Our Outdoors: The Business of Hope
By Nick Simonson A colleague of mine, reacting to the recent and sudden halt to everything economic, expressed concern about business and the state of the world in general. The advertising dollars dried up almost instantaneously in the front half of the month. Doors were closed and shops were dark as if it was some sort of black holiday on main street. People’s priorities had suddenly shifted from spend-spend-spend to survival. While I’m no economist and can’t predict which letter of the alphabet comes next in the economic curve (though I’m hoping for ‘V’) I explained that, while there would […]
Our Outdoors: Fishing 101
By Nick Simonson In the last two weeks I have become a fulltime teacher, cook, gym instructor and referee in addition to my normal professions, which admittedly were wide and varied to begin with. Having been something of a jack-of-all-trades and an angler of all species thus far in life has helped prepare me for these duties brought on by our recent societal changes. My favorite responsibilities in this time of transition, however, remain boat captain, hook baiter, fish remover and photographer to capture those memories made as a warm stretch has allowed for time on the water. For those […]
Our Outdoors: Free Flowing
By Nick Simonson Water is freedom, no more so than in spring. Casting off the icy bonds of winter, breaking them into pieces and then absorbing them is the completion of a flow’s self-fulfilling and seasonal prophecy. So too for the angler, flowing water represents the possibilities to not only move with life’s direction, but to challenge it and go back in time in a sense and find those places the riffles speak of upstream where trout, or bass or walleyes hide beneath the calm surface. It’s been said that we never stand in the same river twice, no matter […]
Our Outdoors: In the Distance
By Nick Simonson Except in those instances where the steelhead were running hard and fast up the tributaries of Lake Superior, or the walleyes were so thick one could nearly walk across them on Devils Lake’s famed Channel A in the spring, I’ve rarely fished in a scenario that would cause my line to tangle with another person’s. Over the last few years, at least 90 percent of my hunting outings have been solo trips for grouse, pheasants or deer, with the experience of being alone with the animals – huntable and watchable – providing for more than enough excitement […]
Our Outdoors: Going Deeper
By Nick Simonson 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, but the fish were less than active despite the warm and stable weather. So, with temperatures rising into the […]
Our Outdoors: Late Ice Lessons
By Nick Simonson 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 […]
Our Outdoors: Potential Energy
By Nick Simonson 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 openwater foray, the weight of a jig and twister suspended […]
Our Outdoors: Handfuls of Summer
By Nick Simonson 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 openwater angler in the middle of the off season 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 the south, I sped up the old county blacktop […]
Our Outdoors: The Cap
By Nick Simonson 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 spring deadline and mustered 36 kids […]
