Burke County Tribune

Eighth annual Lostwood
Birding Festival June 14

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Lostwood Birding & Nature Association, and Burke County Job Development Authority will host the Lostwood Birding Festival Friday, June 14.

This is a one day event featuring guided tours and youth activities. The festival is a great opportunity for participants of any age to learn about birds and other wildlife at Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge).

The festival is held at the Refuge headquarters located 16 miles south of Bowbells or 23 miles north of Stanley on North Dakota Highway 8.

“The Refuge is a popular destination for birders who want to see rare grassland and wetland birds including Sprague’s pipit, Baird’s sparrow, LeConte’s sparrow, grasshopper sparrow and piping plover,” says Kory Richardson, Manager of the Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge.

The festival will begin at 6:00 a.m. and will provide participants with a variety of opportunities to take hiking or bus tours on the Refuge. There will be birding, wildlife, plant and youth related tours.
The festival will end at 1:30 pm.
Knowledgeable and experienced guides will lead each tour. All tours will depart from the Refuge headquarters.

Refreshments will be provided near the refuge headquarters but all participants should pack their own lunch.
There is no charge for the festival but please pre-register if you would like to attend. To register or see a complete schedule of events go to www.burkecountynd.org and click on the link for the Lostwood Birding Festival.

You can also register or request more information by calling the Refuge office at 701-848-2722.

IT HAPPENED TO...

Area North Dakota students were among the 3,040 North Dakota State University students to be placed on the spring 2013 dean’s list.
A student must earn a 3.50 grade point average or higher and be enrolled in at least 12 class credits to qualify.
Named to the list were Kayla Peterson of Bowbells; Alexander Brodal and Allison J. Dhuyvetter, both of Columbus; and Kristin Bloom of Lignite.

Outdoor Tales

WISCONSIN CATFISH

In this goofy spring of rain and weather, the guiding season on the Red River was held up for the better part of a month. Like farming all you can do is sit and wait it out until Mother Nature says “Go time.”

As I was not so patiently waiting for the river to fall and playing on the internet, I was chatting with a catfisherman from Indiana who I know. I was sort of complaining about how I wanted to get catfishing but would have to wait a few more weeks to get in. He suggested I meet up with him and his dad in Madison, WI for some lake catfishing at an event being hosted by the catfish website, Twisted Cat Outdoors.

I was not too excited for the drive to Wisconsin but after some thought I couldn’t find a reason not to go.

After all, Lake Mendota, where we would be fishing, is a top 10 channel cat destination in the United States according to In-Fisherman Magazine. Right after the Red River of course.

It also presented the opportunity cat catfish in a lake which I have never done. Everything I do is related to current and obviously lakes don’t have current. This would be an adventure if anything.

I was joined by my long time friend, Loren Keizer from Detroit Lakes, MN for the adventure.

I drove to Loren’s house Thursday night to get a couple hours of driving out of the way, then a very early start Friday to start the adventure.

We arrived in Madison about 2 p.m. and were fishing by three with Ron and Kris Workman from Indiana. It took about 10 minutes to get the first fish on and the action stayed steady pretty much all weekend.

The biggest fish while we were in the boat was caught by Loren with a 20.3 lb. channel cat. Kris did catch a 25 pounder before we arrived.

Some of the highlights of the trip were that we were fishing in one to three feet of water with no current, so when a fish hit the rod, it would bend and the water would literally explode out the side of the boat.

Another highlight was with the sun got high on day two with no snag piles to fish, we headed to a resort and fished under their docks to catch fish. (I guess the docks were made of wood.)
Lastly, I got to meet many great catfish enthusiasts from all around the country. There were 28 people at the gathering from nine states all with the same goal.

It was a long trip with about as much driving as fishing but in the end it was a great adventure and a great memory. I made new friends and got to spend time fishing with an old friend.

I experienced a totally different way of fishing from what I am used to and at the same time got to experience a top 10 catfish spot. I must say that it lives up to its billing.

Until next time get outside and make some memories.