I like to post a lot of fish pictures on my blog–I cannot get enough of big fish pictures and I have learned there are a lot of other folks that think the same way.  One other purpose in doing that is to again let folks know that our Nebraska fisheries workers are always busy, always doing something, and our fisheries biologists spend a lot of time in the field handling a lot of fish.  No, we do not necessarily …

I probably have too much clutter on my dresser.  One thing you can find in the junk and trinkets piled there is my very first turkey call. An instrument of torture. I did not start hunting turkeys until I was in college.  Still, that was a few days ago.  In preparation for that inaugural spring turkey hunt, my cousin Robin gave me my first turkey call.  As I recall it was a Christmas present.  It was a mouth diaphragm call, …

I have often said that THE KEY to spring turkey hunting is to scout, and then scout, and before you are finished, scout some more.  Simply put, no one can call birds where they do not want to go, so you better know where they want to be.  I will admit to you that my son has put in much more time scouting for us this spring, but the time spent hunting the same areas year after year, in other …

Just a quick news item to blog about today, and I know it will not impact a lot of Nebraska anglers, but it will impact some. . . . In recent years we have made some boat ramp and angler access improvements on interstate lakes.  There are always some unexpected challenges with any project, and sometimes things just do not come out quite right the first time. Hershey I-80 Lake is a long-time favorite of mine, have spent a lot …

My blog followers know that I have only one thing that really distracts me from fish and fishing all the time–spring turkey hunting. It is time, I am distracted! In the next few weeks, you can expect me to throw in the odd post or three about our Nebraska spring turkey adventures.  Might even mention a morel or two along the way. Opening weekend of our spring shotgun season presented my kids and I with some family obligations, so we …

I have tried a few times this spring to give you an idea of how busy Nebraska fisheries workers are at this time of year.  One of the largest efforts we have every spring is the collection of endangered pallid sturgeon from the Missouri River.  The goal of that effort is to collect reproductive pallid sturgeon adults, broodstock, that then can be used to produce small pallid sturgeon for re-introduction/re-stocking.  Here, just read this year’s newsletter for details: For a …

I got to surfing the interwebby once and discovered mushroom knives.  Mushroom knives?  Why in the world would anyone need a special knife for collecting mushrooms????  But then I got to looking at them, and you know what?  They are very useful and artful tools!  Here are some examples, mushroom knives from World Knives. There are several knives there that I would love to have in my pocket on a mushroom “hunt”. That got me thinking, mushroom hunting is a …

I debated whether to blog about this or not, but then I thought if you were an angler that fishes the canal system in central Nebraska, you need to know about this.  I know several of you are! News Release (HOLDREGE, Neb.) – The Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, working in conjunction with the Nebraska Public Power District, has decreased outflows from Lake McConaughy significantly to aid in a recovery effort related to a vehicle entering NPPD’s Keystone …

Spring is a very busy time for Nebraska Game & Parks Commission fisheries workers; fish to be stocked, fish to be spawned, sampling to be done, eggs to be hatched, etc., etc.  I will always tell you that in our field work we do NOT necessarily see the biggest fish that are present in our waters.  If you want to see that, anglers as a group target big fish and are most likely to encounter the biggest fish in any …

If you frequent Jeffrey Reservoir south of Brady, you are aware of the dredging work that was done there last summer. Looks like more is on the drawing board for this year. . . . (HOLDREGE, Neb.) – The Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District is making preparations for a second round of dredging at Jeffrey Lake which will begin in early May. Last summer Central removed a large amount of sediment from the lake.  Central has leased a …