Fishing

Last Saturday was our annual Carp-O-Rama carnival at Pawnee Reservoir.  A lot of folks came out and I hope they had a great time with us and maybe learned a thing or three along the way.  The fishing was slow.  We had a significant rainfall event overnight before the event and I wonder if the carp fishing might have been better at the upper end of the reservoir where there was some water flowing in? Regardless, if you were not …

Al Hanson, Joe Rydell and I fished Box Butte Reservoir on Wednesday morning. Located in the NW corner of the state, the lake offers camping, toilets, fish cleaning facilities and concrete boat ramp with dock. The lake, used for irrigation, will have been drawn down during summer months. Water level is currently down approx. 10 foot. The lake has walleye, northern pike, panfish, bass along with blue and channel catfish. Wednesday we had a nice chop on the water so we opted to troll for …

Ponca State Park’s first Bowfishing Mentor Program will run from July 9 through August 6 on Wednesday nights, 6 p.m. until dark. The program is open to ages 10 and above; program is free with gear provided. Enrollees are encouraged to attend all sessions, which will cover basic archery, fish identification, water safety and more. Sessions will be conducted by local Bow Hunter Education Instructors. The program is sponsored by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Cajun Archery, Muzzy Bowfishing, …

The politically correct world in which we are supposed to live is crazy. Yes, that insanity even applies to fish and fishing.  If you have read my blog for any time you know that I mostly blog about fish and the folks who pursue them.  In doing that I try to remember that political correctness dictates the use of gender-neutral terms.  Even though the term “man” or “men” would be gender-neutral when referring to a group, that use has been deemed to …

I got a phone call a couple of weeks ago, a request.  It was one of the folks from Nebraska public TV’s Backyard Farmer.  Somehow they had my name and wanted to know if I would film a segment on native fish people could put in their backyard ponds.  I told them I was in no way an expert on backyard ponds, but I was honored they asked, and  if they wanted to talk about some Nebraska fish in those ponds …

For the inhabitants of a Nebraska farm pond, the ability to survive seems miraculous when analyzing how many different ways a fish can die. On a calm spring or summer afternoon, Nebraska farm ponds look anything but treacherous. They are peaceful places to take a kid for an afternoon of bobbers and hooked fingers, or to steal an afternoon nap on the water’s edge. Below the surface, however, ponds are a place of death and destruction where mothers and fathers …

Next Saturday is the day!  Time for our annual Carp-O-Rama carnival at Pawnee Reservoir! We will have another major “Carp-O-Rama” event next month at Lake Maloney south of North Platte; stay tuned, I will post some reminders about that later. I always say that basically we just show up and have fun at these family fishing events and we hope folks come out and have fun with us!  Our Carp-O-Rama event at Pawnee Reservoir is one of the biggest examples …

Sunday is Father’s Day.  Many of you know that I lost my father less than a month ago.  If you continue to read this blog post, you will have to indulge me as I share some more memories and thoughts about my Dad. Master Angler At the end of our spring turkey season this year I shared a memory of Dad (Paradox).  I am pretty sure that Dad and I killed our first spring turkeys together on the same day …

I do not own a boat, that is unless you want to count my float tube or “belly boat”.  Yes, I have a life-long dream of owning a boat, but I figured out a long time ago that a person can catch a lot of fish, and a lot of really big fish, from Nebraska waters without a boat.  I have even suggested in the past that in some fishing situations I can flat out out-fish boat anglers (The View …

My family and I enjoyed another relaxing weekend at Johnson Lake. The bite has been fairly good the past three weeks, however, most of the walleye are under the 15″ limit. Persistence paid off Saturday as I landed this 25-1/2″ trolling the flats off the island. I took a couple quick pictures with grandkids Katelyn and Kaleb and then back in the water he went to swim another day. Remember to take a kid fishing.