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Back to the Future

Most of you know that I am all fishing, all the time, but I love to hunt and trap too.  I seldom go more than a few days without drying off a fish or two, but in the spring when the turkeys are gobbling, I get distracted.  This spring has been no exception.  I spent as much time as possible listening to my favorite birds gobble from ridge tops, fields, and canyon bottoms.  When the time is right, often in conjunction with a turkey hunt, I like to wander around picking a few morels as well.

My mushroom season this year was the longest, without traveling around the state, that I can remember.  I am pretty sure that was weather-related.  However, although it was long, my morel picking never was very intense this year.  I never did pick a lot at any one time, only ever found one here, another there, and ended up spending a lot of time for every one I picked.

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Eventually the mushrooms mature and rot and spring turkey season closes.  Then it is time to get back to the fish I have been neglecting.  But, I have to confess, I suffer from spring turkey and mushroom withdrawal; that still is all I have on my mind.  So, where do I find my motivation to get back on the water?  Usually, I get back in the groove by going back to where most of us started fishing–dropping a bobber in the water, waiting for a bluegill to pull it under!  Does anyone ever tire of watching a bobber dip below the surface?

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Best of all, about the end of spring turkey season every year, the bluegills are shallow getting ready to spawn, so it is a great time to dry off some big ones!  In this case, some big hybrid sunfish, redear X bluegill hybrids.

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Just how big?  Maybe this will put it in a little better perspective:

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Yes, that big, 10-inch+ big.  And they all went back in the water, it is crucial to keep those big male sunfish in the population, NOT in a frying pan! (Bed Time for ‘Gill)

Pretty sure it is like riding a bike; I am betting I can find some more fish to catch and release here in the coming weeks.  “Stay tuned”.

About daryl bauer

Daryl is a lifelong resident of Nebraska (except for a couple of years spent going to graduate school in South Dakota). He has been employed as a fisheries biologist for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission for 25 years, and his current tour of duty is as the fisheries outreach program manager. Daryl loves to share his educational knowledge and is an avid multi-species angler. He holds more than 120 Nebraska Master Angler Awards for 14 different species and holds more than 30 In-Fisherman Master Angler Awards for eight different species. He loves to talk fishing and answer questions about fishing in Nebraska, be sure to check out his blog at outdoornebraska.org.

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