Publisher’s Perspective

By Tim Douglass, Publisher of the Pope County Tribune

I joined a few friends last week and spent quite a few hours fishing in North Dakota.

We normally take a January fishing trip to Lake of the Woods, but that didn’t work out this year so we decided to try Devil’s Lake.  It’s supposed to be the “perch capitol” of the midwest and is home to the regional celebrities called the “Perch Patrol.”

We heard a lot about the Perch Patrol, but didn’t really see them.  Instead, we caught mostly small walleyes where we were fishing on the large North Dakota lake.

And those walleyes were active only a couple of hours in the morning and less than an hour in the evening, so it made for a long day with nothing biting.

As the saying usually goes, “you should have been here last week.”  Or, “things will be picking up next week.”

We managed to come home with a few fish, but nothing like the success we’ve had at Lake of the Woods.  Still, it was a fun trip and it was nice to see and experience another lake.  That was the first time I had been to Devil’s Lake.  It is a massive body of water.  Because of the Christmas week snow and blizzard, it was very difficult to get around on the lake and most of the fishing was confined to a few bays right near the resort we stayed at.  Because of that, there was constant travel, mostly by locals, driving onto the lake in that area.

A game warden told us that it was one of the few areas on the lake with plowed roads so access anywhere else was difficult.

Sure, we probably could’ve stayed home, caught a few panfish and/or walleyes right here and saved some money.  But it was an experience to try something new.  I’d go again.

      * * * *

We received word late last week that a group from Glenwood  – Just For Kix – recently performed in the pre-game and halftime shows at the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa Bay, Florida on January 2.  Maybe some locals tuned into the game.  It was between the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the Illinois Fighting Illini with Mississippi coming out on top, 19-10.

Dancers performed before a crowd of 35,797 fans at Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, according to Nikki Wait of Just for Kix Dance.  There were 698 performers ranging from second to 12th grade. The football-themed pre-game show featured all of the performers using black and white poms celebrating the 37th anniversary of the bowl game in Tampa Bay.  Dancers took up the entire field spanning from goal line to goal line as they performed their two-minute routine “Rock The Football.” The performers remained on the field during the National Anthem and fly over. During the half-time show, dancers filled the field with five high school bands in the center of the formation uniting as one mass band to provide the live music for the show.

We have a few photos from the event that will be featured with more information in next week’s issue of the Pope County Tribune & Starbuck Times.

Congrats to the Just for Kix dancers and their families.