Another nebraskan ready for some fishing

Lived Eastern Nebraska all my life, fished since i was a wee lad. Only lake we went to was the Offutt Base Lake, however i don't eat anything out of that lake anymore (jet fuel runoff from the winter). Used to fish in the pond at Hayworth Park (before the reconstruction, when the ferry was still down there and the old casino/hotel on the shore) Caught a few catfish once. I realize now after they tore down the water treatment plant on the north side of the bridge they created another pond (that supposedly has fish in it, i doubt it given its depth). I know where Walnut Creek is at, never fished it. Been to Zorinsky, no luck but it was a really windy day. Haven't been to Wehrspan but I'm looking forward to it. I have not been to or heard of the lakes north of the Omaha area, such as Beaver Lake, Cunningham and Lonergan Lake.

Now i did live in Lincoln for a little bit, never got to fish though, but I am wondering did anyone ever fish out near Pawnee Lake or Branched Oak Lake?

Anyway its good to be here with some fellow Nebraskans that love to fish.

Welcome to the site first of all! I live in Papillion so have fished here every since I moved here. I have fished all the lakes that you mentioned except for Longergan. Beaver Lake is a private lake and you have to own a lot down there to fish it. The rest are open to the public lakes.
Zorinsky lake was drained and now they are talking about NOT refilling it. That and the Offutt lakes have a lot of Zebra Mussels in them. I think they will have to drain it also.
Cunningham lake was just drained and dredged out and refilled again and is now open. I haven't fished it since they opened it. It use to have a lot of walleye and white bass in it.
As far as the other lakes around the Omaha area. Game and Parks have such high size limits on them that you can't catch a legal fish so have to release them. The last time I fished Wehrspan, I caught over 150 fish of walleye, bass, blue gill, crappie, and catfish. The only fish out of all those that was legal to keep, was the catfish, which I wasn't interested in keeping.
Branch oaks use to be a very nice lake but the Game and Parks have screwed it up and now you can only keep one Walleye at least 21 inch but not over 25. They introduced white perch to the lake to help the food base for the Bass and Walleye but they eat the same things as the Bass and Walleye do. Now they are trying to get rid of the white perch so you can't keep much of anything out of there.
This is why I bought a lot down on Beaver Lake and fish that primarily any more. I fish Walnut Creek the first time in the Spring mainly to check my boat out after I get it out of winter storage. I can still catch some nice fish from it but would rather go to Beaver where I can catch a lot of nice fish.
Maybe we can get together some time and fish together. EB

Sure I wouldn't mind tagging along with someone, I'll even supply the beer or a non-alcoholic beverage. Its been since i fished, ever since i joined the Air Force in 2004. Out now, because of injury, but i need to get back into the swing of things.

I heard about the mussels at Offutt being killed off, so it must be back again.

Were you out at Walnut Creek this morning? I stopped by there after picking up some new gear at Cabela's and saw quite a few boats out there, probably about 6 or 7 given it was about 8:30 am.

I was at Walnut Creek on Thursday afternoon. I don't fishing until 9 o'clock in the morning or later anymore. I let the early birds get on the water and off and then the parking lots aren't so full and I usually can get a parking spot by the ramp. I usually don't fish on the week-ends, especially during the summer months, but if you want to go sometime, we can get together, and see what we can do. I will send you a pm and see if we can get together sometime for some fishing. EB

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Originally Posted by Eager Beaver

Welcome to the site first of all! I live in Papillion so have fished here every since I moved here. I have fished all the lakes that you mentioned except for Longergan. Beaver Lake is a private lake and you have to own a lot down there to fish it. The rest are open to the public lakes.
Zorinsky lake was drained and now they are talking about NOT refilling it. That and the Offutt lakes have a lot of Zebra Mussels in them. I think they will have to drain it also.
Cunningham lake was just drained and dredged out and refilled again and is now open. I haven't fished it since they opened it. It use to have a lot of walleye and white bass in it.
As far as the other lakes around the Omaha area. Game and Parks have such high size limits on them that you can't catch a legal fish so have to release them. The last time I fished Wehrspan, I caught over 150 fish of walleye, bass, blue gill, crappie, and catfish. The only fish out of all those that was legal to keep, was the catfish, which I wasn't interested in keeping.
Branch oaks use to be a very nice lake but the Game and Parks have screwed it up and now you can only keep one Walleye at least 21 inch but not over 25. They introduced white perch to the lake to help the food base for the Bass and Walleye but they eat the same things as the Bass and Walleye do. Now they are trying to get rid of the white perch so you can't keep much of anything out of there.
This is why I bought a lot down on Beaver Lake and fish that primarily any more. I fish Walnut Creek the first time in the Spring mainly to check my boat out after I get it out of winter storage. I can still catch some nice fish from it but would rather go to Beaver where I can catch a lot of nice fish.
Maybe we can get together some time and fish together. EB

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EB,
Thought I would comment quickly so that any confusion can be clarified. First of all, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission do not practice the stocking or introducing of white perch into any lake or reservoir including Branched Oak. White perch are an invasive/exotic species and somehow where most likely introduced by the public. This could have been an accident or done intentionally; no matter the scenario it is a good lesson for the public to educate themselves before acting. Furthermore, this action is not considered a management tool by fisheries biologists.
As far as the walleye regulations at Branched Oak, they are set to improve the overall success of the fishery and to evenly distribute harvest among anglers.
Hope this information helps.

I fished white perch before and i find them to be very annoying, i usually use them for catfish bait. There seems to be a lot of them in the Offutt Lake, along with Bluegill. I'm a catch and release type of fisher anyway, i hardly ever keep what i catch, unless its really big. Bass is pretty much the only thing i will keep, everything else goes back into the water.

born and raised in ne so i'll chime in here with regard to what p4p said on this fairness distribution issue. the state of sd tried promoting the notion that its not fair for one angler to take more than their fair share, all within the legal limits on walleye, when they radically changed the slot sizes some years ago. it was all an attempt to reduce the walleye angling hours by 1/2 on lake oahe; knowing that out of staters would travel there for tiny fish. their research actually shows that only 16% of anglers caught limits of walleye anyway. so beware of baloney clothed in the garment of fairness.

sorry make that "wouldn't travel there"

P4P I don't want to argue with you but they did introduce the white perch in Branched oaks and they got into the salt lake chain and have infested other lakes as well. Some of the other lakes associations are sueing the State and want them to drain and restock their lakes because of this. EB

Speaking of Branched Oak, read on the stocking report that they restock the lake with 1.2 million baby walleye and Pawnee lake with 370,000. I don't know what the maturity rate is for walleye, but i know where my top 2 hot spots for walleye are going to be in the coming years. :p

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Originally Posted by dwaw

born and raised in ne so i'll chime in here with regard to what p4p said on this fairness distribution issue. the state of sd tried promoting the notion that its not fair for one angler to take more than their fair share, all within the legal limits on walleye, when they radically changed the slot sizes some years ago. it was all an attempt to reduce the walleye angling hours by 1/2 on lake oahe; knowing that out of staters would travel there for tiny fish. their research actually shows that only 16% of anglers caught limits of walleye anyway. so beware of baloney clothed in the garment of fairness.

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Dwaw,
I was hoping for a reply of this nature....I don’t doubt your comments on SD related research as I’m also aware similar findings. I was just commenting on how some regulations are set for an ethical reason or a biological reason. There is a huge difference between the two. In most cases ethical regulations such as distribution/bag limits have little impact on fisheries, but simply put emphasis towards fairness between anglers. Whether every angler agrees, these regulations are put in place to cover the general public and what seems fair. I agree totally with your remarks and find that these types of regulations are scrutinized endlessly. With being an avid angler and having former experience in the fisheries field, I can see both sides of the table. It’s a tough task to make everyone happy. Knowing that ethical regulations are not biologically based and are simply made with the best intention, there is always room to improve. I hope in no form or fashion that any angler feels that the individual responsible for managing their local fisheries is trying to persuade “baloney clothed in the garment of fairness.
Thanks

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Originally Posted by Eager Beaver

P4P I don't want to argue with you but they did introduce the white perch in Branched oaks and they got into the salt lake chain and have infested other lakes as well. Some of the other lakes associations are sueing the State and want them to drain and restock their lakes because of this. EB

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EB
I didn’t intend to iginite any arguments. Even with being new to the whole "forum" setting I know enough that agruements are not needed, so I apologize, and could possibly be misinformed. I spent many years in the past with the NGPC within the fisheries division and new nothing of these stockings. I am curious though of your source and how you know for certain that the fisheries staff preformed these duties.
Thanks

p4p thanks for your response. there is nothing under the sun that's intrinsically equal or fair. how do you equalize skill. how do you equalize access. you don't. stick to the science of it. if they do a good job the fishing will be good and the fishermen will come, take some fish, leave some money behind and the local economies will benefit. don't feed the multi-state fisheries bandwagon of bureacratic social engineering.

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Originally Posted by dwaw

p4p thanks for your response. there is nothing under the sun that's intrinsically equal or fair. how do you equalize skill. how do you equalize access. you don't. stick to the science of it. if they do a good job the fishing will be good and the fishermen will come, take some fish, leave some money behind and the local economies will benefit. don't feed the multi-state fisheries bandwagon of bureacratic social engineering.

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Oh, if it were only that simple.... I'm not feeding anything to anyone, it is what it is.

p4p, you're right it is what it is. i'm not referring to you in my response, and i'm not accusing you of doing anything. i apologize if that wasn't clear. but the gist of my point is my opinion after studying what went on in sd while living in pierre 10 yrs and looking at what fish and game director cooper had to say on the subject. lastly we agree again; "were it only that simple". it should be.

I was born and raised in Omaha, but I haven't fished there since the 90's. Is Carter lake still a decent place to fish?

According to the NGPC, it was stocked this past October with many Largemouth Bass, Bluegill, Channel Catfish and so on. Personally i don't fish there, i guess its because of the myth that you need both a Nebraska and Iowa fishing permit since it straddles the stateline.

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Originally Posted by ChrisCarter

According to the NGPC, it was stocked this past October with many Largemouth Bass, Bluegill, Channel Catfish and so on. Personally i don't fish there, i guess its because of the myth that you need both a Nebraska and Iowa fishing permit since it straddles the stateline.

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It's on OUR side of the river!!;)

Well the river is not a clear cut border between NE and IA, even though I think it should. Most of the Carter lake residential area is part of IA, in fact a strip of Abbott Drive leading to the airport is IA. Its stupid, i know, but i don't know how much they enforce the area when it comes to fishing Carter Lake.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...5/Untitled.png

Carter Lake is across from Epply Airport and was drained and redone this past year and was restocked. It did have good sized fish in it but wouldn't recommend eating anything from it. It was polluted from the jet fuel from the runway from the airport that run into the lake. It always looked like it had an oil slick on it. It was mainly for water skiing. It won't be long and it will be polluted again.
You can fish it with EITHER OR a Nebraska or Iowa fishing license. Just like Desota Bend State Park is on the Iowa side of the river and can be fished with either or license from each State. You don't need both license to fish them. EB

Carter Lake was the old river bed! The River changed when they straightened the river out for flood control. Desoto Bend was the original channel too is why you can fish it with a Ne license. EB

Good to know EB, thanks for the info. Though i probably won't take my grandmother or family to fish out there then, since they eat what they catch.

P4P sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, We was told this by the guy that run the Marina at Branched Oak. EB

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Originally Posted by Eager Beaver

P4P sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, We was told this by the guy that run the Marina at Branched Oak. EB

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EB,
No problem, and yes rumors can be told by anyone, even marina owners. It's best to confirm the allegation from the source it's self before placing blame. I would image that anyone in the Lincoln NGPC headquarters would be happy to explain how white perch got there start in Branched Oak, if interested.