Tag Archives: Crappie

There is no doubt that the fish species that can send the largest masses of anglers to the banks during the spring outbreak of fishing fever would be crappies.  Everyone loves to sit on a shoreline on a warm afternoon and experience a good crappie bite.  On the other hand, with schizophrenic weather changes, I can think of no other species of fish that can be more frustrating than spring crappies.  Consistently successful anglers are always adapting and adjusting.  What …

My ice fishing season ended in literally a week this year; we were on 13+ inches of hard ice, and a week later it was not safe.  It was much too short.  My son and I were left with a feeling of unfulfillment–we needed just one more trip, just one more big fish.  I suppose you could say we have that feeling at the end of every ice season, but we felt it even more this year. I have not …

It has been a few years since we had any state record fish that have been caught through the ice.  We had a couple of fish caught & released through the ice last winter that were state record class ( Big Fish! , Big Fish! Its Happened Again! ), but none in recent years that have been certified as state records.  I have one that was caught through the ice this winter, and it is a bit of an unusual …

I want to give another “shout out” to our NEBRASKAland magazine being available in a digital form, on-line, now.  Make sure to check out the December issue.  Of course you know I am going to mention the fish and fishing subjects you can find in that issue, especially Jeff Kurrus’ article on ice-fishing for crappies on pages 30 and 31. There is also a good story in there on predator calling, and I think it is a real treat to …

We are well into summer now, and most anglers will tell you that the fishing gets tougher during the summer.  As a pointy-headed fish biologist I will tell you that is true, but it has nothing to due with the fish feeling uncomfortable in “hot” water.  Yes, we have some cold-water and cool-water species of fish in Nebraska that do not prefer the maximum temperatures of summer and for some of those species, trout for example, they simply cannot survive …

I want to show you a few pictures of some fish attractor structures that were placed at Willow Creek Reservoir this fall.  There is no need for me to describe them because the pictures show you. I will always tell you that brushpiles, stumps and a variety of other structures added to fishing waters serve mostly as fish attractors–they are cover objects that will attract fish and hold them in areas where anglers can more easily find and catch them. …