Barbs and Backlashes

It is that time of year again.  Several have been asking about the annual fishing forecast. It is ready!  You can see it online, 2021 Fishing Forecast. I will always tell you that fish populations are dynamic, always changing.  Over time hot fisheries cool off and other fisheries heat up.  That is why the annual Fishing Forecast is so useful.  You better believe I am studying it, I do every year.  I hope you do too. Our demand for hard …

I am outta the office for the holidays.  However, that does not mean that I cannot post up a blog now and then. Merry Christmas from my family and our neighbors Margo and Todd! Hope you get a subscription to the Jelly of the Month Club! By the way, one Christmas I did get a subscription to the Jelly of the Month Club.  It was great! Now, before any of you go ballistic, the gift was not a bonus from …

I know some of you have wondered if we were ever going to send out Trout Slam certificates and pins again?  We are, they will be coming soon.  Not making excuses, but we do those things in batches and as long as I was receiving Trout Slam entries this fall, I thought we should wait to do the next batch.  So, sorry to take so long. There will be twenty more anglers receiving Trout Slam certificates and hat pins.  You …

Getting towards the end of the year and some folks like to look back, review what kind of year it has been.  If you are an angler, you like to do that and remember the fish you caught. I could do that, but a year is such a long period, and I fish really hard in the fall.  So my review is not going to be all of 2020; just the past few months–the best open-water fishing of the year. …

Been a while since I gave an update on state record fish.  We usually do not see a lot of state record activity during the fall, but we have seen some this year.  Let’s go back to late August for the first one I want to tell you about: Surface Spearing Matthew Wiederholt of Phillips speared a silver carp on the Platte River in Hamilton County on August 29th.  His fish weighed 10 pounds 7 ounces, and was 31 1/4 …

I fish twelve months out of every year; open-water or on ice I will be fishing.  However, when we get this late into the fall/early winter I am kind of passing time waiting for ice.  Once the calendar turns to December, ice cannot come soon enough. I am still fishing open water while I am waiting, but the water is darned cold now.  That makes things challenging.  Fortunately, trout are cold-water fish, and fortunately, we have some great trout fishing …

I just caught wind of this last week.  Of course as with everything this crazy year, you gotta go virtual this year.  So, check it out, International Fly Fishing Film Festival, Virtual Screening: Lincoln, NE If you need some convincing, go here and watch some trailers. I love the films, they will make you laugh, make you cringe (when a fish is lost), maybe even shed a tear.  If nothing else, they are great “pump up” videos! I wish I …

Our “Take ’em Fishing” promotion 2020 has come to a close.  By any standards, even with the pandemic, maybe because of the pandemic, it was a huge success.  We had over 6,000 entries this year.  A lot of folks re-discovered fishing if not experienced it for the first time.  Here are some of the best stories: The importance of all of this is getting new folks introduced to fishing.  Someone took you, someone taught you, and we all need to …

I bristle when someone refers to Nebraska as a “mid-western” state. We are not “mid-western”.  We are Great Plains. Mid-western states are to the east of us.  Frankly, I have not seen much in most of them with which I would like to associate. Things are different once you get west of the Missouri.  Things are different once you advance west across Nebraska–the land, the sky, the sunrises and sunsets, the people. I was reminded about this again last week.  …

Yes, I know it is December.  Yes, Christmas is only three weeks away.  But, I also know with some warm afternoons, and some are in the forecast, there will still be some folks wanting to launch boats to fish and hunt.  So, I want to get the word out with this news release: Lake McConaughy SRA boating access improvement to begin LINCOLN, Neb. — The Martin Bay boat ramp at Lake McConaughy State Recreation Area will temporarily close to public …