Walleyes, Wipers and Crappies are Biting in Nebraska

It’s amazing what a little nice weather can do -- it allows us to get out and get some projects done, gives our gardens a shot in the arm and really turns on the bite. By the time you read this, many of you will already know that several species of fish have gone nuts across the state. The walleyes and wipers have been eating everything in sight with crappie, bass and catfish not far behind.

An assortment of fish caught out of Nebraska lakes recently.

As for our area, things have vastly improved. The Tri County canal above and below Johnson Lake has been hot. We have been picking up quite a few fish, and quite the variety, on crankbaits. Saugers, crappies, even northern pike have been very active. The crappies that have been coming into the boat have been very nice sized, and mostly suspended. Along with being caught over open water, this tells me that they are nearly finished up with their spawn. The weather this spring really pushed their spawn back, but they are getting back to normal rather quickly. The sauger bite has been good, and we even lost a very nice northern at the boat. He was all of 32-34 inches and very thick. I believe we also lost a flathead that hit a crankbait as well. These fish are being caught at all depths, but the deeper pattern has prevailed thus far.

Speaking of northern pike, I spent time at a reservoir recently that I don’t fish very often. My friends have a cabin at Jeffrey Reservoir out near Brady and they were busy last week breaking in their new pontoon boat. I was happy to be able to tag along and hopefully get some fishing done in the process. Using their new motor to troll proved to be a productive pattern, and we had one of our best fishing days ever at Jeffrey Reservoir. Dragging crankbaits over points produced 3 nice northern pike on consecutive points, with a total of five. Four of these fish were 28-30”, and it’s clear that they were strategically placed on the tips of points waiting to ambush prey that was unlucky enough to swim by. Every pike was in the same area on each point, and hit the exact same lure. The most miraculous part of this day was that we caught five pike on a lure and actually still have the lure! Throw in five nice crappies and a few white bass in just a couple of hours, and you have yourself a good day. While Jeffrey Reservoir is primarily known as a great catfishing lake, you never know what you’ll catch there. A regular added bonus of fishing another canal lake.

Wipers are another species we’ve been targeting with good success. I’ve written in the past about one of my favorite waters being Elwood Reservoir and how its future is in question, but right now there are some nice wipers in that lake. The alewife are abundant, and the wipers are taking full advantage. In three days we caught over 300 fish, with many of those being wipers. The most interesting thing about that number is that while there are wipers, white bass, pike and catfish included, only one walleye added to that count. In years past, we would catch several walleyes either before or after the wipers were present. That pattern hasn’t existed for us this year. I have been told of several walleyes caught in other areas of the lake, but I have yet to catch one there myself this year. After catching 92 walleyes there in 2012, but only 10 in 2013, their absence still seems odd after being so plentiful so recently. Personally, I have no problem with this change. There are quite a few days when I am very happy with catching wipers over walleyes, and I doubt I’m alone. Hopefully the lake will receive water from the floods out west and the good fishing can continue for the short term future.

Cooler weather has come once again with some rain involved, so that should keep water temps down a bit for a short time. I look at this as a good thing in that some successful patterns that have prevailed will work just a bit longer before changing. It’s clear that fishing has taken off recently, so get out and enjoy it. June is going to be a great month for catching fish.

-population-we™ blog post by Brian Robinson

© 2014 population-we, LLC 
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Fishing Outside Your Comfort Zone in Nebraska

It finally seems that the cold wintery weather has disappeared. Since we’re well into a late spring, my biggest fear is that it’ll turn into a hot summer in a very short amount of time, which would leave some windows open for a short time to catch specific fish at specific times. Right now, we’re taking what we can get.

Fishing on a lake in Nebraska. 

Water temps across the central Nebraska region have slowly been rising, only to be pushed back down at times by cold fronts. We recently had a few outings that showed the temps to be in the upper 50s, almost creeping into the 60s. This is a good thing, as some of our summer trolling patterns start in the low 60s range.

At Harlan, we found water that was in the 60 degree range and tried trolling, just to see if it would work. It turned out to be a great day for us as we boated 19 walleyes, the largest being 20 inches. The best part was, we caught most of these fish with nobody else around. All fish were over 15 inches. Throw in some nice white bass, a few drum and one wiper, and it was a fun day to be out.

The next day we returned to closer water at Johnson Lake. The water there is a bit cooler, but we tried trolling anyway. We picked up two saugers, and saw very few other fish caught. We decided to hop over to the Tri County canal, only a few miles away. We ended up picking up three more saugers, a couple of real nice crappies that were in full pre-spawn mode, and a few more white bass. I had a real nice fish on that came undone with about 20 feet of line to go. Even though with water temps around 63, I figured it might be a bit early for the flatheads to be real aggressive, but I’m sure that’s what it was. Flatheads are built for power and strength, so even a 10 pounder feels like a beast.

The good news is, the water temp is rising. The bad news is, it probably is not rising much this week on account of our temps barely being over 60 degrees most of the time, with lows dipping all the way down to 30 degrees. I try to look at the good part of this, which is if you have a pattern that’s working, it’ll keep working for a while longer. Maybe longer than usual, with this weather. I know lots of fish are being caught using crawlers now, instead of minnows, which means the fish are only becoming more active and aggressive. Sometimes we get in a rut and try things that we’re used to, and force those tactics to work, and then they just don’t. So don’t be afraid to try different things with these fluctuating temps. A perfect example is that previous to this past weekend, I went away from my plastics and crankbaits and actually used live bait, which is something I used to do exclusively. I ended up getting a limit of walleyes in the Tri County Canal near Johnson Lake, with two smallmouth bass, two more walleyes and a sauger being added by my friends. Never hurts to try things outside of your comfort zone.

-population-we™ blog post by Brian Robinson

© 2014 population-we, LLC 
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Ice Fishing in Western Nebraska

Family and friends ice fishing in western Nebraska.

I don’t believe I’m the only one who feels the winter of 2013-14 is dragging on unnecessarily. With that statement, you might assume I’m not much of an ice fisherman, and you would assume correctly. I know the recent record lows had some ice heads real excited, so I joined them and took the opportunity to travel with some friends in search of fish.

We ventured out to western Nebraska and fished areas that none of us had ever seen before. We have friends in the region, and they had been having decent success. When we arrived to fish Sunday morning, we found nice, clear ice, easy fishing conditions and little to no wind. We also found a fair amount of fishing pressure, which we believe had an adverse affect on the fishing. Combine that with high sunny skies, and the fish did not seem eager to cooperate most of the day. When evening approached, the bite really picked up. At the end of the lines were mainly walleyes and perch, but we also managed a few channel catfish up to five-to-six pounds. Always fun on an ice rod! My friend’s son lost a real nice walleye right under the ice, and it was estimated to be in the 24-27 inches range. Most other fish were in the 14-16 inches range.

We returned on Monday and were treated to even better conditions. Little to no wind and plenty of sunshine once again. At one point, we were shedding hunting coats like they were going out of style. In contrast to the previous day, the high skies did not seem to bother the fish. We had considerably better success, with quite a few walleyes being caught, and some real nice perch up to 13 inches. I was the one losing a nice walleye this day, and it looked to be 20-22 inches. With the favorable conditions, we needed to exercise more caution on the ice. Finding three to four-inches of ice directly adjacent to nine-to-10 inches really reminded us to be careful. There were several flurries of activity during the day, with packs of walleyes roaming for food and being very aggressive in their search. Most fish were enticed with a particular jig style tipped with minnows and minnow heads.

As the fishing continued to improve, the same could not be said for the weather. The front arrived in full force, and if you weren’t sitting in your shack, you almost needed to run to catch it. My friend’s 13-year-old son Jacob beat us all in the final 45 minutes by landing five walleyes in a row.

This was a very welcome change of pace for my friends and me. I have been fishing the Tri County canal system lately, and quite frankly, it’s been tough. A couple of friends and I have been struggling to find the active walleyes and saugers in their usual haunts. The nice thing is, that will change soon. With March and St. Patty’s day just around the corner, the fishing is sure to improve quick, weather conditions permitting of course. The last push for good ice fishing is on right now. Enjoy it while you can, and stay safe.

-population-we™ blog post by Brian Robinson

© 2014 population-we, LLC 
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