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Conservation

Ice Bass

A couple of winters ago I posted a blog about catching largemouth bass through the ice, Largemouth Bass on Ice.  There is no doubt that largemouth bass are warm-water fish.  However, northern strain largemouth bass are very capable of being quite successful in northern places like Nebraska.  As a matter of fact, those warm-water largemouth bass can remain quite active during the winter, under the ice. My approach to catching largemouth bass through the ice used to be one of …

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Merry Christmas

I have been “out” more than “in” the past couple of weeks, and that will be the case for the next week or so as well.  Just want to quickly touch base here with my blog and wish you all a Merry Christmas! You might think that was the Christmas tree we had here in the Fisheries office.  Actually, it is what one of our brush pile fish attractors looks like below the surface of the water.  Happy fish, we …

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Don’t Stunt

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The December issue of Nebraskaland has a one-page story by Jeff Kurrus, Don’t Stunt.  Yes, Jeff spent some time in my office talking about the story.  Yes, Jeff quotes me in the article.  If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will recognize the subject matter, again: I have said before, will again now.  I have seen far more panfish populations that suffer from the effects of over-harvest, than I have seen in less numerous, larger, predator …

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Rebranding Blowouts

Grassland habitat doesn’t always equal an abundance of cover. Some of the most barren places in the Sandhills attract a lot of wildlife, including a broad diversity of small creatures that think bare sand looks pretty dang hospitable. Story and photos by Chris Helzer Blowouts in the Nebraska Sandhills need a better public relations agent. They’re unpopular with ranchers, who tend to focus on the reasonable fact that bare sand contains very little cattle food. Among the other residents of …

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2023 Fishing Forecast

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It’s here! You can see the 2023 Fishing Forecast right here: 2023 Fishing Forecast It will take us a couple weeks to get the hard copies back from the printers.  So, for now you will have to study the digital version.  Ice conditions are looking better by the day.  Good luck!

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Great Gift Idea

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Coming down to the wire here before Christmas.  Some of you may still be looking for gift ideas.  I have a good one: “Give ’em the gift of fishing.” I cannot tell you anything better than that right there. Got to fish with both my granddads growing up.  Do not know that either one of them were muskie slayers, but I have a bunch of their secret lures in my tackle box.  Got some of Grandpa Bob’s too!

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Hunting Season Habitat Management

By Jeff Kurrus and Gerry Steinauer You can’t hunt every day of the hunting season, although some wives claim some years we try. To keep you occupied on the days you don’t hunt, the following are a few ideas for hunting season habitat management. Maintaining Treeless Grasslands Game birds, such as pheasants, quail and prairie grouse, prefer open, treeless grasslands. One simple, sure-fire fall or winter management practice to improve game bird habitat is cutting eastern red-cedars, from saplings to …

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Fall in Review, 2022

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I have probably said it a hundred times, will again.  I fish hard in the fall.  In my opinion, some of the best open-water fishing of the year occurs in the fall.  So, I try to finish open-water fishing each year with a flourish. Like everything else in fishing, although they may all be good, some autumns are better than others.  My fall bite this year was hit and miss.  I would have liked a few more big fish (which …

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Film Tour

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I like to spread the word on these film tour events, especially when there is a viewing in Nebraska.  This time it is for a virtual screening of the International Fly Fishing Film Festival.  Watch the trailer: Purchase “tickets”, International Fly Fishing Film Festival, Virtual Screening USA 2022. If you have never watched one of these events, well, they are just plain fun.  The fish and fishing in the films always get me fired up.  I know we are looking …

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