My standard greeting for a new dog I encounter is to hold out my hand and say, “Hi, Puppy!”  I do not know if the dogs like that greeting or not.  At least I have not been bitten yet. I was walking around the neighborhood the other day and saw a pretty red dog watching me from someone’s backyard.  I think he wanted to come out and play: That was a good-looking dog, wonder where I could get one? OK, …

As promised, I have been trying to spend as little time in the office as possible.  Slipped out west for some family celebrations a while back, and while I was out there managed to sneak away for some quiet time with the turkeys. I grew up in North Platte and in those younger days spent a lot of time roaming the loess canyons southeast of town.  I am old enough to tell you that back then there were no turkeys …

Want to give some publicity to this event! https://www.facebook.com/nefga.org/videos/2587339054613093/ And a reminder that this is just one of the many Family Fishing Events we have scheduled around the state this year, Family Fishing Events, 2019. Once again, do not forget to Take ‘Em Fishing!

There is no doubt spring is the most popular time of year for fishing.  Everyone thinks they are an angler in spring (or at least everyone should think that!).  The spring fever runs high and folks just cannot wait to get on the water and catch some fish.  Problem is with relatively cold water temperatures, the bite can be tougher than hoped for. Walleyes are the fish most preferred by Nebraska anglers, and as a cool-water fish they can be …

Simply want to post up the schedule of Family Fishing Events for this year: Actually, I should not call them all “Family Fishing Events”.  Notice the different labeling for different events, we want to have a little different emphasis on these events.  Oh certainly, we want families to come, but it is also more than that.  Also notice some events where we are going to offer an introduction to more specialized fishing techniques. Of course the ever-popular Carp-O-Rama events are …

I usually have a blog post about every year at this time warning that my blogging may become a little more infrequent for a few weeks.  Consider this your notice. You see, spring is in full swing and that means I have fish to catch, turkeys to call, and mushrooms to pick.  Ain’t got time to be sitting at a keyboard writing about it all–gotta do it first! And, one of my kids has a head start on me! Some …

I noted a couple of weeks ago that when spring rolls around I actually get outta the office and do a little field work.  Even though the water is cold and the weather can be more wintry than springy, I look forward to it every spring!  One of those activities is the annual collection of walleye eggs that our Nebraska fisheries staff does around the state.  Walleye eggs are collected and fertilized in order to produce the fish needed for …

Going to return to the March 2019 issue of Resource, the Nebraska Environmental Trust monthly newsletter: Restoring Native Mussels to Nebraska – submitted by Dean Rosenthal, Nebraska Game & Parks Commission Freshwater mussels in Nebraska have declined over timein Nebraska’s streams and rivers. Historically 30 specieshave been found in Nebraska waters. Of these 30 species, only 13 species have been identified as somewhat stable. To address this concerning trend, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission began putting in place a …

Going to forego my usual “light-hearted” material on my Friday blog post this week.  Got a couple of small news items I would like to circulate: Papillion’s Lake Halleck among waters stocked with trout LINCOLN, Neb. – Rainbow trout continue to be stocked in Nebraska’s urban waters to enhance spring fishing opportunities. The Grove Trout Rearing Station earlier this week stocked 1,200 trout in Papillion’s Lake Halleck and 1,200 in Nebraska City’s Steinhart Park East Pond. The Calamus State Fish …

When spring time rolls around, pointy-headed fish biologists get really busy.  I even get out of the office to help with all the field work that needs to be done this time of year. Most of you know that northern pike spawn right around the time ice goes out.  They will even spawn under the ice if we have a late ice-out, but if you are looking to collect a bunch of northern pike, that is a great time to …