Tag Archives: fish identification

Nebraska is home to about 100 species of fish.  It is a place of variety.  Somewhere in the state you can find everything from coldwater species like trout to warmwater species like catfish and black bass.  Also included are a lot in between. Anglers may encounter around 4o of those species.  Some fish identification skills are required as harvest limits vary between species. Like most things, nothing beats time on the water.  The more fish an angler handles and more …

Have to return to a topic I have blogged about before.  From what I have seen and heard over the past few days, there is no doubt that there are a bunch of anglers who need to know some sturgeon identification! The Missouri River and the lower portion of tributaries to the Missouri in Nebraska can be home to sturgeon.  The shovelnose sturgeon is relatively common in some of those waters.  However, correct sturgeon identification is critical because pallid and …

I have posted a series of blogs on hybrid fish.  Hopefully, those have increased awareness of these fish in our waters and provided some tips on fish identification.  Want to return to that series today. . . . First, let me define some terms.  If you looked at the title, I used a pointy-headed term, the family name for the pike family, esocids.  Members of the pike family found in Nebraska would be grass pickerel (specifically a subspecies of redfin …

Going to return to the subject of hybrid fish again today.  I already have blogged about several hybrids of the sunfish family, Lepomid sunfishes, and crappies.  Going to move on to another family of fish, the perch family, and a common hybrid. There is no doubt that walleye are one of the most popular sportfish in this part of the country.  Surveys of Nebraska anglers have consistently shown that walleyes are the fish they most prefer.  Walleyes are a fine …

You may recall a couple of my previous blog posts about hybrid fish, Hybrids, Hybrids, More Sunfish.  My intent with those posts was to call attention to some of the interesting fish you likely will encounter in Nebraska waters.  In addition I hoped to point out some tips on fish identification. You may have noticed the “theme” in those previous blog posts being hybrids of the sunfish family, Centrarchidae.  More specifically I blogged about hybrids within the genus Lepomis which …

Fish identification can be a challenge.  There are a hundred some species of fish in Nebraska.  Anglers may catch maybe forty-some of those species.  That does not seem too daunting, but it gets complicated by the fact that any species of fish can come in a variety of sizes and coloration is highly variable.  For that reason, it is useful to know identification characteristics other than coloration or “looks”.  However, it is true that we learn different species simply by …

I guess it is “Elf on a Shelf” season.  Somehow I missed out on that Christmas tradition in my upbringing.  I do not know where I went wrong. . . . I thought it was all about clever rhymes.  Like this one from northern Nebraska today: Or, maybe a little bit farther north: Now before one of you complains that my blog today is nothing but a bunch of stupid memes, it is about fish!  Seriously.  Big toothies, what else? …

The past couple of weeks I have been on a soap box trumpeting the need for folks to have some fish identification skills. Might as well have some fun with it.  Watch the video, consider it to be your Friday quiz: Here is the second part: The weekend is here.  Get on the water, put your skills to work!

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about the importance of having some fish identification skills, You Gotta Know!  Yes, I believe that even beginning anglers have a responsibility to know what they are catching. At that time, I mentioned that we had a fish identification aid in the works.  Now we have it! Fish Key Again, I would recommend EVERY angler spend some time looking at that publication and brushing up on their fish identification skills.  However, keep a …

Recently, it seems like it happens all the time–someone posting photos and misidentifying fish, or just plain not knowing what they have caught.  I suppose it could be the result of more new folks starting to fish with all the cornonavirus craziness.  Or, perhaps it is just more noticeable because of social media? A fish is not just a fish, you gotta have some identification skills. No, I do not expect everyone to be an ichthyologist.  However, I do expect …