Fishing

Let’s see, snowed yesterday, more forecast for later this week, it is below freezing, ice just melted, it is cloudy, the wind is blowing, and the calendar says first week in April.  Yep, must be time for the walleye spawn! Our Nebraska Game & Parks Commission fisheries crews will be hitting the water starting this week to collect the walleye eggs needed for stocking walleyes around the state this year.  Here are the details: Walleye egg collections begin April 2 …

LINCOLN, Neb. – Fisheries staff at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission again this spring will capture spawning walleyes to collect eggs to meet stocking requests. Sherman Reservoir, Merritt Reservoir and Lake McConaughy have again been selected locations for this operation. The collection goal to meet 2018 walleye stocking requests is approximately 88 million eggs (700 quarts). As of April 1, a designated area along the dam at Sherman is closed to bank anglers and boats following sunset. The collection …

Holy Cow!  I look out my window right now and the sun is shining!  Seems like we have had nothing but cloudy, damp, and cold, forever! I think this calls for drastic action! Naturally Mike would tell you to go catch a bass, should be a good day for that, but it could be a pike, walleye, trout, crappie, catfish, whatever. . . . I know this much for sure, THIS AIN’T SPREADSHEET WEATHER!  Take his advice, stop what you …

LINCOLN, Neb. – Pawnee Lake in Lancaster County will be drawn down immediately so the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission can replace a boat ramp. The United States Army Corps of Engineers will draw down the water level 2 feet so construction on a replacement boat ramp on the south side of Pawnee State Recreation Area (SRA) can begin the first week of April. In addition, the south boat launch’s dock will be replaced and a breakwater to protect launching …

Have you ever held a new fishing bait in your hands and wondered what it might catch? How big are your dreams? I did the other day, a brand new bait.  The hooks needed sharpened.  By the way, lots of new baits need the hooks sharpened, some of them just plain need better quality hooks, right out of the box. After sharpening all nine hooks on three trebles, I wiped the blood from where I had impaled my fingers, and …

This week I will be talking muskies!  Once again I will tell you that I have not been to a meeting of Nebraska’s Muskies Inc. Chapter, Huskerland Muskie Hunters, for a while and it is time to remedy that!  They will be getting together this coming Thursday evening, at the Scheel’s store in west Omaha, 7:00 p.m.  The meeting room there is downstairs, when you come in the doors ask an employee and they can point you in the right …

It has been a while since I linked up with the Nebraska Walleye Association (NWA), but we finally got our schedules together.  The NWA folks will be hanging out at the LaVista Cabela’s all this weekend, and I plan to meet up with them in the meeting room at 1:00 on Sunday. Oh yes, I will have a short PowerPoint presentation: But, most of all I like meeting with Nebraska fishing groups like the NWA just so we can swap …

LINCOLN, Neb. – Reserve a spot for your child in the Fishing is Fun Clinic on April 21 at Lewis and Clark State Recreation Area in northeast Nebraska. The 4:15 p.m. workshop at the Weigand boat ramp is for ages 5 to 15. Volunteer instructors will teach young anglers casting, knot tying, bait, tackle, water safety, and fish identification and anatomy. Anglers may practice their skills by fishing following the clinic. Register before April 18 to guarantee a spot in …

If you have lived in the great state of Nebraska for any length of time, you know that spring is a frustrating time.  It comes in “fits and starts”.  I laugh at the wild swings in weather, and the wild swings in the mental health of those hoping for warm, sunny days.  Ha.  We are going to live with this schizophrenia for several weeks yet, might as well make the most of it! For example, in this past week I …

As the saying goes “Roosted ain’t Roasted” but following this plan should tilt the opening days odds in your favor.  You’ve got the gobblers located and even know the spot you want to start your season from.  Let’s make sure things go smoothly from here. Pop the Blind Early If you will be working out of a ground blind for an early morning hunt get it set out and ready the day before. Ideally in the early afternoon.  This avoids …