Conservation

I am afraid the threat from aquatic invasive species requires all of us to do what we can to prevent their spread.  We have advertised these workshops before, but I want to give them some more publicity: Two watercraft inspection workshops scheduled LINCOLN, Neb. – Watercraft inspection workshops are scheduled for Feb. 22 at Lake McConaughy State Recreation Area Visitor Center and March 1 at Ak-Sar-Ben Aquarium. The workshops, which begin at 7 p.m., will provide an overview of the current …

A couple of days ago I told you that last week was a busy week, and I told you about one of the things that made it busy–the MidWest Fish & Widlife Conference.  During that conference I took a break to do an orientation session with a couple of our new commissioners here at the Game & Parks Commission, and then I headed out of town to help with another little project. . . . I have referred to some …

I had a busy week last week; want to give you a quick report on what I was doing.  First. . . . Many times I have been asked why Nebraska fisheries biologists are not doing what biologists in some other state are doing.  The implication behind those questions is that we do not know what biologists in other states are doing.  I suppose a pointy-headed fisheries biologist could live under some rock, but there are no good biologists who …

This week has been the week after the Super Bowl.  The game was fantastic, certainly one of the best ever, so there has been a lot of talk about actual football.  In addition to that, and after many Super Bowl games, there is as much talk about the commercials as the actual game.  So, on the topic of TV commercials, it has been awhile since I posted a good fishing commercial.  Here is one I saw recently that I kinda …

Recently I got “tagged” on FaceBook with a picture of a channel catfish that had been caught through the ice. The fish was a little over 5 pounds, a very respectable channel cat, especially through an ice hole, but the big surprise came at the cleaning table when the stomach contents were examined: Look close, it has been digested a bit, but laying just in front of the catfish’s head is a bullfrog that came out of that fish’s stomach! …

I have a hard time convincing ice anglers nowadays that there actually was a time when we caught fish through the ice WITHOUT A DEPTH-FINDER!  Certainly, many of the “millennials” or “Generation Z-ers” or whatever, cannot even imagine being on the ice without that technology.  But, as the Sonic commercial jokes, some of us are “perennials”–thought we were dead, but we just keep coming back–and we can remember when we caught fish, lots of fish, through the ice while fishing …

The months following the first of the year are what I call “sport show season”.  Even the folks who like to ice-fish will find some time to visit a sport show or “Expo” or two this time of year.  We all like to dream about the open-water fishing and camping to come, maybe make plans to visit one of the hot spots on our “bucket list”, ogle pictures and mounts of big fish and big bucks, and maybe learn a thing …

I have still been on the ice every chance I get and again have had a chance to roam the state a bit. . . . Yes, ice conditions are variable.  With the stinkin’ mid-winter rains we have had, ice conditions in southeast Nebraska especially have not been nearly as good as many of us would like.  The run-off has softened the ice around shorelines and in some cases other parts of several waters.  In addition, our pits and interstate …

Are you a hunter? Have you have received a couple emails from us at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission asking something about hunting surveys? If so, answer them, don’t delete or trash them! But, why? Why does Game and Parks care about what I think as a hunter or what wild game I put in my freezer during these past seasons? Well, let me tell you that our wildlife biologists are genuinely, genuinely interested in what you think about the different aspects of hunting here in Nebraska and how you did in the …

At the end of each year I like to look back at the state record fish that were certified; kind of a “state record annual report”.  It is time to do that again. . . . We had 13 different fish certified as state records in 2016. Surface Spear-fishing No fish taken by surface spear-fishing were submitted for state records in 2016. Bow-Fishing The bow-fishing state record category was busy in 2016; six bow-fishing records were awarded.  In chronological order, …