Tag Archives: fish tagging

I want to point out some fisheries research work currently being done on the Missouri River in northeast Nebraska.  The easiest way for me to do that is to “copy and paste” a page from our July 2021 Nebraskaland Magazine: As the article says, if you happen to catch one of these tagged fish, we would like to know about it.  If you do not have any other contact information, you can always let me know about it, daryl.bauer@nebraska.gov. The …

Got an opportunity for some volunteers to help us collect fish.  Just let me say this. . . . While reading the following call for help, remember that this work goes on regardless of weather conditions, in March, right after the ice has gone out.  You will be wet, you will be slimy, you will have snot dripping from the end of your nose and into your beard (beards strongly recommended).  You will also need to be dependable; if you …

When spring time rolls around, pointy-headed fish biologists get really busy.  I even get out of the office to help with all the field work that needs to be done this time of year. Most of you know that northern pike spawn right around the time ice goes out.  They will even spawn under the ice if we have a late ice-out, but if you are looking to collect a bunch of northern pike, that is a great time to …

I mentioned that our Nebraska Game & Parks fisheries staff hits the ground running every spring and that we have really geared up with our collection of walleye eggs starting this week.  I also want to note that this sure ain’t the first field work we have been doing already this spring.  Our field crews have been on the water in several places sampling, tagging, collecting eggs, etc., etc.  I want to show you a few photos to give you …

Last week I teased you with a couple pictures of some pike our Game & Parks Commission fisheries biologists have had their hands on already this spring.  I promised to give you some more details; let me keep that promise. . . . This will be the sixth year we have been tagging northern pike at Lake Wanahoo.  Without boring you with all of the details about that work, please go back and read these previous blog posts, if you …

I often smart off that northern pike are called “northern” for a reason:  They are a cool-water fish who’s native range is thought to have extended only as far south as north-central Nebraska.  Many waters, especially in eastern and southern Nebraska, simply can get too warm during the summer to support northern pike. Where we do have northern pike in Nebraska, they go through their spawning rituals as soon as the ice is gone.  If we have ice longer than …

Admittedly I do not get out and do a whole lot of field work anymore, but once in awhile “the guys” need some help, and when they are desperate they give me a call.  A couple of weeks ago I got to slip out to Lake Wanahoo to help with the northern pike tagging again this spring. For those of you who may not be familiar with the pike tagging at Lake Wanahoo, I will not go into all the …

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 …

Last weekend I was informed, sort of anonymously on the inter-web, that I was a fine, lazy state worker.  Ironically, that came after working my seventh weekend out of the ten since the first of the year.  I recalled that yesterday when I actually got out of the office to help with some field work.  I do not do that often anymore, but on occasion I get to be back on the water helping one of our field biologists.  The occasion yesterday was …

Over the past few years I have blogged several times about some of the research being done on Branched Oak flathead catfish; for example, Some Field Work, 71.6 On Your Radio Dial–All Flatheads All the Time!, Branched Oak Flatheads.  A large part of that research has been the tagging of flathead catfish in Branched Oak Reservoir; over 1500 flathead catfish in Branched Oak are swimming around with tags on them. About this time last year I was lamenting that even …