Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Sorted by date Results 751 - 775 of 1018
A few hours of staring at unpopped flags on a small pike lake didn't pay off a couple weekends ago for me and my oldest son, but the glare from the snow on the ice did provide my first sunburn of the season. Last weekend's fast-melting conditions made a trip for trout with my boys on a small impoundment enjoyable, as we were able to run about freely on the ice and splash in the growing surface water. The fish were less than active despite the warm and stable weather. So, with temperatures...
Hunters and anglers are active and engaged outdoors people and spending time outside is why many of us live in North Dakota. Whether you like to hunt, fish, camp, hike, or any one of hundreds of other available outdoor opportunities, we know how to get it done. Our outdoor skills weren't something that we were born with though, each of us had a mentor to show us the ropes and help us get to where we are today. I grew up in a medium sized town in Minnesota, but my grandparents lived on a lake...
With spring planting just around the corner, farm and ranch operators throughout the upper Midwest are preparing to implement their plans coming off a very wet 2019. Where lower areas spent much of late summer and early fall flooded with excessive water, many are considering better options for those acres with habitat restoration in the mix to help increase profitability and their hunting this autumn. Pheasants Forever (PF) Precision Agriculture and Conservation Specialists Melissa Shockman and...
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. *March 15: Permanent fish houses must be removed from all state waters. They can still be used but must be taken off daily. *March 15: Earth Day patch contest deadline. Contact N.D. Game & Fish Dept. website, (gf.nd.gov) for details. *March 15: Spring crow season opens. *March 19: Valley City Ducks Unlimited banquet, Valley City...
I can recall the sun rising over the eastern waters of Devils Lake as I headed to the hotel to meet my parents for a weekend of early spring fishing on the just-opened channels of the north end of the sprawling lake. The rays shimmered on the lightly rippled bay and dulled as they fell nearer to shore where a couple hundred feet of ice extended out into the water. A half a mile over the bridge, I was amazed to see two die-hard ice anglers working a series of holes cut into the gray ice as the...
With the recent warm stretch and receding snowline in the upper Midwest, many outdoors enthusiasts have their eyes to the skies watching for the return of waterfowl species to the region. Snow goose hunters in particular are preparing for the here-today-gone-tomorrow nature of migratory light geese that pass through the area and provide short-lived but exciting spring hunting opportunities. Ducks Unlimited (DU) Conservation Programs Biologist Dane Buysse is on top of all the recent developments...
A twisting garden worm on a gold Aberdeen hook under a split shot just a couple feet below a red-and-white bobber; that's how most of us start fishing and certainly how it began for me. The setup – and it feels like that term makes it seem all too complex, as if it were somehow part of an intricate angling method – caught perch and bluegills from the dock, swarms of bullheads from the grassy banks of the river and the occasional largemouth bass from the old farm pond throughout my chi...
The rating on a box of shotgun shells reads 1180, 1205 or more than 1300 feet per second, the speed at which the pellets are disbursed in pursuit of a thrown clay or an incoming goose. The bent coil at the base of a tip-up flag is precariously held in place by the notch in the T-bar at the top of the plastic and metal fish trap, ready to go off with the tug of a pike below the ice. In that moment to begin the first open water foray, the weight of a jig and twister suspended in the air of a back...
While winter and spring aren't often associated with hunting in the upper Midwest, the months of January through May are an important time in the lives of young hunters as the bulk of hunter education courses are offered to those looking to get licensed in time for next fall's seasons. With the help of hundreds of volunteer instructors throughout the state, agents of the North Dakota Game & Fish Department (NDG&F), like Hunter Education Supervisor John Mazur, look to provide participants not...
If it's fly tying season and you're thinking spring is coming outdoors, you've got to be thinking summer when it comes to finishing off your patterns. The later stretches of the cold weather season often reflect the planning for the latter stages in the warm water season, and tying projects often revolve around those bigger bites and more aggressive patterns that are employed in summer for trout and panfish. While there might not appear to be much that is tiny about the Mini Chernobyl, in compar...
Spring Light Goose Conservation Order North Dakota’s spring light goose conservation order opens Feb. 22 and continues through May 10. Residents must have a valid current season 2019-20 (valid through March 31) or 2020-21 (required April 1) combination license; or a small game, and general game and habitat license. Resident youth under age 16 only need the general game and habitat license. The 2020-21 license is available for purchase beginning March 15. Nonresidents need a 2020 spring light goose conservation order license. The cost is $50 a...
With the issuance of its 2020 Whitetail Report, the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) noted among its findings that more deer hunters than at any other time in the group’s surveys are passing on harvesting yearling bucks in favor of mature bucks that are 3.5 years old or older. In 1989, the initial year surveyed by the organization, yearling bucks comprised more than 60 percent of the annual harvest of deer. In 2018, that percentage dropped to 30 percent of the 2.9 million bucks that w...
I grew up in Minnesota, and like North Dakota and much of the upper Midwest, the walleye is king. Many people believe it’s the all-around greatest fish that has ever been. From its head shakes after you set the hook to the ease of fileting their mild white flaky meat, the walleye reigns on the top of the list for anglers. And while I enjoy catching and eating them, recently I’ve been thinking there is more out there. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve eaten (and will continue to eat) my fair share of walleyes. I was indoctrinated into fish fries from an...
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. *Feb. 22: Dakota Valley Fowlers Delta Waterfowl banquet, Valley City Eagles, 5 p.m. Tournaments: *Feb. 22: Alkaline Lake, Lake Audubon, Devils Lake. *Feb. 29: Lake Josephine. Fishing: *Devils Lake elevation: 1,449 feet above mean sea level (MSL). *Stump Lake elevation: 1,448.91 MSL. *Lake Sakakawea elevation: 1,838.13 MSL; 24,700 cubic...
Even with the rather kind spell that mother nature has afforded us over the last few weeks with no blizzards, light winds and even some melting temperatures scattered in here and there, winter can still feel a little long. Spending afternoons huddled over an ice hole can wear on a die-hard open-water angler in the middle of the offseason and any chance to stretch the legs and the casting arm is one I’ll take advantage of. With the temperatures creeping above freezing and light winds out of t...
With North Dakota's legislature meeting every other year, the winter of 2020 would seem like many to be a quiet one for the state's lawmakers, but for Senator Larry Robinson of District 24, serving Barnes, southwestern Cass and northwestern Ransom Counties since 1989, his three decades of experience dictate otherwise. With concerns of sportsmen and conservationists at the forefront of the 2019 session, he knows those issues are carrying over and looming large for the next assembly in 2021 and...
Sometimes a fly isn't just about fur and feathers. With all the incredible synthetics and compounds we have available in the modern era of tackle crafting, we've been given the amazing ability to create something out of nothing, or to take that something and make it spectacular. The epoxy fry is an example of how a little fast-drying glue under a UV light creates a glassy, just-hatched imitator that no fish that eats fish could ever turn down! Dress it up with permanent marker in colors to match...
I can recall rolling down the gravel driveway of the shooting range to attend my first high school trap team meeting after moving to town in 2017, overwhelmed by the excitement and possibilities the 13 trap houses presented. Through a connection on Facebook I got the time and the date from one of the shooters' parents and found my way to the gun club located a few miles north of my house. I learned in the first night that the group I was joining drummed up enough interest against an approaching...
Whether in winter or summer or fishing opportunities in between, when it comes down to it, the hook point is where the business of catching fish happens. Having a sharp and stable hook on a spoon below the ice, a crankbait behind the boat, or a fly adrift in a riffle is key in connecting with fish of any species. What follows are a handful of tips to make sure hooks are at their best so you can be certain of every connection. 1. Invest in Quality. Like rifles, optics, rods and just about every...
I'm a dabbler. A jack of all trades. A fisher of multi-species. There's so much in the outdoors to do that it's impossible to do it all, but it's sure fun to try, or at least think of trying. Some of my forays into various forms of hunting have now become passions, others have simply become passes. It didn't take much for my first pheasant hunt to turn into a life-long pursuit. It didn't take long for my first spring turkey hunt to end in the flicking of hundreds of wood ticks from my socks,...
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is offering 6,230 wild turkey licenses for the 2020 spring hunting season, 205 more than last year. Seven of the 22 hunting units have more spring licenses than in 2019, five have fewer and nine remain the same. Unit 21 (Hettinger and Adams counties) is again closed in 2020 due to lack of turkeys in the unit. Spring turkey applicants can apply online at the Game and Fish Department website, gf.nd.gov. Applications can also be submitted by calling 800-406-6409. The deadline for applying is Feb. 12....
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. *Warm weather created water, slush and slush pockets on top of many lakes throughout the state. Anglers should check houses to make sure they don’t freeze in. *Feb. 12: Turkey applications due. Tournaments: *Feb. 15: Lake Ashtabula, Stump Lake. *Feb. 22: Devils Lake, Lake Audubon. Fishing: *Devils Lake elevation, Feb. 4: 1,448.98 f...
The arrow barely hung from its tip stuck smack dab in the middle of the blue circle on the large black block 10 yards out from the line on the floor which my now six-year-old son straddled in the open shoot section of the archery range. If I didn’t see it myself, I wouldn’t have believed it, but there it was, flung by the half-draw of an excited little boy holding the beginner compound bow with a string so loose it had popped off the top cam just a few shots before. It was his seventh arrow eve...
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. *Feb. 12: Spring turkey applications due. Go online to the ND Game & Fish Dept. website, (gf.nd.gov). Tournaments: *Feb. 8: Lake Ashtabula, Frettim Lake, Sand Lake. *Feb. 8: Lake Sakakawea, Pick City. Fishing: *Devils Lake elevation, Jan. 28: 1,448.97 feet above mean sea level (MSL). *Stump Lake elevation: 1,448.91 MSL. *Lake...
As January fades into memory and anglers eye up a faster bite as the back half of winter settles in, a number of conditions are at play which will help angling improve through the ice and provide a portent for what can be expected for spring and summer populations when waters open up. With dissolved oxygen and light penetration being significant items of concern, and forage not as much of an issue, North Dakota Game & Fish Department (NDG&F) Fisheries Management Supervisor Paul Bailey shares...
