Home » Barbs and Backlashes » Ice House Pond

Ice House Pond

I want to call attention to some news from the past week.  Let me repeat the news release here:

Low water levels at Ice House Pond on Fort Robinson State Park

CRAWFORD, Neb. – A broken dam board in the outlet structure at the lower Ice House Pond on Fort Robinson State Park caused the water level to drop about 10 feet during the weekend.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has been in the process of designing aquatic habitat and angler access improvements for all fishing areas on Fort Robinson State Park and the aging outlet structure on the lower Ice House Pond was identified as needing repairs or replacement. The pond will remain down until repairs are completed.

The fish in the lowered pond are available for angling, but park visitors should use caution because of the steep bank and deep mud surrounding the water’s edge.

The Ice House Ponds consist of three impoundments encompassing six acres in the southern portion of the park. Water levels were not affected for the upper and middle Ice House Ponds.

I realize the Ice House ponds at Ft. Robinson are not the most important fisheries in Nebraska and many folks do not even realize they exist.  On the other hand, if you are visiting Ft. Robinson, you might need to know about the current water level situation on the lower Ice House Pond.

The other reason I wanted to say something about this, and the news release refers to it, we are on the verge of some Aquatic Habitat and Angler Access improvements on a number of the Ft. Robinson fisheries.  I do not have any details to share right now, but I can tell you there are plans being fleshed out on the Grabel ponds, Ice House ponds, Carter P. Johnson, and other waters on and near Ft. Robinson.  You are going to see work begin on those projects soon, within the next year or two.

So, with the dam board breaking on the lower Ice House pond right now, the water level there might as well be left at the lower level in anticipation of more work to come there in the coming months.  You should find good water levels on the upper Ice House pond.  Stay tuned.  I certainly will try to blog about details and progress of that work as it begins.  It will mean better fishing at Ft. Robinson in the future!

Lower Ice House after board broke 06 19 17
Joe Rydell photo. Thanks, Joe!

About daryl bauer

Daryl is a lifelong resident of Nebraska (except for a couple of years spent going to graduate school in South Dakota). He has been employed as a fisheries biologist for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission for 25 years, and his current tour of duty is as the fisheries outreach program manager. Daryl loves to share his educational knowledge and is an avid multi-species angler. He holds more than 120 Nebraska Master Angler Awards for 14 different species and holds more than 30 In-Fisherman Master Angler Awards for eight different species. He loves to talk fishing and answer questions about fishing in Nebraska, be sure to check out his blog at outdoornebraska.org.

Check Also

TopwaterStrike

Now That is some Topwater Action!

Disclaimer:  My “lighten up” blog post for Friday this week has nothing to do with …