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LIP GRIPPER


INSET PHOTOS FROM TOP: Nebraska offers great fishing for walleye, bass, pike and white bass—like this one caught by Marty “Kayak Jak” Hughes. // Tubes and worms fool Nebraska lunkers. // To find the fish, look for structure—ledges,


points, flooded trees and prairie grass. PHOTOS: BEN DUCHESNEY


[D E STI NATION] EXPLORE NEBRASKA


MORE THAN CORNHUSKERS AND COWBOYS BY BEN DUCHESNEY


T


ell your buddies that you’re going fishing in Nebraska and they’ll prob- ably give you a funny look. But when you return with mind-blowing photos and wild fish stories, you’ll be the one laughing. With a wide variety of fish in a diverse natural setting that is virtually unfished, Nebraska is the best backwa- ter destination off the beaten path.


LOGGING FOR LARGEMOUTH


On Google Earth, western Nebraska looks as pockmarked and desolate as the moon. But each river, pond or lake hosts an oasis of green and blue. The area around Swanson Reservoir is flat, grassy and windy. But the water is full of trophy largemouth, smallmouth, white bass, crappie and wipers (striped/white bass hybrids). When the water level is high, the trees sur- rounding the reservoir become a flooded forest. Cast a white spinnerbait around the stumps and pull out bucketmouth bass up to seven pounds. The submerged train tracks that run across the bottom of the reservoir also hold bass. Find the rail line by looking for a gap in the trees at either end of the lake. Schools of wipers stack up under ledges and drop offs waiting for baitfish or a deep diving crankbait.


42…KAYAK ANGLER


BASS IN THE BOX


Box Butte Reservoir, in the northwest corner of Ne- braska, features weed beds and coves that host large northern pike, walleye and trophy smallmouth bass.


Choose a stable kayak that allows stand-up fish- ing and search out log-sized pike with a half-ounce brown tube or seven-inch pumpkinseed worm. Patrol the channel that runs through grass beds at the back of the reservoir for big northerns.


WALLEYE HIGH


While Box Butte Reservoir and Merritt Reservoir can each produce massive walleye, the place to go for a real trophy is the expansive Lake McCo- naughy in Ogallala. This 22-mile-long reservoir produces dream-


catch walleye up to 10 pounds. Cover the most water by trolling a small, fire-tiger crankbait with a conventional reel spooled with 20-pound braid and a three-foot fluorocarbon leader.


LUNKER LOVE IN VALENTINE


Tucked in the heart of the Sandhills is one of Ne- braska’s best-kept secrets. Valentine National Wildlife Refuge looks like a grass-covered Sahara desert, but the water in Duck Lake is gin clear and full of big largemouth. A few miles away, Pelican Lake hosts trophy largemouth and toothy pike that patrol the drops and weed beds.


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