Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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You definitely have to love what you do to be able to endure the pure punishment ice fishing can throw at you. Cold weather, heavy winds, and finicky fish are just part of the equation. Mix in some green clients, high expectations of magazine cover pictures and you have a recipe for disaster...or at least frustration. Either way, I always try to take everything in stride and if you know me, I'm extremely laid back; if you know me really well, you know I have a pretty long fuse and it takes a...
With the detection of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in sampled deer from three units where the disease had not been found before the 2021 firearms season, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum executed the most recent installment of the state's CWD proclamation on Mar. 1, relating to the prion-based disease and restrictions designed to limit its spread. Therein, the post-harvest transport restrictions on deer carcasses expanded to nine units, including units 3C, 3D1 and 3E2 where the new detections...
Outdoor notes: *Check icehouses after last week’s warm spell so it’s not iced in and can be removed before the March 15 deadline. *Ice is never completely safe. Avoid areas with vegetation, moving water, pressure ridges, and springs. Check conditions as you go along on the ice and don’t move around at night. *Remember to keep fish caught in 25 feet and deeper; they rarely survive coming up from deep depths. Fishing: *Devils Lake elevation, Feb. 22: 1,447.2 feet above mean sea level (MSL). *Stum...
The wakeup temperature on Saturday morning was seven above. Slackjawed, I stared at the readout in the upper right corner of my watch and laughed. I thought no way was that single digit reading ever going to reach the 48 degrees promised on the far side of the curve as I stepped into the garage and wistfully looked over my puddle jumper parked in my truck's usual spot to defrost. The dogs whined with excitement for their morning walk as I clipped the leashes to their collars and opened the...
Volunteer instructors are again offering Hunters Education classes in New Rockford this spring. Interested individuals should register for the class online and attend the in-person class FREE of CHARGE. For individuals taking the course online, there will be a registration fee. Classes will be held at the New Rockford Eagles Club from 6:00 - 8:45 p.m. on the dates listed below along with what will be taught in each class: • Thursday, March 10: Enrollment, introduction, overview of the course material; Chapter 1 - Hunter and Hunter Edu...
As my ice guiding season nears its end, one thing comes to mind and that is it has been a super tough winter with the conditions we have faced. One common theme has been wind; it hasn't been just a little breezy at times, but darn near hurricane-like. This has got to play havoc on the fish with these massive pressure changes, not to mention the massive temperature shifts we keep seeing. If I had to describe this week up here on Devils Lake, I'd say it's been both good and bad. When it's good...
Like many other youth-oriented activities, the National Archery in Schools Program (NASP) powered its way through the pandemic year, with virtual events serving in place of the state tournaments normally held each March in North Dakota. With more than 15,000 participants in grades 4 through 12 in the state and an in-person season-ending event in Minot on the calendar for Mar. 18 and 19, the program now appears back on trajectory in 2022 to bring more archers into the fold, and to recruit more bo...
Outdoor notes: *Ice is never completely safe. Avoid areas with vegetation, moving water, pressure ridges, and springs. Check conditions as you go along on the ice and don’t move around at night. *Remember to keep fish caught in 25 feet and deeper; they rarely survive coming up from deep depths. *Light goose conservation order hunting season now open. *Feb. 25 – 27: N.D. Taxidermy Assoc. Show, Ramkota Inn, Bismarck. *Feb. 28: Tree squirrel season closes. Tournaments: *Feb. 26: Alkaline Lake. Fis...
Through the magnification of the reading glasses which middle age now requires me to wear at the lure making desk, I caught sight of the hook point on the most recent in a series of streamer patterns I was tying for crappies. More accurately, it was the blunted end of what should have been a hook point. Taking the fly dressed with brightly-hued bucktail out of the vise, I held up my thumb for the scratch test, a confirmatory process where the business end of any lure leaves a slight white trail...
We have finally seen a bit of a warming trend up here in North Dakota. We have also seen some strong winds and major pressure changes along the way as well. All of these changes seem to shift the mood of the fish. Unfortunately, it usually means the fish get finicky. We have had a lot of ups and downs these past few days, especially on Devils Lake. The perch are there, but they are definitely negative. When you get one to bite however, it's usually on the large side! The problem is they are kind...
6 marks the 85th anniversary of the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, more commonly known as the Pittman-Robertson Act. For hunters and conservationists, this anniversary stands as a testament to the power of the sportsman-conservation community and should fuel within us a sense of pride. Given the current state of politics in our country, it is easy to forget the many successes that we as sportsmen have had; not only in the conservation of our fish and wildlife resources but also in...
The final weeks of February are a crucial time for fish under the ice across the northern plains. It's at this point in the winter when dissolved oxygen levels are typically at their lowest and the risk for winterkill on smaller bodies of water increases. With heavy snow cover on lakes throughout the eastern half of North Dakota for much of the winter, agents of the North Dakota Game & Fish Department will begin their annual assessment of dissolved oxygen content on those at-risk waters in the...
Outdoor notes: *Ice is never completely safe. Avoid areas with vegetation, moving water, pressure ridges and springs. Check conditions as you go along on the ice and don’t move around at night. *Remember to keep fish caught in 25 feet and deeper; they rarely survive coming up from deep depths. *Feb. 16: Spring turkey applications due. *Feb. 18 – 21: Great Backyard Bird Count. Go to (www.birdcount.org) for details. *Feb. 19: Spring light goose season opens. Tournaments: *Feb. 19: Jamestown Res...
I recognize a strange duality in the way I approach the outdoors with technology – going low teach or high tech - and the options I'm provided for any given trip on the water allow me to indulge either side of that coin. On the ice, I was an early adopter of sonar, begging and pleading for a Vexilar FL-8 for Christmas one year and not fishing the first week of holiday break until I'd received it in my stocking, deeming the inability to see what was below to be such a handicap to a successful o...
I have definitely learned one thing these past few winter seasons. Don't try and predict anything, that's a waste of time. Just as soon as you think you know, or think you know what is going happen, the ice fishing gods like to mess with you. Mother Nature has really been a gem this season. Especially up here in the Devils Lake region. We have seen a lot of extremes this winter, and our latest was a windstorm that produced winds over 70 miles per hour. These massive pressure changes are hard on...
To help anglers better connect with an array of fisheries information complied by the North Dakota Game & Fish Department (NDG&F), the agency recently upgraded the search functions associated with its "Where to Fish" page. Where previously the landing page provided separate links to various pages and files containing information, it now allows anglers to find data for a lake all in one place, from locating waters near a certain city or town, to reviewing stocking reports and survey results. By t...
A heightened wind gust flapped at the canvas of my flipover shack as my youngest son, Jackson, sat next to me sounding out the longer words in his brother's book, which I had tucked into the pocket of my ice fishing jacket and provided to him, after our run of fishing had quieted down some and the in-between doldrums settled in. My older son, AJ, had found a spot between my brother and my buddy helping to reel in the last flurry of perch that had rolled through, as the northwest wind peaked in...
In this week's Devils Lake report, I'll touch on what is taking place up here for us right now and also the next chapter of my fishing adventures, which is approaching extremely fast! What's going on right now on Devils Lake? Well, for me and most of our crew things are definitely in a funk. The dog days of winter have hit, and this has happened every year I have guided up here about this time. For some reason things get tough for a bit. Rest assured, the lake will snap out of it and the fishing...
It's the little things that draw me to the uplands. Fishing, hunting, and falconry are just a few of the many hobbies I enjoy. I love ice fishing and open water angling, upland hunting and duck hunting, and it doesn't get more exciting than catching rabbits with my red-tailed hawk. However, in all of those options, the uplands remain a special place for me. I think most outdoorspeople can agree that we all find a sort of solace when we are enjoying the outdoors. Maybe the only way to properly...
Outdoor notes: *Ice is never completely safe. Avoid areas with vegetation, moving water, pressure ridges, and springs. Check conditions as you go along on the ice and don’t move around at night. *Remember to keep fish caught in 25 feet and deeper; they rarely survive coming up from deep depths. *Feb. 16: Spring turkey applications due. *Feb. 18 – 21: Great Backyard Bird Count. Go to (www.birdcount.org) for details. Tournaments: *Feb. 12: Stump Lake, Lake Williams. *Feb. 19: Jamestown Res...
Outdoor notes: *Ice is never completely safe. Avoid areas with vegetation, moving water, pressure ridges, and springs. Check conditions as you go along on the ice and don’t move around at night. *Remember to keep fish caught in 25 feet and deeper; they rarely survive coming up from deep depths. Tournaments: *Feb. 5: Lake Williams. *Feb. 12: Stump Lake. Fishing: *Devils Lake elevation, Jan. 25: 1,447.23 feet above mean sea level (MSL). *Stump Lake elevation: 1,447.14 MSL. *Lake Sakakawea e...
Midwinter is the trough of the natural world, and the challenges above the ice reflect what's going on below it. Conditions are rougher, colder and there's less movement out there. Everything that runs, flies or swims sometimes seems to be saving up its energy for the warming days coming in just a few short weeks. But all of those creatures have to eat, and there are times when movement is required, and the same holds true under the ice. By adjusting presentations, tweaking lures and making...
Man, I have to admit this winter is starting to get tough, with more snow, cold temperatures, and lots of wind! I can handle the snow and cold, the wind, however, is getting a bit ridiculous and it is making travel on the ice and moving around difficult. You want to go look for fish, but you are stuck hunkering down. So in between the snow, cold and wind, we are still catching fish. It definitely isn't as red hot as it was, but overall, it's still pretty good. I get clients asking me all the tim...
The Holographic streamer came about as a modification of the Holographic wet fly, a smaller pattern used on eastern waters for trout. When modified to the tastes of crappies and white bass - with its highly customizable components of tinsel, marabou, ice dub and hackle - the Holographic streamer can be tailored to fit the colors that these fish and others prefer in a specific water. MATERIALS: Hook: Tiemco 200R, Size 10 to 6 Thread: 6/0, Choice of Color Underbody: Mylar Tinsel Wing: Marabou...
Outdoor notes: *Ice is never completely safe. Avoid areas with vegetation, moving water, pressure ridges, and springs. Check conditions as you go along on the ice and don’t move around at night. *Remember to keep fish caught in 25 feet and deeper; they rarely survive coming up from deep depths. Tournaments: *Jan. 29: Devils Lake, 6-Mile Bay. Fishing: *Devils Lake elevation, Jan. 18: 1,447.2 feet above mean sea level (MSL). *Stump Lake elevation: 1,447.16 MSL. *Lake Sakakawea elevation: 1...
