By Daryl Bauer, Fisheries Outreach Program Manager
Time flies and we are more than halfway through the year 2025 already. Have not given an update on this year’s state record activity, yet. Going to do that right now. . . .
We have had two fish submitted for state records so far this year. Both of them were sportfish and both were captured by rod and reel.
The first was a saugeye (sauger X walleye hybrid) caught on April 26. That fish was 28 inches long and was caught by Tanner Hamersma from Lincoln. Tanner and his fishing partners were trolling crankbaits on Branched Oak Reservoir when the fish was caught.
Have not told you how much the fish weighed yet. That is a bit of a story. . . .
The saugeye was caught on a weekend. It is not unusual anymore to catch wind of a record catch on social media. On that weekend, I heard chatter about a state record fish being caught. Made some calls, sent some e-mails and eventually was able to contact Tanner about bringing the fish in to get it certified as a state record. That would happen once I was back in the office. I told him to keep the fish cool and wet and even though we could not certify it right away, the fish would not lose any weight.
Tanner and his partners were at my office promptly at the agreed upon time. I escorted them to our “wet lab” where we could weigh the fish. We all walked in the door. The cooler was placed on the floor. I opened the lid and saw the fish laying in an ice bath, wrapped in a towel. Confirmed that it was in fact a saugeye.
The room got quiet as I placed the fish on the scales. You could feel the suspense and tension in the air. The digital scale locked in . . .
Exactly one ounce bigger than the old state record, 8 pounds 15 ounces!
There was a big group exhale, smiles, cheers and high-fives all around!
No, saugeyes have never been stocked in Branched Oak Reservoir. Neither have sauger ever been stocked. How did a saugeye end up there?
Saugeye have been stocked for several years in Meadowlark Reservoir which is in the watershed ABOVE Branched Oak. It has not happened often, but our field biologists have collected a few saugeye in Branched Oak prior to this. During high water events saugeye likely have exited Meadowlark and ended up downstream in Branched Oak.
The second fish was caught just a few weeks ago. On July 6 David Bell of Plattsmouth was fishing Duck Creek Reservoir when he caught a 12 1/2 inch redear sunfish. That fish weighed exactly 2 pounds, beating the old rod & reel state record by 2 ounces. David caught the fish on a nightcrawler.
Yes, David’s fish was also caught on a weekend. Yes, again I caught wind of the catch on social media. This time one of our field biologists was able to get down to the fish and angler to have it certified as a new state record.
A couple days later I was able to talk to David and his fishing partner on the phone. They were still a couple of excited anglers!
Things just happened to work out right on the day they caught the fish. They were able to contact the local conservation officer right away after catching the fish. That officer then contacted one of our fisheries biologists who was able to immediately travel to the anglers and the fish. They kept the redear alive-and-well in a large, aerated bucket. After having the fish certified, they took it back, launched their kayaks and released the fish in the exact spot from which it was caught! From the time the fish was caught until release was two hours!
So, I can tell you for a fact that there is a state record redear swimming in Duck Creek. Furthermore, I told David that I expect that his record likely may be broken soon by an even bigger fish from Duck Creek.
Yes, he was planning to get a mount of his record fish, and since that fish was released, it will be a reproduction mount. Those are better quality mounts anyway! There were several good photos of the fish and a taxidermist will be able to use those photos to exactly match the fish in a mount.
The best part is that fish is still swimming and someone else will have a chance to catch it, and hopefully release it, again. Thank you, David!
As usual I have more than one story about other fish that were potentially new state records. A couple of them involved anglers who were really excited about a fish they caught. Then, I killed their dreams of being record holders by telling them the fish was not what they thought it was. Fish identification counts, learn it! That is one reason why state record fish must be certified by a fisheries biologist.
Other sad stories could have been avoided by being familiar with the current state records, and state record rules. Those rules can be seen in every copy of the Fishing Guide. Take a few minutes, look them over, dream big because you never know what you might catch!
Congratulations, Tanner and David! Your state record certificates will be coming in the mail!