FISHING

Parkston resident wins ice house

A tip up was all Parkston resident Dave Bax needed at Saturday’s 26th annual Devils Lake Voluntary Fire Department ice fishing tournament. Bax, who drove nearly seven hours to the North Dakota town, caught a six-pound, five-ounce northern pike, helping him win a brand new hardshell ice house.

February 03, 2010

Former GF&P head pleased with Missouri River meeting

PIERRE — A former state Department of Game, Fish and Parks secretary who attended Tuesday’s public meeting about a new study of the Missouri River came away optimistic about the study’s potential.
“I’m elated that the study has been funded and that the Corps of Engineers is taking action and doing the right thing to make this happen,” said John Cooper, of Pierre, who spoke with The Daily Republic by phone Wednesday.

January 28, 2010

Opinion: Imprinting can be useful in S.D.

Joyce, Betsy’s sister, works for Barnes & Noble. She knows her books, and customarily gives me a book for Christmas. I am coming to look forward to her annual selection. This year’s book was a collection of columns by outdoor writer Gene Hill. One of Hill’s columns was about imprinting. Imprinting has to do with modifying a creature’s basic instinct in order to reach a desired end. Hill’s example involved baby ducks. Let’s say they’re hatched in an incubator without a mom. Feed them a few times, and they will follow you around as they would their mother.

January 20, 2010

GOP candidate criticizes Demo Rep. mailing

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Republican congressional candidate Blake Curd criticized Democratic Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin on Wednesday for sending what he called campaign-style material to South Dakotans at taxpayer expense.

By Chet Brokaw , January 14, 2010

Herseth Sandlin rebuffed by GF&P

PIERRE — U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin wanted to obtain lists of South Dakotans who purchased hunting and fishing licenses in 2009 from the state Department of Game, Fish and Parks.
She’s not going to get those names and addresses, however, unless she pays for them.

By Bob Mercer , January 07, 2010

Opinion: Our waters aren’t as clean as I thought they were

Regular readers know that I am very biased when it comes to South Dakota, and it becomes evident in a hurry that I believe South Dakota is the place to live if hunting and fishing are important. Relatives along the Illinois River have great walleye fishing, but they can’t eat the fish. Mercury levels are too high. Lake Michigan has salmon and trout, but one has to be very careful about how much is eaten. With our seemingly pristine lakes and rivers, I have never concerned myself with such problems. Perhaps I should.

By Roger Wiltz , January 06, 2010

Opinion: Some concerns for the new year

As we head into the new year, three major problems that affect our recreational outdoors are causing me great concern. The first is the damage being done to our western forests by Mountain pine beetles. They are killing our trees a million acres at a time. While these beetles have been around for a long time, they were previously kept in check by winter temperatures 25 degrees Fahrenheit or colder. Now, increasingly warmer temperatures — combined with drought — are taking a horrendous toll. British Columbia has already lost 35 million acres! Closer to home, our Black Hills are turning brown. This inevitably will lead to catastrophic fires.

By Roger Wiltz , December 30, 2009

Opinion: Too much hunting, fishing or both can stress a marriage

The phone rang Saturday night. It was Doug, and he called about deer hunting. Neither of us had filled our East River tags, and the season ended Sunday. I heard Betsy in the background. “Couldn’t we go to Mitchell and see a movie?” asked Betsy. A tinge of exasperation colored her voice. After hesitating, I begrudgingly said we could.

By Roger Wiltz , December 16, 2009

GF&P finalizes fishing, hunting regulations

PIERRE — The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Commission has finalized several regulation changes, simplifying size limits for walleyes as well as largemouth and smallmouth bass. The regulations are an attempt to eliminate unnecessary length and daily limit variations and combine them into fewer options. An experimental regulation option will also be included to allow biologists to implement special regulations when necessary.

November 18, 2009

GF&P moving full speed ahead on $13 million outdoor campus

PIERRE — The deep financial difficulties elsewhere in state government haven’t slowed down plans by the state Game, Fish and Parks Commission to spend $13 million to construct a new regional headquarters and outdoor campus at Rapid City.

By Bob Mercer , November 10, 2009

Salmon stocking effort begins in S. Dakota

Salmon spawning is under way at Whitlocks Bay, where crews are collecting eggs for a Lake Oahe restocking effort that will take advantage of higher water levels and more baitfish.
The fisheries division in the state Game, Fish and Parks Department wants to collect 700,000 eggs from salmon that are drawn to the state-run spawning station on Oahe’s Whitlocks Bay. The goal is to stock 210,000 young salmon in the spring, said Bob Hanten, fisheries biologist for the GF&P.

By Wayne Ortman , October 12, 2009

Our View: Local lake green, but not unsafe

The late-summer algae that sometimes chokes Lake Mitchell is sometimes smelly and always unsightly.
We never, however, have considered it deadly or a serious health hazard.

By Editorial Board , October 01, 2009

Opinion: Extra effort can give hunting or fishing pictures a professional touch

A picture is worth a thousand words. We’ve all heard that. As I’ve worked the last 30 years to market my writing, I’ve become convinced of one thing. While my writing is sometimes good enough for an Outdoor Life or Field & Stream, my photography isn’t. Good pictures can and do sell stories. Too many good stories go unsold because the photos of a bludgeoned deer on the tailgate of a pickup or stringers of fish that have been dead too long just aren’t very appealing. It’s time for all of us to clean up our acts. This first began to occur to me during our African hunt in 2002.

By Roger Wiltz , September 30, 2009

Algae levels threaten waters in Midwest

WAUSAU, Wis. — Waterways across the upper Midwest are increasingly plagued with ugly, smelly and potentially deadly bluegreen algae, bloomed by drought and fertilizer runoffs from farm fields, that’s killed dozens of dogs and sickened many people.

By Robert Imrie , September 28, 2009

Opinion: Catch a musky: mission accomplished

Would each of us catch a musky? That was our simple goal. On Sunday Aug. 30, Jerry Hnetynka of Lake Andes, Greg McCann of Springfield and I headed for Vermilion Bay, Ontario, in Jerry’s Chevy pickup. The trip took 12 and a half hours, and we went by way of Watertown, Fargo, Grand Forks, Winnipeg and Kenora. The lakes of the Indian Chain, thought by some to be the finest musky angling in the world, are the waters we fished. Though we didn’t do particularly well, I feel the lakes have a solid musky population. We learned a lot, and we should do much better next time.

By Roger Wiltz , September 16, 2009