Barbs and Backlashes

Start planning your 2015 fishing trips!  The 2015 Fishing Forecast is available NOW! Ice anglers, study this very carefully, the waters you should be fishing right now are contained therein! “Hard copies” of the forecast will be available soon at Game & Parks offices, and of course look for them at all the sport shows we will be attending in the coming weeks. There will be a lot of great fishing for a variety of species all across Nebraska again …

I guess as we come to the close of another year on the calendar it is natural to take a look back.  For me there was a tremendous amount that happened in 2014, some good, some bad, with family, fins, feathers, and fur running through all of it.  Let me share a few reflections, show some pictures, tell you what I will remember about 2014. In my mind, I start a “new year” on the first day I get on …

A recent issue of In-Fisherman magazine had a story on the back page about fishing dogs.  Matter of fact, that story was written by my boss, so you all better read it. I have ice-fished with my boss’s dog, Lizzie.  She is everything described in the story.  She loves it so much when someone is catching fish, that when she hears the water splashing in your ice hole, she comes running right over to investigate.  When I say “investigate”, I mean …

Someone in my family snagged a Duck the Halls CD last Christmas.  It has been playing in the pickup most of the time the past couple of weeks. This is probably my favorite song: I fully realize that “reality TV” is not real.  But, I have to tell you I love the characters, the family, represented on Duck Dynasty.  The “plot” may be made for TV, but the people come across as being very real, genuine, crazy as they may be.  They …

We are drawing to the end of another year, and with ice conditions the way they are right now, I am not expecting any more activity as far as state record fish are concerned.  So let me show a few pictures and give a quick review of the state record fish that were caught in the state this year. Archery The first state record fish that was taken in 2014 was a blue sucker taken while bow-fishing back in May. …

I am still waiting for safe ice.  Got a little teaser for the rest of you that are doing the same: I know the underwater camera technology is advancing just like all electronics technology.  I have played with an underwater camera just a little bit on Nebraska waters and in most cases, even under the ice, I consider our waters to be stained enough that the underwater cameras are of limited use.  But, I am sure there are some situations …

A few weeks ago I encouraged you to attend one of the four Niobrara River meetings that were held across the state recently, Niobrara River Meetings.  I was able to attend the last of those meetings last night here in Lincoln.  Believe me, I am aware that December is a busy time and folks may not have been able to attend one of those meetings.  If you were not able to make it, you can still see most of what was …

Still waiting for safe ice; I have been digging through my tackle, buying new stuff, sorting, getting gear ready, thinking about a few things. . . . We use a variety of small jigs and “tear drops” for catching panfish through the ice.  Those baits match some of the smaller prey that those panfish eat during the winter.  Naturally, those small baits have small hooks, and those hooks are usually sharp and hook fish easily.  However, do NOT assume that they …

I am going to steal a photo from my nephew’s FaceBook page for this Friday’s blog post.  He got this on one of his trail cameras recently: Obviously it was purely fortuitous that he got that picture, but you can get some really amazing pictures with trail cameras.  Professional wildlife photographers use them too; they may be a little more sophisticated than the versions used by avid deer hunters, but the technology is the same. Yes, trail cams allow us to …

Let me slip into my biologist/limnologist hat for this blog post.  No, I do not actually have a biologist/limnologist hat; it is the same as my fishing cap, which by the way, is on my head most of the time. I love to fish year-round, 12 months out of the year I will be on the water.  One of my strategies when the water is cold is to slow down, fish slower.  I have often told anglers that the reason …