Minnesota By Way of Nebraska-Part I

June 11, 2010 Afield and Afloat No Comments

I have repeatedly chronicled in NEBRASKAland and other publications my cross-country move to the Great Plains nearly 10 years ago. And one of the most eye-opening changes I saw when I arrived in the land of the Bugeaters is the amount of information available to anglers through both the NGPC website and the Commission’s fisheries biologists.

First off, moving to my home region and trying to find the same amount of information regarding public fishing is almost a lost cause. Unless websites have changed in the last few months, the information regarding fishing just isn’t there. But come to this part of the world, and I can get survey information not only from Nebraska, but also from South Dakota, Kansas, and Minnesota off the top of the head. I’d probably also speak well for North Dakota, Iowa, Colorado, and Wisconsin, but I just haven’t made it to these states to fish yet.

Yet when I do, I’m hoping to find the same bar graphs and spreadsheets that I’ve found from these other states. For it was a very eye-opening experience when I moved here that I had so many places to fish and that I could find out about these water bodies very easily.

So last week I spent a little time in a different part of MN, trying once again to find fish in totally new water fairly quickly. It started with the same online research, but our group has also found another couple of tips that have also helped us out.

That said, this afternoon I am going to post a few suggestions for finding fish in this part of the world, tips that will work from NE to the Boundary Waters. And while I must confess that we mostly chase bass and northern pike around, some of these will also apply to other species.

Write to you soon.