Fishing

Let me tell you about a little project I spent a few days on a couple weeks ago.  The Keith County Visitors Committee was having some filming done this fall promoting the variety of outdoor activities available in the area.  They asked me to come out and do some on-camera interviews about the fisheries, maybe catch a few fish on camera, and provide whatever assistance I could.  I always jump at any chance I have to get around our great state …

It’s the time of year when the fish are filling their bellies as much as they can, because like us, they know what’s coming. The conditions the past couple of weeks have been great for getting on the water, and with the first cold snap came a great bite. It’s time to capitalize on it while you can. There were some great days to be outside in October. I believe one day we even had record highs near 90 degrees! This …

The weather forecast for next week is cold.  Of course I will be all fired up to hit the ice as soon as it is safe, but I hate to see my fall fishing come to an end. I may never cast a spey rod on some western river trying to catch a steelhead, but there is a lot in this video that I can relate to. A lot that tells you why I hope I have a few weeks of …

I am going deep with this blog post, no pun intended.  Have to start with a story. . . . Several years back on a late October day, I spent some time fishing Elwood Reservoir with the maintenance man from our headquarters facilities (yes, even our maintenance men hunt and fish!).  We found some baitfish in deep water, in fact I will never forget watching the depth-finder, jigging a Rattle Snakie in 51 feet of water, when I hooked a really nice fish–ended up …

If you remember back in July we held our Nebraska High School Bass Fishing Championship at Merritt Reservoir, 2014 High School Bass Fishing Championship .  Twenty-four teams from across Nebraska participated at that tournament and I believe the competitors did a very good job of catching fish.  At that time I told you that our top two teams could advance to the regional finals held this year on the Red River in Louisiana.  Our Nebraska teams have done very well at …

I believe it is very important for anglers to be able to visualize that is going on below the surface of the water, Visualization. Recently, I found a video on the internet that will help you understand more about what fish are doing under there, especially how they perceive sound.  Watch this: Happy Halloween everyone, have a great weekend and GO FISH!

Over the past few years I have blogged several times about some of the research being done on Branched Oak flathead catfish; for example, Some Field Work, 71.6 On Your Radio Dial–All Flatheads All the Time!, Branched Oak Flatheads.  A large part of that research has been the tagging of flathead catfish in Branched Oak Reservoir; over 1500 flathead catfish in Branched Oak are swimming around with tags on them. About this time last year I was lamenting that even …

Here is what has been happening lately with our Youth Fishing Program. If you need to see a copy of the .pdf of that newsletter here it is, fall 2014 Newsletter . Now, I fully realize that I am recycling something that some of you may have seen already.  If you are one of our certified fishing instructors, you have already seen the newsletter.  Sorry, but one reason I like to post these newsletters in my blog is to again say “THANK …

Got a little report to give you about a recent adventure.  I have a buddy from Iowa that I met through some turkey hunting I have helped him with ( Turkeys Down! Turkey Camp , Turkey Camp 2014 ).  I am always telling folks what a mixed bag capital Nebraska is, and this fall Don came back over to sample more of that.  He had a Nebraska archery pronghorn tag in his pocket, and figured while making the trip across our great state he …

I am old-fashioned enough that I still have a Webster’s New World Dictionary sitting on my desk top at all times, it is directly off my right shoulder.  The internet is great and I use it for a lot of my “word needs”, definitions, spelling, synonyms, etc., but the good ole red, hard-covered dictionary is still a very useful tool.  If you look up the word “trophy” in that book, you will find a whole list of definitions.  I like …