DEVILS LAKE, N.D. _ A National Guard platoon at Camp Grafton Training Center belted out a cadence in drill practice that echoed across a long bay known as Military Point.
While the soldiers marched and chanted, we caught fish.
Five of us from the Twin Cities and a sixth from Tower, Minn., upheld our fall fishing tradition this year by exploring an offbeat curiosity: Why are more and more Minnesotans fishing in North Dakota and South Dakota?
Nonresident fishing license sales in North Dakota have nearly quadrupled since 1995-96, with 40 percent of the crush coming from its neighbor to the east. South Dakota, too, is enjoying a heavy influx of Minnesota anglers _ all during a time of declining fishing license sales in St. Paul.
Tony Rich, a part-time firefighter in Cottage Grove, caters to outdoors customers of all kinds at his Recoil Lodge in Clark, S.D. Six years ago when his investment was new, business was down in months that didn't include hunting or ice fishing.
"March, April, May were slow, and summer fishing was nonexistent for us," he said. "Now we're booked 40 weekends a year. The difference is those fishermen."
Jumbo perch and walleyes are the big tickets _ some caught in glorified sloughs that were dry 35 years ago. Rain cycles changed and lakes were born. Others got deeper, absorbing nutrients that sped fish growth and begged for an expansion of fish stocking programs.
Tiny Clark, west of Watertown, also happens to be in the heart of South Dakota's Glacial Lakes region, an area the state Department of Tourism has recently been touting as a sneaky-good fishing destination for nonresidents. Waubay Lake, Bitter Lake, Lake Poinsett and Lake Kampeska are the names you'll hear.
This summer, a repeat customer at Recoil Lodge requested a favor. He asked Rich if he could park his boat in Clark instead of towing it to and from Nebraska seven weekends in a row.
"They're coming from all over," Rich said. "People are saying, 'I'm going to go out and fill my cooler with either one of those perfect eating fish' _ perch or walleye, or both.' "
