Tag Archives: fish identification

By Larry Pape Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Nebraska is home to more than 100 fish species. Many of these will never be encountered on a fishing hook because their size, habits or habitats make them unavailable or undesirable to anglers. Most fish that can be caught by hook and line are designated as sport fish species. Nebraska offers opportunity for more than 40 of these species. It is good to know which sport fish you are catching since several …

Honestly, I have been thinking of what might be a good blog post for today.  I always have a bunch of ideas, but none of them seemed like good ideas today.  So, I started scrolling back through some pictures to see if something might come to mind. . . . I noticed a bunch of pictures I took of our 6,000 gallon fish tank at the state fair.  The display of fish at the Nebraska State Fair goes back a …

Judging from the messages, e-mails, phone calls, and just general “chatter” I have heard this morning, I can tell you the channel cats are getting close to spawning.  Why do I say that?  Because every year about this time there are a bunch of mistaken identifications of “funny-looking” catfish.  Simply put, male channel cats get fat heads and darker colors during the spawn, and some folks not used to seeing that mistakenly believe those fish are “blue cats”.  So, if …

I have seen some reports already this early spring of sturgeon being caught, mostly from Nebraska’s Missouri River.  I am confident a lot of the anglers catching those fish, especially the old “river rats” are very aware of what they are catching and their sturgeon identification.  On the other hand, I realize there are new folks learning about new fishing opportunities all the time, and sometimes I worry they may not know what they are catching. There are three species …

Happens every year about this time, I hear reports of folks catching “blue” catfish, here, there, lots of different waters.  Problem is, they really ain’t blue catfish.  They are just big ole male channel catfish getting ready to spawn.  So, if you will bear with me playing the role of pointy-headed fish biologist, again, for a bit, let me give a little lesson in fish identification. . . . We have three large catfish species in Nebraska waters, channel, blue …

I will admit to you that my desks are not neat.  I subscribe to the theory that a clean desk is evidence of a warped mind.  Come to think of it, I have messy desks, AND a warped mind.  Anywho, I digress. . . . There are a couple of piles of books you will always find on my main desk, sitting to my left.  Forward left is a big pile of In-Fisherman magazines; I read them religiously.  Off to my far left …