Daryl Bauer, Fisheries Outreach Program Manager
Do not know how long it will last, but we finally have fishable ice. At last, I am able to declare the New Year 2026 by dropping a bait and pulling the first fish through an ice hole!
New rod, New Year!
It has been an unusual year so far. Safe ice has come so late that I have caught fish from open water in this new calendar year before catching them through the ice (Holiday Trout).
That bluegill might have been the official first, New Year’s fish; in addition, I caught a number of others:
None of the crappies were extra large, but I did catch some with interesting markings!
You may have heard something about crappies with black stripes on their nose. Those fish are nothing more than black crappies with an unique coloration. I caught several that day with a black “nose”. Love that the stripe went down the “nose” all the way onto their “chin”. No, it is not the first time I have heard of such fish being caught from Nebraska waters.
Some have called crappies with the black stripe “Magnolia” crappies. That comes from a state that intentionally bred and stocked crappies with the black stripe. The unusual markings of those fish were useful for research purposes, and that state publicized those fish as “Magnolia” crappies.
The black stripe on a Nebraska crappie means nothing. They are just black crappies. There is nothing special about those fish.
Do not know how long safe ice is going to last. With the stinkin’ forecast I am seeing, it does not look good. I will try to get on the ice as much as possible; see what other wonders will come through my ice hole!