Tag Archives: grass pickerel

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 …

I have long touted Nebraska as a land of diversity.  We truly are the place where “north” meets “south” and “east” meets “west”.  Our state has a diversity of geography, climate and habitats.  As a result, we also have a diversity of fish and wildlife. You know that big fish turn my crank, big fish of any species, but who doesn’t get fired up by fish that weigh double-digits?  Yes, I spend a lot of time pursuing those fish every …

Considering the circumstances, I have been trying to keep my Friday blog posts lighthearted the past few weeks.  I will continue that trend today with some stupid memes I have saved.  This seems to be as good a time as any to use them. You know there is very little demand for fish jokes.  I will slip ’em in whenever I can, but that is darned seldom.  Like this one: Actually, chain pickerel were stocked in some Nebraska waters years …

You all know that I like to show off pictures of some of the exceptional fish our field fisheries biologists sample throughout the state.  I learned a long time ago that people are fascinated by big fish, and of course anglers love to know those fish are swimming out there in Nebraska waters. Yes, stewardship of the state’s sport fish fisheries is very important and we spend a lot of time sampling a wide variety of sport fish in lakes, …

At the end of each year I like to look back at the state record fish that were certified; kind of a “state record annual report”.  It is time to do that again. . . . We had 13 different fish certified as state records in 2016. Surface Spear-fishing No fish taken by surface spear-fishing were submitted for state records in 2016. Bow-Fishing The bow-fishing state record category was busy in 2016; six bow-fishing records were awarded.  In chronological order, …

Back in November I gave what I believed was my final “State Record Update” for 2016.  Nope.  Wouldn’t you know it, no sooner had I got that done and another state record application showed up on my desk.  This one was another fish taken by rod & reel, but it was a bit of an unusual catch–a grass pickerel! On October 17 this fall, Christopher Butts of O’Neill captured his state record pickerel from a highway borrow pit in Holt …