Tag Archives: water quality

I spread word last week about the rotenone renovation of Goose Lake.  I was busy and did not make it up to see the operation, but I did see a couple of follow-up photos.  It is always unbelievable the numbers, and domination, of rough fish when we do a renovation! Previous renovations of sandhill lakes have shown that there can be over 1600 pounds per acre of just common carp (Rat and Beaver)!  At that level, there just ain’t much …

LINCOLN, Neb. – Applications are being accepted through Aug. 31 for Nebraska’s Trout in the Classroom program for the 2021-2022 school year. This program, sponsored by the Nebraska Environmental Trust and a Nebraska Trout Unlimited chapter, is for teachers interested in raising live fish in their classroom and using the tank in countless lesson plans and everyday activities. Teachers will receive training to get the program up and running. Scholarships are available. In this program, students learn about aquatic habitat, …

It is mid-summer, it is hot, and that means primetime for bluegreen algae blooms.  There is a lot of hysteria and misunderstanding about our waters and algae blooms.  I originally wrote this blog over ten years ago.  Let me dust it off, update some things and hopefully clear up some misconceptions. . . . Bluegreen algae have become a phobia for some folks.  If you are one of those, you better sit down because there is not a body of …

Without a doubt, this has been a wet year in Nebraska.  If you look at a map of precipitation since Jan. 1, most of the state is above average and parts of the state are well above average. The result of all of that water has been high water levels in rivers, streams, lakes, reservoirs, pits and ponds, and in fact many of those waterbodies have experienced flooding this year.  We all know that there have been some devastating consequences …

Gonna start this blog with a news release, like I often do, but then there is more to the story. . . . Major fish die-off investigated at Olive Creek Lake August 17, 2018 LINCOLN, Neb. – Low oxygen levels have caused a major die-off of fish at Olive Creek Lake, according to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. The remaining fish population is suspected to be small. The die-off was reported by the public and investigated by Game and …

You can start some good arguments/discussions in a group of anglers by bringing up the subject of color.  Everyone has an opinion on the importance of color in catching fish, and some guys have several opinions.  What I will tell you is that we know that fish can see colors, that is a scientific fact.  It ain’t rocket science, but it is fisheries science.  We even know that different species of fish have different sensitivities to different colors. When doing …

Some of our buddies over at Nebraska’s Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) investigated an odd phenomenon this winter that I want to tell you about.  Seems as though our somewhat unusual winter rains and runoff created a head of foam on some rivers in eastern Nebraska.  These pictures were taken on the Big Blue River in southeast Nebraska and Hadar Creek in the northeast: Greg Michl along with Dave Bubb, also of NDEQ, shot some video on the Big Blue near Holmesville …

I try to keep things positive on my blog, most of the time.  There also are certain topics that have politics written all over them and I have to be careful what I say about those too.  On the other hand, Nebraska fish and fishing is what I do, both professionally and personally, and there are certain issues that Nebraskans, Nebraska anglers in particular, need to know about. This story ran in the Omaha World Herald this past Saturday.  If …

I hate to keep hitting the same topic over and over again.  I know I blogged about the Lake Yankton renovation a couple times in recent weeks (Lake Yankton Renovation ,  Lake Yankton Renovation, Postscript), but I want to tell you about another rotenone renovation that Nebraska fisheries biologists completed recently. Late summer and early fall is definitely “renovation season”.  Typically, water levels are lower at that time of year and less water means we need less rotenone to treat the volume …

It has been going on three years since the rotenone renovation of Carter Lake just across the road from the Omaha’s Eppley Airfield.  That was done as part of a major Aquatic Habitat Rehabilitation project.  If you want to review the amount of work done, how extensive the project was at Carter Lake, here are some links that provide more details, http://magazine.outdoornebraska.gov/2010/10/carter-lake-renovation-update/ , http://www.iowadnr.gov/Portals/idnr/uploads/water/lakerestoration/12report.pdf .  Yes, that last link is to a document published by the Iowa Department of Natural …