Barbs and Backlashes

A few weeks ago I stumbled across this headline:  “Sociable crayfish get drunk more easily than loners”.  OK. . . . WAIT, WHOA, Say what????? Drunk crayfish? No, seriously, you can read all about it HERE. Apparently, some very pointy-headed scientists have been studying the nervous systems of crayfish and how they react to various stimuli.  Some of those reactions vary depending on the social status of the crayfish, friendly or curmudgeon.  You can read the article if you really …

You all know that big fish turn my crank!  The biggest, baddest predator fish swimming in a body of water, “GET ON MY LINE”!  I spend A LOT of time on the water each year trying to do just that.  The thing is when pursuing those biggest, baddest, top-of-the-food-chain, apex predators, there never are a lot of them and there are a lot of hours of effort for each one hooked.  Yep, sometimes a lot of hard fishing in miserable …

Twin Lakes south of Bassett have been a couple of very productive and popular sandhill lakes over the years.  I just want to point out that there are some improvements coming to those fisheries! Boat ramp improvements planned at Twin Lakes WMA LINCOLN, Neb. – Angler access improvements are planned this summer at Twin Lakes Wildlife Management Area in north-central Nebraska. New boat ramp facilities will be built at both north and south Twin lakes. South Twin will have an …

Lately, I have been seeing this commercial on TV a lot. I love it! “This is my participation trophy”! It is summer, it is the weekend, you know what I am going to say, “Grab the kids and GO FISH”!  You will never regret one second of the time you spend together on the water, and you never know what you might catch, what memories you will make!

Once again I want to give you an update on the sampling activities of our Game & Parks Commission fisheries biologists and give you an idea of some of the fish they are seeing out there! You know my usual disclaimer, when fisheries biologists are sampling fish we do NOT necessarily go out and just try to collect the biggest fish.  Anglers as a group will see more big fish, and often the biggest fish because anglers target big fish. …

This blog post is going to be a real easy one for me, I am simply going to tell you to follow a link and read another blog post done by one of my Game & Parks Commission co-workers.  Recently, Justin Haag was able to tag along with a couple of our fisheries biologists in western Nebraska while they horse-backed into one of our most remote, and unique, fisheries to do some sampling.  Justin blogged about it here, Fisheries Work …

I have been hearing some “chatter” in a variety of places about the handling of black bass, largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass, especially concerning the way they are held.  I want to chime in with some comments: First of all, black bass conveniently have relatively large mouths, large enough that an angler can grip those fish by the bottom lip.  Yes, they have teeth, but those teeth are nothing more than very rough abrasive paper.  You know the grip I …

I got out of the office one day last week to assist with some fish stockings.  Here was the news release from a couple weeks ago: Hybrid bluegill to be stocked in urban lakes LINCOLN, Neb. – Nebraska families fishing urban ponds and lakes will have additional angling opportunities as the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is stocking hybrid bluegill in 11 bodies of water. In total, 8,500 fish – a bluegill/green sunfish cross – will be stocked in May …

You can start a good discussion, if not an argument, among a bunch of hard-core anglers by asking when are the best times, best days to fish.  There will be talk about moon phases, solunar periods, cold fronts, falling barometers, alignment of planets and maybe even some astrology. This pretty much describes my opinion: Seriously, there are so many variables that influence fish behavior and fishing success that it is impossible to isolate any one variable and label it as …

If you are a subscriber to NEBRASKAland magazine you have already seen this, but in case you have not I want to call attention to a photo essay in the May 2017 issue.  You can see that issue HERE. Turn to page 36 and you will see Wipers on the Fly by Doug Steinke. The photography is excellent!  Doug is a professional photographer who’s work has been featured in NEBRASKAland many times; been featured in a lot of other places …