Our Outdoors: On A Break
Our Outdoors: On A BreakBy Nick Simonson Dragging my jig over the subtle pull of the shifting river bottom, I felt a dead weight sensation and lifted the rod tip to see the slight bend confirm what my cold and glove-covered hands could barely detect. I completed the raise with all due haste and the point of the hook on my parrot-colored jig found its place in the upper jaw of the walleye at the other end. Soon the splashing, flipping golden-sided fish made its way to the net under the gray early-afternoon skies like the one a few minutes […]
Our Outdoors: Better Lucky Than Good
Our Outdoors: Better Lucky Than GoodBy Nick Simonson I can’t tell you what I was reaching for in the boat when I set my rod down. Likely, in the chill of the start to an otherwise perfect Saturday, it was the blue coffee tumbler I had borrowed from my mom when meeting my brother and a buddy for a drift down my home flow of the Sheyenne River. It could have been one of the tiny krystal flash jigs I had been taking from the small pile for the soft-biting walleyes we were pursuing which had required me to downsize […]
Our Outdoors: A Moment of Calm
Our Outdoors: A Moment of CalmBy Nick Simonson Coming over the rise and down the gravel road to the boat launch, the early morning sun reflected off the sprawling lake, which was only slightly dappled by a light and variable breeze. It was the first time I had arrived at the water this season where a chop wasn’t already rolling across the surface and I knew the two or three hours my buddy John and I would have to cast to what remained of the spawning crappies with our fly rods would be prized in what has been a windy […]
Our Outdoors: A Season You Don’t Want to Miss
Our Outdoors: A Season You Don’t Want to MissBy Nick Simonson The past week has been my busiest in the outdoors, as it has been for the last eight years. There’s been more to get done than loading up for pheasant opener at the farm. The checklist is far longer than the one leading up to the start of firearms deer season. Fishing, now simply the grabbing of a rod and a handful of tackle, and maybe towing the boat somewhere (compared to all the forethought I used to pour into the process), pales in comparison to the efforts I […]
Our Outdoors: Don’t think twice – wear it!
While anglers are quick to wear shirts, jackets and caps emblazoned with the logos of their favorite lure companies and outdoor gear providers, they rarely wear PFDs with such regularity.
While I’ve been fortunate to only have minor on-the-water incidents, I have become a devout wearer of a life jacket while fishing and boating in recent years. Here’s hoping more will do so, and somewhere down the line, benefit from the added buoyancy.
Our Outdoors: Big Fish Picture Tips
Our Outdoors: Big Fish Picture TipsBy Nick Simonson With this weekend’s news of the North Dakota state walleye record falling, and the conditions aligning for early angling opportunities, it is a picture-perfect time to catch some huge spring fish. If you plan to take some photos of your angling success this spring or any time during the openwater season, here are some tips for ensuring a safe release for your subject matter and for getting some quality pictures to detail the event. Fish handling Before the fish is even landed, proper care should be shown. Anglers should not over-play a […]
Our Outdoors: The Pulls of Two New Seasons
Our Outdoors: The Pulls of Two New SeasonsBy Nick Simonson 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 openwater 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 […]
Our Outdoors: It’s all in th
Our Outdoors: It’s all in the Name By Nick Simonson 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 […]
Our Outdoors: Staking Out Spring Spaces
This week’s edition of Our Outdoors, setting up those favorite spring spaces for popular game and panfish throughout the region.
