Barbs and Backlashes

I remember the good ole days when the Red Green Show was on public TV every Saturday night! Here’s a particularly good segment that pointy-headed biologists can relate to. . . . [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erw0CRzeuaY[/youtube] For the record, fisheries biologists are a lot smarter than that. Here’s the website, http://www.redgreen.com/index.html , watch all the episodes here, http://www.youtube.com/redgreentv , and have a great weekend!

We are rolling into summer now and that means that aquatic plants that grow in many Nebraska waters are reaching their peak of coverage and height.  As that happens, my phone starts ringing and I start seeing complaints on the internet about the “weeds” and how they make it too hard to fish!?  I have to confess I am not very sympathetic to those complaints about the “weeds”. Webster’s defines a “weed” as an undesirable plant.  Rooted aquatic vegetation is …

I got this update on Missouri River flows recently: NEWS  RELEASE For Immediate Release: June 11, 2013 Contact: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Northwestern Division Phone: (402) 995-2420 (888) 835-5971 E-mail: Monique.l.farmer@usace.army.mil Omaha, Neb. — Despite wetter-than-normal conditions across much of the Missouri River basin during May, drought persists across much of the region and mainstem reservoir levels remain below normal. “Even though rainfall was two to three times normal in eastern Montana, and western North Dakota during May, runoff …

If you want some more carp fishing tips, http://magazine.outdoornebraska.gov/2011/06/carp/ . See you there, bring your peanut butter.

Want to give you a quick update on Cabela’s fishing promotion this year. I cannot provide a lot of detail, but I can tell you that it involves tagged fish that are worth prizes, big prizes.  Those fish, walleye and largemouth bass, have been captured, tagged and released in 10 Nebraska reservoirs.  To be eligible for the prizes make sure to go here to register, http://www.cabelas.com/browse.cmd?categoryId=107520480&WT.tsrc=CRD&WT.mc_id=fishformillions .  Once you register you can find more details. The promotion has been running …

I know many Nebraska anglers have been eagerly awaiting the re-opening of Burchard Reservoir.  Here is some news, and a date on that re-opening, BUT READ CAREFULLY.  There is both good news and “bad news” in this announcement; make sure you know what it all means. Burchard WMA to open to access July 1st Burchard Wildlife Management Area will be opened to limited public access beginning July 1, 2013.  An aquatic habitat rehabilitation project was completed earlier this year on …

Sunday is Father’s Day.  In honor of that, let me share some memories and old photos. I was rummaging through some boxes and albums of photos and found this one of my Dad and me. That is a picture of the two of us holding Master Angler smallmouth bass.  The fish I was holding was my first Master Angler fish, 3 pounds 7 ounces, caught on July 22, 1972 from Merritt Reservoir.  It bit on a nightcrawler fished on the …

I slipped out of the office one day last week and helped some of our field biologists do some flathead catfish collecting at Branched Oak Reservoir. Got your attention now? I have blogged about this fisheries project at Branched Oak before and am not going to repeat all of that again here.  What I would like to do in this blog post is share some of the things that have been learned about those big, beautiful flatties in Branched Oak. …

I have a couple of quick updates about some of Nebraskan’s favorite fishing spots to share with you. . . . Burchard First of all, read this closely, Burchard is NOT OPEN, yet.  For the past several weeks that has been, by far, the most frequent question I and my co-workers have been asked.  That is OK, I am glad people want to know! We are still waiting on water levels at Burchard to rise.  Yes, we have had significant …

OK, if you have been reading my blog for awhile you know that I have a warped sense of humor.  You know that I watch fishing shows on TV just so I can laugh at the commercials.  And, you know that on Fridays, I sometimes share some of my stupid humor in my blog.  You can imagine my delight when I found a whole video of bloopers of Bass Pro Shops fishing commercials! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS6f890sJCQ[/youtube] Have a good weekend, get outdoors, …