Fishing

You all know that we had some crazy flooding around the state a couple of years ago.  I am sure you are also aware that it has taken some time to repair and recover from the damage.  Some of that work has not been finished yet. Disaster funding is great, but it can take a while to come through.  Seems like everything takes longer right now.  However, I recently drove by a couple of places where we have been able …

I guess it is “Elf on a Shelf” season.  Somehow I missed out on that Christmas tradition in my upbringing.  I do not know where I went wrong. . . . I thought it was all about clever rhymes.  Like this one from northern Nebraska today: Or, maybe a little bit farther north: Now before one of you complains that my blog today is nothing but a bunch of stupid memes, it is about fish!  Seriously.  Big toothies, what else? …

LINCOLN, Neb. — The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is implementing a three-pronged approach to improve walleye fishing at Lake McConaughy State Recreation Area. These efforts aim to balance the needs and concerns of anglers with successful management of the lake resource. Game and Parks will contract with the Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to design and conduct an angler survey in 2022 and 2023. Anglers will be asked about the number of …

You all know that we have a whole list of urban and parks waters where we stock “catchable”, 10-inch rainbow trout in the fall.  There are a handful of those waters where we follow-up with some additional put & take trout stocking in December.  Now, there is NOT a whole list of waters that get stocked in December, so there is not going to be as much publicity.  Here is what I have been told has happened in the past …

Life in the Great Plains is one of extremes.  In recent years we have seen water levels on rivers like the Missouri higher than anything any of us have seen before. Now, they are the opposite of that.  Water levels are low. This may affect waterfowl hunters more than anyone right now, but there may still be some fishing happening out there.  Either way, you need to know this: Missouri River boat ramps affected upstream of Lewis and Clark Lake …

Like many of you this time of year, I am counting the days. . . . No, silly, I am not counting the days until Christmas.  I am counting the days until the “New Year”.  But, remember, my “New Year” starts the minute I step on the ice for another season! Right now it ain’t looking good.  I have seen nothing to lead me to believe we are going to be on the ice anytime soon.  WARNING:  I will get …

Many of us hunt and fish because of the people we get to hunt and fish with. Some of the best conversations I’ve had on the ice, in a duck blind or while walking through tallgrass prairie have featured topics like family, politics and religion. While stories of greenheads and big bucks fill the air, they often are replaced by more serious topics. This is when true hunting and fishing partnerships — friendships —are formed. When reminiscing through a set …

I know some of you are thinking about it already!  I am!  Yep, cannot wait for ice! I am old enough to have ice-fished in a time when there was not a plethora of ice fishing products on the market.  Believe it or not, there was a time when if you wanted an ice-fishing shack, you made your own.  There were some ingenious designs and creativity.  Everyone tried to make shacks that could haul as much as possible and yet …

I got drawn into an on-line discussion the other day about the variable colorations of rainbow trout.  The discussion got me thinking about the different colored rainbows I have caught from a variety of Nebraska waters.  I put together a little “collage” of some of them: Rainbow trout are a species that has been “domesticated”.  They have been selectively bred to be easy to raise in a hatchery.  As a result, there are a variety of different “strains” of rainbow …

Heading out the door for grandma’s house.  I will post a short blog here, and will get back to blogging when I get the chance after the holiday. We will celebrate Thanksgiving very much the same as most of you–family, feasting, football.  In addition, we will work in some time in the field and on the water when we can. Once again, we have a lot for which to be thankful.  I know that sometimes gets lost in all the …