Our ice-fishing season is “On like bing-bong”–Uncle Si.  That means we are at the height of the internet scouting season! Do me a favor, pick some waters that have great potential, Fishing Forecast.  Drill some holes, Ice System.  Find your own fish.  You will become a better angler by doing that, and catch more and bigger fish. Make your own reports.

There are 1,442,567,038 Geomys bursarius, plains pocket gophers, in the Nebraska sandhills. How do I know that?  I came to that conclusion on a muzzleloader deer hunt with my son and cousin a few years back. In between walking and still-hunting, we would bounce along on sandhills trails from one range of hills to another.  While doing that one cannot help but notice the incredible amount of gopher mounds in those hills.  We bounced over exactly 1.3% of those gopher mounds on …

Wanna know where I have been ice-fishing? I will show you exactly where. . . right here. As always, even on the ice, all of my best fishing spots are being patrolled by ticks, mosquitoes, itch-mites, owls, bears, rattlesnakes, wild hogs, sasquatch and mountain loins. Stay away, it ain’t worth your risk! I will give you a report when I can.

Mink are one of my favorite animals.  I am sure part of the reason for that is that it is in my blood.  My Gramps Roth trapped and mink were one of the most profitable and valued catches on his trap-line.  They have always been my favorite fur-bearer to trap too, Back on The Line. I spend most of my time fishing in a pair of waders.  Another reason I love mink is I often encounter them while I am …

My wife loves candles.  There are several occasions when she might receive candles as gifts.  Christmas is certainly one of those times, and this year I believe I found the perfect scented candle! I hope she likes it! GULP! Have a great weekend!

You all know I fish, a lot.  I will spend at least some time on the water somewhere in Nebraska every month of the year.  I have mentioned this before, will again here, I have kept detailed fishing notes on every fishing trip I have made since I was about 10 years old (I AM a pointy-headed fish biologist and I have been really serious about my fishing for a LONG time).  Organization of each year of my fishing notes …

If you want to see a cleaner version, if you want to follow any of the links in that newsletter, here is the .pdf, 2013 Youth Fishing Instructor Holiday Newsletter. Once again let me say a big THANK YOU to all of our volunteer fishing instructors.  You all are a big help and we would not be able to accomplish what we do without you!  Have a blessed holiday season!

‘Tis the gift-giving season.  Along with all the other Christmas customs it has become customary to blog about Christmas gifts.  In case you are still shopping, and if you are like me, you are, here are some thoughts. All of the cool “sticks” are wearing this stuff: I got a boot dryer a few years back.  My first thought was, “yeah, whatever, probably just a hookey gadget”.  It was not.  I use mine all the time! Every angler needs a …

I have been ice-fishing for a lot of years now.  I shocked someone last week when I told them I do NOT own any kind of ice-fishing shelter.  That got me thinking about the way I do things on ice; let me share that with you, tell you why I do what I do, and also tell you what some of the limitations are to my system. I do not have anything against ice-fishing shelters other than the fact that …

A few weeks ago there was a news release about a fisheries management project being conducted at Pawnee Reservoir west of Lincoln: LINCOLN – A chemical was applied at Pawnee Lake in an attempt to remove unwanted white perch and gizzard shad from the fish population, according to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Rotenone typically is used to eliminate all fish from a body of water; however, a lower concentration of the chemical was applied Nov. 12-13 at Pawnee …