counting down the days left in some of our favorite hunting seasons.   What’s more, we’re counting up the recent snowfall totals and tallying the birds seen as part of the nationwide Christmas Bird Count.  All that an more is in our Outdoors Roundup for this…

By Nick Simonson   There’s an old Irish proverb that wishes good luck to the traveler by stating “may the road rise to meet you.”  For anglers, especially those on the ice, it should be more like “may the fish rise to meet you.”   Presentation is one of the key factors for consistently catching…

DRIVING IN.      The first round of snow on the leading edge of the low has fallen, and we brace to see what comes in on strong north winds that will likely make much of today a football fest for many.  We check the weather map and one for ANS along with some tree…

By Nick Simonson   On the heels of a fast fall bite, trout in lakes and ponds can provide quick action under the ice as well, and a variety of tactics will add a good deal of color to any ice fishing adventure where these fish are found.  Whether stocked or naturally occurring, and where…

By Nick Simonson With paper top hats donned and party blowers buzzing at this point in the season, it’s easy to encapsulate life into a year, or as the nine rolls over to a zero this New Year’s Eve, an entire decade.  It’s easy to shrug off this compartmentalization process until a person stops and…

FLAKE OUT.   Snow will descend on the state today, with a cutoff for this weekend’s event likely running from Bismarck to Minot where totals will depend on how the low pressure moves through the region.  Stretches of the eastern portion of North Dakota will see more than a foot of snow as a swinging jet…

FAST FRIDAY.  It seems to come quicker with the holiday in the middle of the week, but you’ve made it to Friday once again! We’ve got a look at the weekend and what’s brewing to the east of us and whether or not it’ll impact your hunting and fishing along with free fishing and a…

ICE TIPS.  Today may be the only day you want to take back during your holiday stretch as a wintry mix of snow, sleet and ice slink over the region. The power of the new moon may help combat the shift in systems, but there’s no return on the gifts we provide in the form…

By Doug Leier, NDG&F Dept.   At fist glance, it might not appear that sign vandalism and North Dakota’s outdoors would have much in common. But on closer inspection, the connections are obvious.   The North Dakota Game and Fish Department, in its October 2019 issue of North Dakota Outdoors magazine, took a hard look…

YULE LOVE IT!  Celebrate the season with friends and family, and maybe even some time in the field or on the ice today as calm and temperate conditions fill your stocking.  We cover state and national news and find that all is calm and bright for the foreseeable future forecast in this holiday Outdoors Roundup….

PUT OUT THE COOKIES.  Or the deer jerky!  While all will be calm and bright when Santa Claus comes tonight, we’ve got a few early gifts coming your way in the form of sonar tips in our Outdoors Roundup. Featured Photo:  LIT UP.  The red and green of a Vexilar over a school of crappies…

By Nick Simonson Penned on an overnight shift on Christmas Eve 2004 while working at a small hotel just off main street in my hometown, “Twas the Night Before First Ice” combines my love of ice fishing and the holiday season!  The annual publication – now in its 15th year – brings both seasons together;…

XMAS EVE, EVE.  A day away from the big mid-week holiday and the best gift is the stable conditions setting up for Christmas travel and time in the field or on the ice.  We check out some info from our favorite NGOs in the wild world as we head into the holiday homestretch as part…

By Nick Simonson   Part of my business is cataloging my adventures in a way that entertains and educates my fellow hunters and anglers, and if you’ve experienced either in the course of their publication, I count you among my dozen and dozen of loyal readers.  Whether it’s the story of what went right, what…

REGIONAL WRAPPING.  As you’re wrapping presents, we’re getting the news on what’s happening in the surrounding region and take a quick look ahead at your holiday week hunting and fishing forecast in North Dakota as part of today’s Outdoors Roundup. Featured Photo:  FROSTY.  Hoarfrost from thick morning fog covers trees and bushes along a fenceline…

By John Bradley, NDWF Executive Director   As I close out my hunting season, the 2019 calendar year, and I suppose the decade, I find myself looking back at the history of conservation in the United States along with how far we have come and where we need to head. It’s easy to take for…

SULTRY SOLSTICE. Temps will top 40 degrees on this, the first day of winter, giving you ample opportunity to kick off your holiday season hunts or time on the ice with good conditions.  We cover that, and the battle against ANS along with a talk with the NDG&F’s head honcho in today’s Outdoors Roundup. Featured…

By Nick Simonson   The rooster rose from the drain’s snow-filled cattails near my feet and curled out in front of me, banking against the northwest gusts that spurred the addition of new layers which my scattergun snagged on as I attempted to raise it to my shoulder.  The slick thumb pad of my second…

FANTASTIC FRIDAY.  A great weekend is setting up for anything outdoors whether you’re hunting, ice fishing or just enjoying the December thaw. Calm conditions will dominate the next couple of days along with some nice temperatures in the 30s and maybe even a brush with 40.  We cover that and more in today’s Outdoors Roundup….

OF OPEN WATER & ICE. We cover news for your soft water angling and boating next summer, while we run through the memory books and lay out a strategy for hard water hole hopping in today’s Outdoors Roundup. Featured Photo:  A BIG GRID.  Punching a bunch of holes – ice tourney style – will help…

By Doug Leier, NDG&F Dept. Some North Dakota anglers got an early start to ice fishing this season, and there’s still a lot of winter hard-water fishing opportunities to come.   To provide a general overview of what to expect, here’s some excerpts from a recent interview with North Dakota Game and Fish Department fisheries…

LOOKING FINE.  The weather is shaping up for the start of the holiday season as temperatures climb to near freezing today and things will feel warm after our brief dip into the sub-zeros last weekend.  We cover the good forecast ahead, some awesome bead head patterns and some free fishing coming up for ND in…