Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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Atop the tank of the basement toilet, where any good publication of any sort rests in any household, sits a well-worn copy of the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. As a smaller reference book, it tops of the stack of old Outdoor Life and Dakota Country magazines and sets perfectly on the foundation of the Complete Outdoor Encyclopedia, finishing off the easy access pyramid of print. The crown jewel of my bathroom reading with the emerald leather...
Aside from the physical appearance of prairie pothole sloughs filled to the brim with runoff from spring snow melt and rain, the ability of these engines of America's duck factory to support broods of waterfowl has been supercharged. The ducklings now emerging from nests alongside these refilled lowlands and onto their heightened waters stand a better chance of survival, thanks in part to the increased nutrients and food provided by those areas along their shores, which last year were left high...
For some, the scent of summer is that of hamburgers on the grill, floating into the evening air between houses and through yards, ringing the mental bell of Pavlov's dog in even the most civilized of us. For others, it's the smell of freshly opened lilacs, a sweet fragrance which industry has tried for decades to duplicate in candles, bathroom deodorizers and laundry detergent, but never has quite captured in a way that elicits the accompanying sigh that signals summer. There are a hundred diffe...
The Restoring America's Wildlife Act (House Resolution 2773, or "RAWA"), introduced in the United States Congress in 2021, is a bill designed to improve habitat for threatened and endangered species throughout the U.S., but its benefits go far beyond those at-risk creatures in decline around the country. Through contributions to state management agencies with plans to help conserve threatened and declining species of songbirds, insects, mammals, and plants, if voted into law, the legislation wou...
In the turn of the creek so tiny I could step across it I saw the tell-tale sign that suggested brook trout were lurking along the cut. The fast water of the tiny flow rolling down from the small impoundment in the recreation area above spun out against the grassy bank, still beige with the matted vegetation of last year and the peak through green of the late spring dappling the slight drop to the water. Stalking in on my knees, I pulled an arm's length of neon yellow line from my fly reel,...
"That's why they say Montana is the big leagues of fly fishing." My brother's words stung like a spring training cut for the lifetime AAA baseball player that knew this was his last shot at the majors, but still found the pink slip tucked into the air slot on his April Arizona changing room locker. The waters along the Yellowstone River outside of Livingston under the snow-capped peaks of the Beartooth mountains were high and muddy and while they reflected the runoff those of us downstream on th...
Staring out over the glassy lake, the early morning was a symphony of spring, and like the trill of the redwing blackbirds coming from down the beach in the brush surrounding the high flowing creek, it was a far cry from the day before. Then, as my wife and I took the line for the Fargo Half Marathon, temperatures near freezing and a chilly continued northwest wind from the exit of yet another swirling low in a series of season killers made things feel more like the end of summer than its unoffi...
With the lottery drawing deadline for the 2022 North Dakota firearms deer season fast approaching on June 8, many factors influence the set number of tags awarded through the state's online lottery process: herd health, weather conditions, disease and habitat availability affect the opportunities made available to hunters during the state's most notable season. With a noted decrease of approximately 8,000 tags for this fall, many hunters will find a lowered chance of drawing their desired...
In good springs and bad, snowy ones and warm ones, no matter how the kids come out of the final day of competition in the USA High School Clay Target League's regular season, it's the four weeks in between today's end of the often chilly, windy, and trying eight weeks that make all the difference ahead of the state tournament. Whether with the first team in southwest Minnesota I helmed nearly a decade ago, or with the six pack of schools I coach along with 75 other adults now in central North...
It's been a long mix of chilly winter and underwhelming spring. Cold temperatures, snow, rain and general nastiness extending into May have built up a longing for the warmth of the later stretch of the season and the start of summer, and maybe with recent changes in the pattern, just possibly, that warmup is coming. With it comes the search for one vital fishing tool that not only reminds me that even in the cloudiest, coldest stretches, the sun is up there and getting stronger and a set of sung...
With the drought of 2021 in the rearview mirror for the Red River valley of eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota, following significant spring snows and ample April rains, the challenging conditions which limited angling opportunities for the flow's large catfish late last summer and into fall are also in the past. As the waters of the Red River of the North begin to recede and temperatures rise on that stretch from Grand Forks to the Canadian border, area guide and expert on the water's...
On the Pokemon cartoon series, there's a character named Goh, whose ambition is simply to encounter and capture every single type of fighting creature in the Pokemon universe. From the grub-like Weedle to the majestic azure legendary horse-like being Suicune and all sorts of different ones in between, that's his only goal – to experience the variety of what is available to him, and take part in it, collecting the varied species of Pokemon along the way. He truly embodies the franchise's motto o...
In an effort to provide anglers with more to fish for in North Dakota and encourage the use of expanding and varied fisheries resources, the North Dakota Game & Fish Department (NDG&F) has launched its 2022 Fish Challenge and is also in the annual process of stocking trout into various lakes and impoundments throughout the state. These two efforts – the former encouraging anglers to target underutilized species including northern pike, yellow perch, smallmouth bass and channel catfish, and t...
In the outdoors, there are always points of contention among anglers, hunters and just about anyone else with an opinion on anything that swims, flies, or falls for a lure or decoy. I'm not talking about the testifying in front of the legislature type of interactions, or the courtroom conservation battles handled by high priced attorneys in Washington D.C., either. Rather, those greatest of the great debates in the outdoors are the important ones: the best way to rig a plastic, which caliber is...
When spring eventually arrives, and it will, the time for big bass will be upon us. Whether it's largemouth staking out the dark-bottomed shallows of a backwater bay for their ideal spawning site, or smallmouth holing up on a cleared gravelly patch against a stack of timber placed by recent floodwaters, both fish find their vernal comfort zones amidst structure. Sometimes, that can make getting an offering to them a challenge as reeds, lily pads, sticks, and other debris provide them the cover...
In the process of fishing, I’ve seen a good deal and done a lot of it. I’ve read a ton, watched some more, and through trial-and-error learned quite a bit, but most days it feels like it’s never enough. Through trial-and-error with new ideas, patterns, and processes, I trade frustration for elation and vice versa on a variety of streams and lakes for the seemingly unlimited species available. Perhaps the greatest leap in all of that learning, which any angler makes, is gaining the under...
There's chilly, and then there's spring fishing on the Missouri River chilly. No matter how I've fished it in the past couple of years, that stretch in March and April when the walleyes start to move on the flow provides its own unique challenges. The wind seems to always be blowing upstream, pulling with it the cold from the fast-flowing water below and depositing the bulk of it directly on my hands as I struggle to wrangle a squirming fathead minnow from a scoop, or fumble through the...
In the depths of the cold channel, I felt my line slowly pull away from the bottom and gave a steady tug back on the jig below. The end of my rod bowed in a long arch as the heavy fish moved along as if it hadn't realized it had been hooked yet. The weight below was far cry from that of the 12-to-14-inch lethargic walleyes we had been dredging out of the reach upstream from us which required a 10-, 15- or even 20-count to ensure the hook was in their mouths on the cold spring day. Unlike the...
Aquatic nuisance species (ANS) have become one of the biggest concerns facing the health of recreational fisheries throughout the country and throughout North Dakota. Whether it's the spread of zebra mussels introduced from far away waters in Europe and Asia into lakes throughout the upper Midwest, including those in the Roughrider state, or the invasive silver carp which leap from the water and displace gamefish species in the James River throughout South Dakota and into North Dakota, the...
“It’d be a great day…if it wasn’t for the wind.” If I had a nickel for every time I heard this, I’d have enough for a season’s worth of bait, but such is spring in the upper Midwest. The jet stream yaws and the days oscillate in turn: gusts from the south, gusts from the north, gusts from the east and then a chance for chilly rain or late season snow. Then it all repeats. Even now, as I write this with bright red lips chapped by the southeasterly breezes that blew in for the first afternoon of...
It's been said the only constant in this world is change, and with the shifting of the seasons, anglers prepare to make the transition from hardwater to running water in pursuit of walleyes, pike, and other popular spring targets in North Dakota. But along with those seasonal changes come the conditions which vary across the map headed into the new season and new regulations that apply to those opportunities as well. Statewide Split The winter of 2021-22 drew a line halfway down the state,...
Spring is in the air, and if you get a whiff of it in the coming days, it likely will bear with it the scent of gunpowder. Across the country and the region, USA High School Clay Target Leagues are kicking off their spring season, bringing tens of thousands of student-athletes in grades six through twelve to the trap and skeet range as well as the five stand and sporting clays course. Thousands of those shooters will be new to the pastime of shooting sports, and undoubtedly a little nervous for...
I’ve never been much for coincidences, believing that all things are connected, particularly those in the natural world. While luck, chance and odd occurrences do exist, everything happens for a reason. Preparing for a long weekend trip to see friends in northern California and the redwood trees near the state’s northern border, the phrase that kept running through my head, as we prepared for the air travel and drive up the coast to see the towering giants was: “better do it before they...
I put the final turn of my whip finish on the black thread of the small jig, and closely trimmed the hackle wound behind the silver-plated lead of the lure destined for a small tacklebox on my desk. It would be a gift for a close family friend; a young angler who lamented that he had yet to catch a trout in all of his fishing adventures, despite having a water not 10 miles from his house that each spring is loaded with hungry browns that by the dozens had fallen for the same pattern at my...
A bag of collarless jigs presents an overwhelming array of possibilities headed into the spring fishing season, and with a simple selection of materials, it's easy for anyone to craft fish catching lures, even those of us who once believed we were all thumbs. From use on crappies and smallies to walleyes and perch, these four offerings are easy to tie, require little to no experience and will bulk up a tacklebox with jigs that get the job done all openwater season. Classic Chenille The chenille-...
