By Daryl Bauer, Fisheries Outreach Program Manager
Year-around there is always something to be done when you are a fisheries professional. If you cannot find something to do, then you are not looking very hard. Having said that, once the ice melts every spring, it is “go time”! Time to get in the field, or more correctly, on the water!
I cannot tell you everything our Nebraska Fisheries staff has been doing in recent weeks. Hatcheries have been busy handling and loading fish, trucks driving and stocking from one corner of the state to the other. Our field biologists have been setting nets and doing some sampling of fish populations already. In addition, the collecting of eggs to produce fish for stocking begins as soon as the ice is gone.
I have and will continue from time to time to tell about those activities and the work that is being done. Want to highlight just one of them today.
You might remember that in recent years we have been closely monitoring pike populations in southeast Nebraska reservoirs. That work is still ongoing at Flanagan Reservoir. As a matter of fact, crews are on the water doing that even as you read this. This short video from last year will remind you of what that work looks like: