Great White North

Well, it wasn’t quite the Great White North, but it might as well have been. The weather last week was just miserable, which makes sense since I had it off. My buddy Dave’s Dad Robert and I headed north anyways, and fished Thur Fri in the wind, cold and mist. The catch of the weekend for us was this nice pike which went very close to 34″, a real nice fish. We managed a couple others, as well as a few LMB and a couple perch that hit a spinnerbait and lipless crank. The 2nd pike was my biggest from the weekend, which put up a great fight, but wasn’t in the class of Robert’s! Most fish looked real healthy, including a LMB that was only about 16″, but had a gut I couldn’t believe. Even the perch looked good.

I was told Sunday straightened up some, and some others in the party got a MA perch and a pike that was real close. Even though we’re still behind a couple weeks for a normal fishing year, fish are still being caught. We’ll see how this week pans out.

The conditions could easily pass for MN! Congrats on the big pike. Have they been recently stocked in your lake or have they been around awhile?

Thanks James! It sure was a good time, despite the weather.

Funny you should ask about this particular area. It’s a national wildlife refuge, and I’m not real familiar with all their programs that exist there- this was the first time I’d ever fished it while it was liquid instead of frozen.
There are a number of lakes in the area, and they are all managed a little differently. A lot of them have pike in them, including this one, and while I can’t tell you how long they’ve been there, I know a lot of them have been there for several years. There are also some nice perch there and I saw a pic of a 7lb bass taken from a lake we drove right by every day there.
I know one lake was killed and renovated about 6-7 years ago I’m guessing, so it’ll be on the rebound too. About 15 years ago, I remember hearing stories about all the moster gills coming from the area, as Daryl B could attest to. All I know is it might inspire me to get a little 14 footer, throw my 24v motor on it, and make a return trip back!

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The conditions could easily pass for MN! Congrats on the big pike. Have they been recently stocked in your lake or have they been around awhile?

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Nebraska’s sandhill lakes are tremendous pike habitats. In fact research has shown that pike densities there (i.e. pike/acre or pounds of pike/acre) are as high or higher than anywhere pike are found. Our sandhill lakes make up the bulk of the only true natural lakes in Nebraska.

It is believed that the southern extent of the native range of northern pike extended into north-central Nebraska, into the Nebraska sandhills. As far as we know, northern pike have been present in those waters since way before white man began exploring and settling the area.

The northern pike in Nebraska’s sandhill lakes have no problem maintaining their populations by natural reproduction. If we do a rotenone renovation to kill common carp or other rough fish, we may re-stock some pike initially, but after that they reproduce quite fine on their own.

Daryl Bauer
Fisheries Outreach Program Manager
Nebraska Game & Parks Commission
[email protected]
Bauer’s Barbs and Backlashes

That’s some good info there Daryl, thank you. Originally there…I did not know that. There’s got to be some real monsters in there somewhere I would think. Do you hear of many over 40″ ever coming out of places on the refuge?

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That’s some good info there Daryl, thank you. Originally there…I did not know that. There’s got to be some real monsters in there somewhere I would think. Do you hear of many over 40″ ever coming out of places on the refuge?

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Nebraska’s sandhill lakes are great habitats for producing lots of pike, but if you want big pike, especially if you are talking 40-inchers or larger, then I would suggest other waters would be better. You can catch lots and lots of 4-8 pound pike from sandhill lakes and yes, you will catch pike over 10 pounds, some up to 15 pounds and maybe a little larger, but you will find very few really big pike in the sandhill lakes. Our sandhill lakes have high densities of pike and the growth rates of those fish are exceptionally fast, but few of them live long enough to reach 40+ inches.

Northern pike are called “northern” for a reason. Their native range is “circumpolar” and as I mentioned earlier is believed to have extended only as far south as northern Nebraska. Northern pike are very much cool water fish, and big pike especially need cool-water during the summer. The bigger they get, the more they need that cool water. As you know most of Nebraska’s sandhill lakes are relatively shallow; they are cool enough to be excellent pike habitats, but most of them are not deep enough/cool enough to produce truly big pike.

If you want big pike, 40-inchers, I would suggest that several large Nebraska reservoirs would offer a better shot at big pike. Yes, you will find a lot fewer pike in those reservoirs, but you could catch some big toothy monsters! Merritt would be a good pick for big pike right now; Sherman produces a few of those big fish every year too; Calamus might produce a big pike or two, maybe even Elwood, and even with low water levels at Red Willow there are some big pike there too.

Daryl Bauer
Fisheries Outreach Program Manager
Nebraska Game & Parks Commission
[email protected]
Bauer’s Barbs and Backlashes

More good info. Thanks Daryl.

We have caught some nice pike in our sandpits down here on the Platte in previous years too, pretty wild. I remember ’95 I think it was….we caught em all year long, even July and August. Thought that was kinda weird.

We did get a nice 38 incher from Red Willow last August. I’m afraid the draining of that lake will take care of it for a while, unfortunately.