I know what some of you are thinking when you read the title to this blog post, “Bullheads? Are you nuts?” Well, yes, I am nuts. Seriously I am willing to bet that many of us would have to admit that sometime in our infant angler days we spent some time catching bullheads or anything else that would just bite on our hooks. And is not that what it is all about? Putting a line in the water and getting a bite? Is not that what got us “hooked” in the first place? So, do not be fish snobs and turn up your noses at bullheads; they can be fun to catch too!
In recent years we have even produced black bullheads in our state fish hatcheries for stocking in heavily-fished state recreation areas. We stock those bullheads because there are some folks that want to catch bullheads and we hope that these bullhead stockings will be something that the kids and beginners can enjoy. The bullheads are going to be stocked a little later than we hoped this summer because the weather has been cool all summer long and the bullheads did not grow as fast as they have in wamer summers. This year’s stocking is scheduled for the last day in August when bullheads will be stocked at Fremont Lake #3, Louisville Lake #2A and Two Rivers Lake #7 and the Two Rivers “Carp” Lake.
There will be plenty of time yet this fall to grab the poles, some hooks and crawlers, and take the kids to these State Recreation Areas to catch some bullheads. Keep in mind that there is a daily bag limit of 5 bullheads on the State Recreation Area waters mentioned above. Also keep in mind that Powder Creek Reservoir, Yankee Hill Reservoir, and Cunningham Reservoir are other waters that have some good bullhead fishing right now.
GO FISH!
What a beauty!
We will be turning the corner into fall soon. In fact with some of the weather we have had recently, it has already felt like fall some evenings. But, for now, we are living in the last days of August and fishing can still be tough. A month or so ago I talked in general about summer and why it can be a tough time to catch fish, http://barbsandbacklashes.wordpress.com/2009/07/16/dog-days-of-summer/ . Now let me be a little more specific about some fishing that really heats up in summer and here in the last days of summer many anglers will still be able to take advantage of it.
Filed under: Fishing
Nebraska has a Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) that monitors water quality around the state. These are the folks that test for bluegreen algae toxins and issue the environmental alerts when those toxins exceed action levels. They also sample fish around the state on an annual basis to test for a variety of toxins in the flesh of the fish. Once again if the levels of those toxins exceed action levels, NDEQ issues fish consumption advisories. When fish kills occur, NDEQ is the agency that investigates, determines causes if possible and pursues any fines and damages that may be appropriate.
NDEQ produced a newsletter recently that Nebraskans and Nebraska anglers might be interested in reading. Go to their website at http://www.deq.state.ne.us/ and click on “NDEQ News” on the right side. That will take you to another page where you can click on the “Environmental Update, Summer 2009″. That newsletter contains some information on bluegreen algae, Lake Ogallala and Fremont Lake #20 that would be of interest to Nebraska anglers. While you are on their website you can also click on “Environmental Alerts” and see additional information on bluegreen algae and a listing of the latest bluegreen algae and E. coli testing results.
