How To

I am sharing some broadcast news related to Nebraska’s outdoor scene with you this week. Regarding my weekly television appearance about outdoors-related activities and destinations, that can now be seen on Omaha’s ABC news affiliate KETV NewsWatch 7 and www.KETV.com between 8 and 8:30 a.m. on Saturday mornings with popular  TV anchor/host, John Oakey. Called the “Great Outdoors,” this segment represents a fresh, new visual approach to letting you know about various outdoor news items and features around the Omaha-metro …

I guess today is Valentine’s Day. . . . I am betting many of you have a bunch of lipless, mostly rattle, baits in your open-water tackle boxes. Big mistake if you ain’t using them through the ice too! By the way, if you couldn’t tell, when fish hit those baits under the ice. . . well, they ain’t kissing ’em! Have a great weekend everyone, hope you get to kiss a fish!

I got to thinking. . . . I have not given a summary of state record fish certified in 2019.  Time to do that. . . . Four fish were certified as new state records in 2019. Surface Spearfishing No new state record fish were taken by surface spearfishing in 2019. Underwater Spearfishing One fish taken by underwater spearfishing was certified as a state record in 2019, a 1 pound 12 ounce redear sunfish taken from a private pond in …

Going to blog about something today that I will bet most folks do not know about. . . . I do believe that most of you know about our popular Master Angler awards.  Master Angler awards are simply an angler recognition program we have for catching exceptional fish on hook and line.  We have had that program for so long that I have Master Angler certificates in my office for fish that my grandparents caught!  It has been a very …

It may not be Matthew McConaughey, but I kind of like this video too: The water may be different, the transportation different, the fish different. But it is still ice-fishing! To borrow a slogan from Nebraska Department of Tourism, “Ice fishing, it’s not for everyone.”

I wrote a blog a few months ago about “Sheep“. I have spent enough time on the ice to know that ice anglers often run in big herds. If you are struggling to catch fish on the ice right now.  Maybe it is because you are not doing enough of this: The fish-finding lesson of a lifetime: Be an outlier! That is all for now.  I will be way over here drilling holes. . . .

News release for this went out almost a couple months ago, but the deadline for this is still a couple months off: Nebraska students can compete in State-Fish Art Contest LINCOLN, Neb. – Wildlife Forever and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission are hosting the Nebraska State-Fish Art Contest, an opportunity for students to win state and national honors and great prizes. Young Nebraska artists in grades K-12 are eligible to compete in this free art competition. Winners will be …

When I finally got on the ice this winter, a big wave washed over me.  It rolled down from the sandhills onto the lake shore, and then flowed out onto the ice. As I was immersed, I thought of something I wrote years ago: All of those memories and more come flooding over me every time I walk onto sandhills ice.  There is just something about that place that washes over me.  I still get excited at the thought of …

You may have heard me say before that my calendar is a little different.  Most folks recognize January 1 as New Year’s Day.  My “New Year” starts the first day I walk onto the ice for the season.  “New Year” can start some time in December, or maybe later than that.  This year, unfortunately, it has been later, too much later. I was hopeful “New Year’s Day” was going to be around the end of December.  At that time, I …

The first of these workshops is only a week away, so I want to spread the word: Game and Parks will certify youth fishing instructors LINCOLN, Neb. – The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission will certify youth fishing instructors at workshops in Lincoln and Kearney in the coming months. Instructors are part of the Youth Fishing Program, a statewide team of volunteers and Game and Parks staff who host educational fishing events. Workshop participants will receive training and tools to …