How To

I have been making the circuit of radio shows this week.  For some reason, this old Stooges’ line runs through my head: Talked spring crappie fishing and of course spring turkeys with Hershey and Rawlinson last night.  If you wish, you can catch the podcast, KFOR, Nebraska Outdoors. Tomorrow morning, 9:00 central time, I will be on The Great Outdoor Radio Show on Boomer Radio with my buddy Greg Wagner.  You can listen live there, or catch the podcast after …

Spring is coming along darned slow this year.  As a result, there are a lot of anxious crappie anglers still waiting for nice weather and a good crappie bite.  Eventually it will come.  It may come in “fits and starts”, or maybe our weather will finally shift and it will be “on”. Regardless, I know the spring crappie bite is on a lot of angler’s minds right now.  Our communications staff here at the Game & Parks thought it was …

Our Take ‘Em Fishing challenge is back for another year! Win adventure in 2022 Take ’em Fishing challenge Take ’em Fishing is all about sharing the experience of the sport. It’s about the excitement of feeling the tug of the line in your fingers for the first time. About the sound of someone’s first catch — big or small. It’s about the memories made. And the adventures to come. Participants in the 2022 Nebraska Game and Parks fishing challenge will …

As I glance around my Omaha yard from the mailbox, my eye catches bright yellow blots dotting the front lawn. Hmmm … I know this plant. I know its flowers. I know its leaves. And I can eat them. All of them! What is it? Why, it is the dandelion, of course! No, don’t stop reading the blog, stay with me here, please. Look, I know the dandelion is the scourge of yards, lots, flower beds, gardens and fields this …

I spent a few days out of the office recently; might as well tell you about it. . . . Spring is a busy time for fisheries workers.  Once the ice is gone, one species after another starts spawning.  We have a variety of crews busy collecting eggs for producing fish to stock, then there is sampling that needs to be done, some tagging projects, etc., etc.  In the spring it is “all hands on deck”. Pretty much every year …

A brief news item in my blog today.  Not a big deal, not going to affect a lot of people, but some of you will want to know: Grove Trout Rearing Station temporarily closing for maintenance The Grove Trout Rearing Station near Royal, Nebraska, in Antelope County, will close to visitors April 11-15 for maintenance and inspection on the diversion pond. “While the maintenance takes place, staff will be using heavy equipment, and public safety is taken into consideration for …

Topside photo of a dryad’s saddle, a.k.a. pheasant’s back or hawks wing, in Nebraska. Photo by Greg Wagner/Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Along with finding and picking morel mushrooms, there is another edible wild fungus growing in your moist woodlands that you should know and consider harvesting and making for dinner — the dryad’s saddle. The Dryad’s saddle. What the heck is that? The dryad’s saddle (Cerioporus squamosus, formerly known as Polyporus squamosus), and referred to as the pheasant’s back or …

I think this is a relatively new song, at least it is new to me.  I love it! That should be the theme song for our Take ‘Em Fishing promotion this year! It is the weekend, GO FISH!  Then, show me!

I have a couple, three state record applications on my desk.  Time to give an update. . . . We usually do not have a lot of state record fish caught ice-fishing, but it is not unusual to have one or two.  I say it often, again, you just never know what might bite on the end of your line, even when you are ice-fishing!  In the order that they were caught: Yellow bass The first one was caught on …

Another news item today.  This news release went out late last week, but again I want to spread the word: Walleye egg collections begins; dam, breakwater to close at rec areas Fisheries staff at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission again will capture spawning walleyes at Sherman Reservoir, Merritt Reservoir and Lake McConaughy to collect eggs to meet stocking requests. As of April 1, a designated area along the dam at Sherman is closed to bank anglers and boats following …