Once again I am going to say something that makes me sound really old:  I have been thinking while on the ice the past couple of weeks that I have been watching a depth-finder dial while ice-fishing for over 20 years now.  Let me tell you that we caught a darned lot of fish through the ice before the fancy depth-finder gadgets were adapted for ice-fishing, and you can still catch fish through the ice without a depth-finder.  But, if …

I want to show you a few pictures of some fish attractor structures that were placed at Willow Creek Reservoir this fall.  There is no need for me to describe them because the pictures show you. I will always tell you that brushpiles, stumps and a variety of other structures added to fishing waters serve mostly as fish attractors–they are cover objects that will attract fish and hold them in areas where anglers can more easily find and catch them. …

Back before Christmas I blogged about doing some trapping again this late fall/early winter, http://magazine.outdoornebraska.gov/2012/12/line/ .  I took a few more pictures than what I shared in that previous blog post; thought I would share some more of those with you. Looks like a good place to trap some muskrats, and maybe mink! I mentioned earlier that one thing I love about having a trap-line is that you have to run the traps every day, you get to be in …

I guess I am getting old.  I have to admit that I am not up on my pop culture nor urban slang.  Being a native Nebraskan you better believe I am very much interested in college football and especially Nebraska football, and I do know that if you follow sports, if you ever flip the channel over to “SportsCenter”, you know what stories have dominated the sports news lately.  In all of that reporting and “journalism”, I am somewhat confused …

It is after the first of the year–time for all the new episodes of all my favorite fishing shows.  I have only been able to catch a few of those so far, but I am already pretty sure this is going to be one of my favorite commercials this year.  Love the ” ‘tude”. . . . [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXTg1uGrsaA[/youtube] “Sorry honey, that fish is gaawwwwnnnn” Seriously, I am not sponsored by anyone, but I will tell you that Suffix lines have …

Last weekend we hosted an ice-fishing clinic on the Century Link Pond at Mahoney State Park, http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/parks/guides/parksearch/showpark.asp?Area_No=273 .  I did not publicize this event ahead of time because we had as many folks as we could handle sign up for it.  We had a great turn out and a great time, let me share some photos. Here is everyone spread out fishing: We had a variety of ice-fishing equipment and talked to folks about all of it and how it …

This news release went out late last Friday, but let me bring it up again as a reminder: Lake Wanahoo SRA Visitors Asked to Comply with Bald Eagle Exclusion Zone January 11, 2013 News No Comments LINCOLN, Neb. – Ice anglers and other visitors to Lake Wanahoo State Recreation Area (SRA) are asked to comply with an exclusion zone implemented to protect the lake’s nesting bald eagles. The exclusion zone is an area closed to all access from Dec. 1-July 15. …

OK, it’s Friday, let me have some fun. I love this commercial for the trash-talking antelope: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaP0VrwqtHM[/youtube] But then my kids roll their eyes because their somewhat “anal”, pointy-headed biologist dad has to point out a few things: First of all, how are those antelope looking forward through those goggles?  Antelope have eyes on the side of their heads–“Eyes in front, made to hunt.  Eyes on the side, made to hide.” And I hate to tell this to the creative …

If you have read the title of this blog post, there are several notions in your head about the theme of these particular ramblings of mine.  I am betting what I have to say is not what you think it will be.  You all know that I blog about a variety of things, usually related to fish and fishing in Nebraska, always related to the outdoors.  On occasion I have to “editorialize” and get some things off of my chest. …

My family and I got out of town for an extended time over the New Year’s holiday.  We went “out west” to celebrate Christmas with family, and as I promised before we left, we spent as much time as possible enjoying Nebraska’s great outdoors!  Time to give you a report. . . . I have listened to plenty of negativity and complaining about pheasant numbers and pheasant hunting this year.  Believe me, I know there are not the number of …