Nebraska Game and Parks Commission

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PANFISHING TACKLE & TECHNIQUES

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SPECIES	BLUEGILL	CRAPPIE	WHITE BASS	ROCK BASS	YELLOW PERCH
Type of Water	Farm ponds, Sandhill lakes, NRD lakes, sandpits, Salt Valley lakes, I-80 lakes; Common throughout the state	Farm ponds, NRD lakes, sandpits, Salt Valley lakes, Sherman, Merritt and southwest reservoirs; Common throughout the state	Large reservoirs, rivers	Clear water lakes and streams with gravel or rock bottoms; Box Butte Reservoir	Sandhills lakes, Merritt Reservoir; Cool water lakes in northern Nebraska
Habitat	Shallow, weedy area; Near sub-merged trees	Rocky areas, shallow coves with brushpiles, flooded trees, weedbeds	Open water	Weedy areas, fallen trees	Shallow and deep water flats
Temperatures	Peak feeding - 69° Active – 64-80° Spawning - 67-80°	Peak feeding - 71° Active - 65-74° Spawning – 60-65°	Peak feeding - 65° Active – 55-80° Spawning – 58-70°	Peak feeding - 69° Active – 64-72° Spawning – 60-70°	Peak feeding - 68° Active – 58-73° Spawning – 44-54°
FoodPreference	Insects, worms	Fish, insects, worms, crustaceans	Insects and fish, especially shad	Insects, fish, crustaceans	Fish, insects, worms
Time of Day	Daylight hours, dawn or dusk	Evening through morning hours best, little activity during mid-day	Daylight hours best during spring, nighttime during summer	Daylight hours most productive, morning and evenings best	Daylight hours only
Bait, Live, Tackle	Nymphs, wet and dry flies, small poppers, beetle spins, worms; Fly equipment, light spinning gear	Minnows, spinners, beetlespins; Light action spinning equipment	Minnows, crankbaits, spinners, jigs, spoons; Medium to light action equipment	Worms, wet and dry flies, jigs, spinners; Light action equipment	Worms, minnows, jigs; Medium to light action equipment

GAME FISH TACKLE AND TECHNIQUES

Species	Striped Bass Hybrid (Wiper)	Largemouth Bass	Smallmouth Bass	Walleye & Sauger	Catfish	Trout	Pike, Tiger & Muskellunge
Types of Water	Republican and Platte River reservoirs, Branched Oak and various other larger lakes	Farm ponds, NRD lakes, sandpits, I-80 lakes, most public lakes	I-80 lakes, Merritt Reservoir, Missouri River, Lake McConaughy, Tri-County Canal	Most medium-sized and large reservoirs, Missouri and lower Platte rivers; Sauger primarily in rivers	Most warmwater rivers, reservoirs and ponds	Niobrara tributaries, Pine Ridge streams, North Platte tributaries, Lake McConaughy, Lake Ogallala, and various put and take lakes	Muskellunge found only in Watts Lake, Merritt Reservoir, Oliver Reservoir, Morman Island lakes; Tigers and pike in newer reservoirs; Pike common in Sandhill lakes
Habitat	Open water	Clear water preferred, flooded stumps and brushpiles, weedbeds, ledges and dropoffs in deeper water	Rocky areas preferred, also flooded trees and brushpiles	In lakes, walleye prefer clean, hard bottoms at various depths; In rivers, dropoffs below sandbars, 5 to 15 feet deep; Sauger seek same kind of areas having active current	Channel cats like reservoir inlets early in spring, scattered rest of year; In rivers, brushpiles and holes below sandbars; Flathead cats seek obstructions in current, bunch up below dams	At obstructions in streams, outside bank of bends, undercut banks; cold water, rocky areas or open water	Usually feed in shallow water near weedbeds and rushes, may rest in deeper water, but usually passive there
Temperatures	Active – 64-72°	Active – 60-76° Peak feeding - 73° Spawning – 61-65°	Active – 60-73° Peak feeding - 68° Spawning – 61-65°	Active – 55-74° Peak feeding - 64° Spawning – 42-50°	Active – 60-75° Peak feeding – 60-75° Spawning – 75-78°	Active – 50-60°	Pike Active – 55-74° Peak feeding – 66° Spawning – 40-48° Muskie active – 55-72° Peak feeding – 63° Spawning – 49-60°
Food Preferences	Fish, especially shad	Fish, crayfish, insects	Crayfish, fish, insects	Fish, insects	Channel and blue cat eat live or dead fish, meant; Flathead eat live fish	Insects, small fish and crayfish	Fish, occasional small mammal or bird
Time of Day	Anytime spring, after sunset summer & daytime fall	Dawn, dusk often best, but can be active anytime	Dawn, dusk often best, but can be active anytime	Dawn, dusk, nighttime	Night best	Dawn, dusk, can be active anytime	Daytime, rarely at night
Bait, Lure, Tackle	Jigs or crankbait in spring and summer, jig, slabs, crankbait in fall; Heavy rod, line, etc., except for early jig fishing	Spinnerbaits, jig and pork, crankbaits, plastic worm, plugs; Medium action spinning or bait-casting gear; Poppers and streams on hefty flyrods	Spinners, plastic worms, crankbaits, other artificials; Crayfish, worms and minnows best baits; Medium spinning gear; Poppers and streamers on medium weight flyrods	Trolled baits rigged with crawlers, leeches or minnows; Also jig-minnow combo, plain jig, trolled or cast crankbaits and other plugs	Stillfished shad entrails, blood or commercial bait, frog or crayfish for channel cat; Live sunfish or big minnow for flathead; Medium action baitcast or spinning gear	Small spinners, spoons or rapalas on light spinning gear; flies, nymphs on flyrod; Worms, grasshoppers, minnows on either in stream; Trolled artificials at Lake McConaughy	Spoons, plugs, spinnerbaits; Chub, shiner, frozen smelt for stillfishing or ice fish; Medium to heavy spin or baitcasting gear for open water tipup for ice fishing; always use steel leader

*Water clarity is an important factor in developing and maintaining a quality game fish population

OFFICIAL STATE OF NEBRASKA WEB SITE
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission - 2200 N. 33rd St. Lincoln, NE 68503 - (402) 471-0641 -