Wednesday, May 21st, 2025

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Wednesday, May 21st, 2025

Breaking News for

Sportsmen Since 1968

Joe Shead

There’s value in night-fishing beneath the moon and stars

Andy’s noodly catfish rod bucked and plunged toward the surface of the Mississippi River, as below, a leviathan in the depths waged war on the hook and line that had it tethered. After fighting the fish for several minutes, we could tell the big flathead was begrudgingly nearing the surface.
But still, the Coleman lantern perched atop a cooler for added height and visibility hadn’t yet illuminated the beast below.

There’s value in night-fishing beneath the moon and stars Read More »

Minnesota DNR developing updated Lake Superior fisheries plan

A group of speakers from the Minnesota DNR, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, U.S. Geological Survey, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency convened April 5 in Duluth for the Lake Superior Fisheries Conference.

Minnesota DNR developing updated Lake Superior fisheries plan Read More »

Joe Shead: Buying a camper for hunting seemed like a good idea… then the work began

I’ve always been a low-budget kind of outdoorsman. Why would I get a hotel when I can sleep in my truck?

For years, I would spend several nights of the deer-hunting season sleeping in what my friends and family began dubbing the “topper suite of the Hotel Chevrolet.” Sounds better than telling people you sleep in your truck, anyway.
But as one gets older, he might tend to get a little soft. Oh, I still sleep in the back of my truck at times, even while ice fishing. But one day I took a look at a slide-in truck camper and thought, man, it would sure be nice to have something like that.

Joe Shead: Buying a camper for hunting seemed like a good idea… then the work began Read More »

Search with purpose, and you can add to – or start – your shed antler collection

It’s been said that looking for shed deer antlers is like looking for a needle in a haystack. I know people who have hunted deer for decades but who’ve never found a shed. The reason is probably twofold: One, they don’t try, and two, they don’t know where to look.
While you might occasionally stumble upon an antler without looking for it, for the most part, you have to actively search for antlers to find them. And even then, it’s not uncommon to come home empty-handed.

Search with purpose, and you can add to – or start – your shed antler collection Read More »

Yellow bass fishery developing a legion of angling fans in southern Minnesota

It’s not every day that a new fishery develops, but southern Minnesota anglers have been buzzing about an exploding yellow bass population in the Fairmont area in recent years.
“They showed up (in the Fairmont chain of lakes) first in 2012, caught by an ice angler,” said Nate Hodgins, assistant area DNR fisheries supervisor in the Windom office.
Hodgins said the fish likely were stocked illegally by area anglers. He said they could have come from the Iowa Great Lakes, which are relatively close by and where the species is native.

Yellow bass fishery developing a legion of angling fans in southern Minnesota Read More »

Habitat projects aim to improve Driftless Region grouse numbers in Wisconsin

Hunters who remember the ruffed grouse heydays of the 1970s and 1980s in the Driftless Region of southwestern Wisconsin may be scratching their heads, wondering what happened. Today, grouse are few and far between in that region, and most hunters venture north if they’re looking for a few partridge.
“Unfortunately, the Driftless Region is kind of the opposite of a conservation success story when it comes to grouse,” said Alaina Roth, Wisconsin DNR ruffed grouse specialist.

Habitat projects aim to improve Driftless Region grouse numbers in Wisconsin Read More »

Move to tip-downs to improve ice-fishing success

Tip-downs seem to be an under-utilized ice-fishing tool in Minnesota. But these passive fishing setups are dynamite for light-biting perch and crappies, and they can help you cover more water. 
Perhaps the reason they haven’t caught on here is because ice anglers are allowed only two lines in Minnesota, compared with three lines in Wisconsin or four in North Dakota. Or maybe because winters here are too cold. Tip-downs work best when the temperature is above freezing. That said, you might consider adding them to your ice-fishing arsenal.

Move to tip-downs to improve ice-fishing success Read More »

Joe Shead: Minnesota’s northeastern deer hunting bleak at best

You hear it all the time from northland deer hunters: There are no deer. There are too many wolves. The Minnesota DNR doesn’t know what it’s doing.
Usually, I just brush this kind of talk aside. I figure if the people saying it spent more time in a tree and less time on a barstool, perhaps their fortunes would improve. But now, at this point, I’m with them.

Joe Shead: Minnesota’s northeastern deer hunting bleak at best Read More »

Targeting these nontraditional species through the hard water can be fantastic fun

They are the seemingly odd types you might have ignored in high school. They’re a little different.
Under-appreciated. A bit “off” by conventional standards? But that’s OK for those anglers who pursue something other than walleyes and crappies under the ice. True, these “freaks” may be considered the ugly ducklings of the fish world, but they will out-fight any walleye, and some of them can hold their own in the frying pan.

Targeting these nontraditional species through the hard water can be fantastic fun Read More »

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