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Christmas Combo

A few weeks ago I gave a little rundown on the fish caught during my several months of fall fishing (On the Water, Fall 2023).  Not knowing what our Nebraska weather might be, I have hinted since then that my open-water fishing for the year may not be done.  Oh, you know I would much rather be on the ice by sometime in December, but if life gives you lemons. . . .

I kept fishing open-water in December.  In fact I was on the water several times and the fishing was good.  I found that the saugeye were very willing to bite!

SaugeyeFall23

One of the biggest I caught just a couple days before Christmas!

SaugeyeFall2023b

Sorry, I hate that that photo was not better.

Within a couple days of catching that last saugeye, the weather changed and so did my pursuits!

I LOVE hunting pheasants in the snow.  Whenever we finally get a fresh snow, it is time to grab the ole double and go looking for some roosters!

PheasantSnowDec2023

Not going to tell you I found herds of pheasants.  Like most “old guys” I could tell you I have seen better days for pheasant hunting.  On the other hand, I have learned you can sit at home on the couch and complain about it, or you can get out there and see what you can find.  Just like it has always been, where there is some good habitat, you can still find a few birds.

The fish were caught from public water.  The two shown here were released and are still swimming there.  When we get ice, I plan to go back and catch them again.

The rooster was taken from my in-law’s place.  He was not released.  He was fried and tasted darned good.  Matter of fact, I am going to munch on some cold pheasant for lunch when I get done writing this!

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.

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