Tag Archives: fishing tools

Seems like mid-summer most years I end up posting a blog about catch & release and proper fish handling.  Going to do it again. . . . First of all, to those of you who think you can ignore this because you “catch all you can, and can all you catch”.  BALONEY.  Either by regulation or by personal choice, you WILL BE releasing at least some fish.  When you do that, you might as well do it right or else …

There is no doubt that Nebraska’s muskie fisheries have garnered more attention from anglers in recent years.  They should, we have some excellent opportunities to catch this greatest North American sport fish trophy. In addition, northern pike continue to be a popular target among many Nebraska anglers.  Pike also are top-of-the-food-chain, apex predators that can be large fish and a prized catch. I hope anglers fishing any Nebraska waters where the big toothy predators are present will treat those fish …

I am thrilled to say that we still have ice and it looks like we are going to be ice-fishing for at least a little while yet.  I have drilled up to 16 inches of ice in the past few days.  Whoot, whoot!  As a matter of fact, the conditions I fished in this past weekend were as “raw” as any I have fished all season.  That reminded me of a subject I have not mentioned yet this ice season–the …

I am a huge fan of selective harvest and catch & release fishing.  Of course releasing a fish does no good if that fish does not survive.  So, one “soap box” I often crawl up on is the one about proper fish handling. One debate when it comes to proper handling of released fish, is what chances a deeply-hooked fish has to survive.  Now, I do not have the publication on this research that is being done on Northern Pike …

When I initially wrote this blog post it looked like we were going to have a long and prosperous ice-fishing season.  Now, not so much. . . . However, this is something I still want to mention, something I want some ice anglers to think about; with some cold weather, you might be able to put this into practice yet this ice season.  If not, there is always next year. Gaffs are a tool that can be used to land …

Still waiting for safe ice; I have been digging through my tackle, buying new stuff, sorting, getting gear ready, thinking about a few things. . . . We use a variety of small jigs and “tear drops” for catching panfish through the ice.  Those baits match some of the smaller prey that those panfish eat during the winter.  Naturally, those small baits have small hooks, and those hooks are usually sharp and hook fish easily.  However, do NOT assume that they …