Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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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 Game & Fish Department (NDG&F) - on Sat. Mar. 13 on the Missouri River just above Lake Oahe, with a certified 16.39-pound walleye caught while trolling a Smithwick Perfect 10 stickbait in the shal...
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 open water, and chase the largemouth bass and crappies that are two months ahead of their brothers and sisters in the ice-covered lakes around them. I knew that the wind was wrong for any effective fishing, coming straight from the far shore and lifting a fog off the water toward the launch. But I was also...
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 likely on track for a successful egg collection season with backup sites available to help overcome the hurdles low water may present for North Dakota Game & Fish...
Pike in springtime mean fast action on the fly rod, and just about any pattern with some bulk, some flash and a little seductive wiggle will set off a reactionary strike which can jar any long rod loose from the tightest grip. It's easy to pile up a pack of effective flies to take on the spring onslaught that northerns can dole out, and the Pike Snake is a go-to pattern that can be worked fast or slow to trigger those takes. With long undulating hackle feathers for the tail and a set palmered...
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 catches the eye of the angler as well. As winter begins to turn the corner toward spring, the Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's catalogs bulk up many anglers' mailboxes, delivering what's new and hot as well as some old...
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 what those birds will find upon their return to the region are beginning to mount. According to Dane Buysse, Ducks Unlimited Conservation Programs Biologist, the current low water levels may...
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 mixture of food in the surrounding soybeans and corn tied seamlessly into a spread of uplands, cattail sloughs, wetlands and stands of brush and treelines. It was a place that provided sweaty dove hunts in September, where...
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 temperatures above freezing needs to be taken seriously. With just such a half-promise of an early spring melt beginning to register on the U.S.S. Our Outdoors' long-range scanners, I'm already charting a...
In the cold of early spring, it's not uncommon to see anglers patrolling those early openwater areas for the first active 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 a few casts from a winter spent huddled over an ice hole. However, early spring walleyes can provide a unique challenge for anglers and tactics vary greatly in the chilly water from those which will come just...
Following a down year with the pandemic restricting a number of schools in North Dakota from participating in the state's high school clay target league, the North Dakota State High School Clay Target League (ND CTL) is eyeing a rebound in numbers of participants and banking on expanded offerings to get more shooters involved in the safest and fastest growing sport in the nation. According to ND CTL State Director Joe Courneya, interest is picking up as the program approaches the start of its sp...
My grandmother and I shared a special connection with the outdoors. She was an avid birder, having seen more than 110 species just from her dining room window throughout her nine decades on the planet, and dozens if not hundreds more in her limited travels around the country. While she was not an hunter or angler like me, she often told stories of her forays into both pastimes during her childhood on the prairie, which occurred nearly 100 years ago. The two tales I remember most were the one of...
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 these questions is ammunition; and that is due to a number of factors tied to the ongoing pandemic. Pandemic Supply Problems Foremost, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic...
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 three-month span that is June, July and August which frequently found me staying at my grandparents' lake cabin. I would bait my Aberdeen hook with worms and nightcrawlers my grandfather dug up for me from the...
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 them with the programs that not only help create and preserve habitat which maintains populations of big game, waterfowl and upland birds; but also increases productivity and pro...
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 folded nicely, cleaned out and loaded into the bed of my pickup truck, replacing the dog kennel and deer hunting box containing the essentials – paper towels, hand warmers, nonperishable field snacks and the like – now my fli...
With warmer-than-average temperatures and little snow cover to impede their travel and foraging, North Dakota's deer herds are doing well, according to Jason Smith, Big Game Biologist with the North Dakota Game & Fish Department (NDG&F). Last year's conditions, particularly in the southeastern corner of the state and the region surrounding Smith's Jamestown office, were much colder and quite snowy in comparison to the rest of the Peace Garden State, inhibiting movement and feeding and impacting...
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 has been enjoying easier movement, less shoveling, and firmer footing when walking about, the state’s wildlife and fisheries have benefitted from the moderate conditions exp...
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 moving toward warmer days and the disappearance of a slipfloat in some northern bay for crappies, or that subtle take of a jig-and-minnow combo by a light-biting walleye. I do my...
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 fish finder to the console and snaked the black wire back to the transom of the craft. With its three-beam transducer, the gray LCD screen was able to show fish to the right, left or directly under the boat as my buddies and I cruised the river and nearby lakes around my hometown. It was the cat’s meow a...
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 and add to the on-ice excitement. A Time to Every Water For several winters, I regularly fished three lakes for crappies: a crystal clear shield style lake, a swampier and more stained lak...
"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 chip covered in just the right amount of laboratory-balanced salts and oils was impossible to resist, especially after the first one – or handful – was consumed. Whether it was a snack-sized bag at some sum...
Winter is already the slow time for fish. Due to their cold-blooded nature, they're generally less energetic and aggressive than they are in summer when water is warmer. That doesn't mean they're not biting, and fast action can often be found during stable weather and at peak times, such as dawn and dusk for walleyes, crappies and other fish that feed in low light. However, when roaring winter fronts rip through the region and high winds, snow and inclement weather are followed by cold and...
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, due simply to its easy-to-tie nature and adjustability to any situation and species. From its telling red tail to the simple hackle-over-chenille body, the woolly worm has come about in many...
The ball had dropped, the calendar had turned. 2020 was officially in the rear-view mirror. As I made my way through the field-side tree rows and up the winding draws, however, the year did not seem over until I returned to the truck on the final day of the upland hunting season. In tow were a pair of rooster pheasants that held tight in the brush, with the unseasonably warm southerly gales giving the auditory cover for my dog and I to get close enough for the final shots of the season. It was...
While the upland bird hunting seasons have ended in North Dakota, the work for the staff of the state's Game and Fish Department (NDG&F) is just getting underway in an effort to tally hunter hours in the field, their relative success and also the data from submitted samples to help gain the information needed through surveys and wings submitted by sportsmen. Through those hunter surveys and sample envelopes, biologists and staff can determine sportsman effort, estimated total harvest of...
