Conservation

Beauty or beast, this woodpecker has an eye-catching appearance Aerial proficiency to swoop and snatch prey from the sky. Symmetrically arranged talons for clinging to vertical surfaces and a chiseled beak that hammers hardwood surfaces at 1,000 times the force of gravity. A long barbed tongue, three times as long as that self-sharpening dagger-like bill, for retrieving victims from deep within a crevice. All that, and a fiery red head. If readers were to consider that description alone, they might …

With all the cornonavirus “stuff”, I have not been able to spend any time meeting with any of Nebraska’s angler groups.  I do not get around to every meeting for every group, but usually drop in on at least a few.  However, this spring the Cornhusker Fly Fishers have done a couple of FaceBook Live meetings, and I was able to drop in on them. Last week the topic of discussion was bass.  Yes, specifically that would have been bass …

Many of you will remember our Take ‘Em Fishing contest last year.  We wanted to encourage our avid anglers to make it a point to find someone new, or someone who had not fished for a while, and get them back on the water.  Then all you had to do was snap a photo, submit it online, and you might win prizes including up to a fully-rigged boat! We are doing it again! Accept Take ’em Fishing Challenge for chance …

Got a good Orvis video to share with you.  It is appropriate for Father’s Day: If at all possible, take your dad fishing this weekend! You will never regret it. Let me dust off an old photo, one of a fishing trip long ago.  A trip to Lake McConaughy with both my Granddads and my Dad (the rest of the family too, but this is Father’s Day).  Wish we could do that again!

I posted a week ago that recently I had been out-fished by both my kids, Outfished. Here, I want to note that if you keep casting long enough, eventually things turn your way. My daughter was not with me on this trip, but my son was.  In a couple of evenings, we did not catch a lot of fish, but some really nice walleyes.  I caught all of them. But he took some really good pictures! Thanks, Daniel! The fish …

What you may not know about me is that I am a lover of wildflowers. Seeing, smelling, identifying and just being amid native wildflowers are on my list of my favorite outdoor pursuits in Nebraska’s landscape. And you know what? Those wildflowers are more important than ever! No, scratch that. Indirectly, those native wildflowers are vital to all life on our planet Earth! Allow me to explain. For one out of every three bites of food you eat, you need to thank a bee, butterfly, beetle, ant, wasp, bat, bird or …

Got into the office this morning and found documentation for another state record fish.  This was another notable catch, a big fish, a big popular sport fish! For years I have been saying that if our rod & reel record for hybrid striped bass, wiper, was ever going to fall, it was going to come from Lake McConaughy. It did! Tou Kong Yang from Colorado caught this beauty yesterday! That fish weighed in at 21 pounds 9 ounces, beating the …

One of the biggest tricks to being successful on the water or in the field is figuring out how to be in the right place at the right time.  I know a good stick who once said he would rather spend a couple hours on a good spot at the right time than all day at the wrong time. So what is the right time? Well, I know waiting to hear it in an “outdoor report” is the surest way …

I am always thrilled to see folks introducing their kids to fishing at a young age, some of them at a very young age.  There is only one thing I warn them about:  Some day they will grow up and out-fish you! Recently, both of my kids caught their biggest walleyes, same day, same evening.  I caught nothing.  I hooked a fish late, but then lost it. A 27-incher for Emily: A 28 for Daniel: At least they released them! …

I am not going to say a lot about this because I am going to wait for the paperwork and official details.  But, it has been mentioned on social media already. . . . My phone lit up yesterday afternoon.  That is unusual for a Sunday.  So, what was up?  Well, reports were a potential rod & reel state record flathead catfish had been caught. Now, understand I have been responsible for our Nebraska fish state records for several years.  …