Our Outdoors

Our Outdoors: By Nick Simonson I’ve never been a slow guy.  Slow on the uptake maybe, but never one to just sit around and wait for things to come, or fish to bite, or birds to appear.  I’ve been a walker, talker, doer type with more natural (and thanks to coffee, unnatural) energy than I can manage on some days. While that part of who I am has helped create some very successful times in the outdoors, that nature has gotten the better of me a number of times too. Rushed shots, overlooked areas of ideal upland habitat and the […]

Our Outdoors: Spring Things to Improve Angling By Nick Simonson With spring on hold, there’s plenty of time to think about what comes when the snow melts.  Of course, the fishing will be fast and furious, but after the solid spring bite and those big fish will come a season of making a difference.  In order to preserve these great opportunities for everyone, it is necessary for sportsmen to undertake the efforts needed to recruit and retain the next generation and preserve and improve the resources for the future.  This handful of ideas is just the start in making angling […]

Our Outdoors: This or That By Nick Simonson With the snow piling higher and higher and gusts sending each new wave of the white stuff sideways across the picture window in the first gray light of day, thinking about spring was all I could do to keep cabin fever at bay.  I erased penciled-in fishing trips for April and booked them again in the squares of the weekends down the road when other conflicts didn’t move them back further.  I ran through the first week of totals for the high school clay target league and projected end-of year averages. I […]

Our Outdoors: Plowing Through By Nick Simonson Throughout the winter, things were looking good for the start of the North Dakota State High School Clay Target League this spring.  Calls and emails poured in to our coaching staff about how to get kids signed up and school resource centers and cafeterias were packed wall-to-wall with students and parents looking to get registered at our informational meetings. By early February, our coaching staff realized what we had on our hands as we had blown through our bottom mark of 120, then through our cap of 150 students.  With the excitement building […]

Our Outdoors: Magnetic By Nick Simonson In the bright sun of mid-morning, my buddy Marty, my son AJ and I pulled into the small ice-coated parking area near Long Bridge on Big Detroit Lake.  It was as it had been in late winters before, crusted blue ice sloping down to a hardened mud ramp leading out toward the channel that came in from the main lake and into Deadshot Bay.  The tire tracks molded into the mud suggested the ice was safe and thick, but as it was only a hundred-yard walk to my favorite dead-reckoned spots and my son […]

Our Outdoors: Get Ready for Spring By Nick Simonson It’s that time of year, and while all the insanity focuses on a bouncing ball for the next few weeks, the shift going on in the outdoors will tick up to a maddening pace as well.  Being prepared for everything spring has to throw at an angler is key to success and a shot at a big fish, as the temperature and seasonal shifts come on quickly, spurring hot bites around the region.  What follows are some preparatory tips to help manage the madness that March can bring.   1. Gear Check.  […]

Our Outdoors: Stat! By Nick Simonson   I’ve never been a math whiz. When it comes to algebra, once there are more letters than numbers in an equation, I’m usually at a loss. In fact, the only D I received in college was a D+ in Calculus for Business Majors. I missed two days of class in the middle of the semester due to illness (real illness, not brown bottle flu) and never caught up with the “dumbed down” version of the course for those of us who wouldn’t be pursuing a degree in rocket science. I think my final […]

Our Outdoors: Kidding Around By Nick Simonson For every great ice fishing day with a spirited four-year old, there are those other days where things get cut short or don’t pan out. That’s just part of the process and being ready for what comes results in more good fishing memories.  For each photo of a trout, bluegill or walleye hoisted topside, there’s a series of endless questions, a foot in the hole or the one call of nature that requires a trip home and some TP.  Managing a trip geared toward a younger angler requires some forethought, patience and the […]

Our Outdoors: A Season of Growth By Nick Simonson Manning the booth at the Bismarck Sport Show for the teams I’m helping to get off the ground with a hard-core group of 20 other volunteer coaches gave me some time to reflect on all our cadre had accomplished since last fall.  From my joining the group mid-summer after relocating to the area, reaching out and being welcomed into the fold with open arms, we had grown the teams from 35 students in the spring from three schools, to 48 in the fall, to the now 150 expected to sign up […]