By Daryl Bauer, Fisheries Outreach Program Manager
I have lots of memories of boyhood adventures with my Gramps Roth. I have shared some of those here on my blog. One of my favorite things to do with Gramps and my Dad was wander the banks of the Elkhorn River in northcentral Nebraska. Of course many of those trips along the Elkhorn were fishing trips, but I enjoyed seining minnows for bait as much as I did the fishing.
On some of those adventures I can remember discovering little pike in backwaters along the Elkhorn. At the time, I just assumed those fish were small northern pike. I really did not care. All I knew was that if you dropped some kind of small bait in there with them, the would viciously attack it.
All these years and edumacation later, I now know those little pike along the Elkhorn were probably grass pickerel. Many anglers know that muskellunge and northern pike can be found in Nebraska waters, but few realize their small cousin, grass pickerel, are native to the state.
I recently discovered a YouTube video by an avid Nebraska angler that took me back to those days way back when I discovered those Elkhorn pickerel. I think you will enjoy it too, and may even learn to appreciate a cool Nebraska fish in the process:
Great video, Scott! Great fish!