How To

The first river you paddle runs through the rest of your life. It bubbles up in pools and eddies to remind you who you are. — Lynn Noel Floating one of Nebraska’s various water trails in the summer is great for so many reasons! You can do it for the adventure of going somewhere you’ve never been. You can do it to make connections and memories with people and nature. You can do it to re-trace history. You can do it to get …

A couple of days ago I teased you with an opportunity that will be available to catch some quality-size channel catfish from a select few bodies of urban and parks waters, Bonus Fish.  So, to understand what I am referring to in this blog post, why and how there is this opportunity right now, and why it is so limited, you must go back and read that blog post too.  Take a couple of minutes, go back and read it, …

Water sports/boating-related activities take center stage on my Saturday morning Great Outdoor Radio Show. Lindsey McKinstry, Water Sports Expert at the Scheels Store in Omaha, NE, will be my special guest. We’ll cover waterskiing, wakeboarding, kneeboarding and a whole lot more! The Great Outdoor Radio Show I host airs LIVE from 9-10 a.m. CST each and every Saturday morning on Omaha’s KOZN Radio/1620 AM “The Zone.” You’re always welcome to call the program with any topic-oriented questions you have at either of these phone numbers: …

You and your family are invited to come join us at our annual Game and Parks/WOWT 6 Sports Family Fishing Night at Lake Halleck in Papillion, NE this Thursday night, July 9th from 6 to 8 p.m. Find out how fun fishing is! Lake Halleck is located just a quarter mile to the east of the intersection of Washington and Lincoln Streets in downtown Papillion. We at Game and Parks will be furnishing the fishing tackle and bait as well as fishing instruction for your hands-on fishing enjoyment! Family fishing …

I have not mentioned this in awhile, but a good pair of polarized sunglasses are a “must-have” if you spend a lot of time on the water chasing fish.  They will help you catch more fish, and they are a great piece of safety equipment too.  Here is a good video reminder: Buy the brand Al recommends in that video; I am sure they are good stuff.  I am partial to these myself, H3O sunglasses.  I have even been known …

Herb Angell, who’s heads the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s Boating Law Enforcement Section, drops by my Great Outdoor Radio Show on Saturday morning to talk about various boating-related topics and of course, water safety, for the big 4th of July holiday weekend and the entire summer. Here’s Herb on boat patrol in the Missouri River! You’ll find our Nebraska boating discussion to be light, conversational and very informative. One of the key boating safety messages we’ll be emphasizing is for you, to: …

One theme I continually return to, and one that some may get tired of hearing me repeat, is that of predator/prey relationships.  Often, when asked for the best place on a body of water to be fishing or the best bait to be using, I reply with a question:  What are the fish eating?  A basic understanding of predator/prey relationships is doubly important to anglers because we not only have to find the fish, we have to make them bite. …

On my weekly TV outdoor report, I’ll be inviting you and your family to come to come join me for a fun, special Game and Parks/WOWT 6 Family Fishing Night event at Lake Halleck in Papillion, NE next week. It’ll take place from 6-8 p.m. next Thursday, July 9th at the lake which is located just a quarter mile to the east of the intersection of Washington and Lincoln Streets in downtown Papillion. It’s nice! Look below. You’ll note that we at Game and Parks provide the …

I’m all about wild edibles, especially wild fruits, and they are a prominent feature of Nebraska in the summertime. One of the not-so-common wild fruits to harvest in early summer is actually one of my favorites – the sand cherry. And, some are ripe! The western sand cherry, Prunus besseyi, is a native plant. It is a low shrub and a member of the rose family, Rosaceae. This plant was first identified and given a Latin name by botanist Charles Edwin Bessey (1845-1915). …

It’s time for a summer visit on radio with the guru of the finned creatures — Mr. Daryl Bauer of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission! Get your Nebraska fish and fishing questions answered by Daryl LIVE on this week’s Great Outdoor Radio Show. I sure wouldn’t miss this! Daryl is a fisheries biologist and the fisheries outreach program manager here at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. He joins you Saturday morning on my show that airs from 9-10 a.m. CST on Omaha’s KOZN Radio/1620 AM “The Zone.” Daryl is always …