OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — There's only two places for anglers to fish for pike in Southeast Nebraska and that's been made possible by Nebraska Game and Parks (NGP). To keep tabs on pike populations, tagging is done once a year.
- NGP fisheries biologist, Daryl Bauer shows us how pike tagging is done and shares why it's essential to pike research.
- "We don't do tagging a lot because its more intensive effort but something like this where you've got a relatively new reservoir and it's got a pike fishery; we can evaluate that."
- Video shows the field crew netting, capturing and tagging pike that are then released back into the reservoir.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Wind, rain or shine, Nebraska Game and Parks is out tagging pike. At Flanagan Lake, fisheries biologist and volunteers are capturing fish to see how the reservoir is supporting them.
"Everything is just a little bit tougher when the wind is blowing like it is,” said Daryl Bauer a fisheries biologist with NGP.
"So now they'll stretch the net back out and set it again."
He's usually on the field crew working on netting, capturing, and tagging pike, but he's taking a break to show us why this work is so important to maintaining healthy fisheries.
"So, what the guys just did is they pulled that up. It's been sitting since yesterday afternoon. They had a few little bluegills in it, was all we caught in this net, so they'll measure those and turn them loose."
This is the third spring NGP will be tagging pike at the reservoir that is just four years old.
It's an essential process to help support the fish in this lake.
"We can do an actual population estimate then so the data is a little more precise."
Along with population estimates, they can also look at mortality and growth rates.
Right now, they've calculated around 700-800 pike present -- Average numbers for this part of the state.
This lake is one of just two in Southeast Nebraska stocked with pike making it a popular spot.
To maintain a healthy population of the prized catch, Bauer says research through tagging is essential.
"We don't do tagging a lot because its more intensive effort but something like this where you've got a relatively new reservoir and it's got a pike fishery; we can evaluate that."
On a typical tagging day, Bauer says they average around 70 pike but because of the wind and colder weather only five were caught today.
"It's just like fishing, some days are better than others."
Over the next two weeks NGP will continue to tag pike here and at Lake Wanahoo.
