DECEMBER 2018 • NEBRASKAland 33
being caught from the lake. Pelican
was next. With work starting in 2018,
the goal is to return this natural lake
– like the other renovation projects on
the Refuge – to its heyday.
"These lakes have a unique ability
to grow big fish," said Nebraska
Game and Parks Commission Aquatic
Habitat Program Manager Mark
Porath. "They have great vegetation
and invertebrates, which act as great
energy packets for bluegill. They can
grow like crazy." Because of these
factors, the top-end possibilities are
so much higher compared to other
waterbodies out there, a fact Don
knows as well.
The 2-Pounder
Fish with Don on a private Sandhills
lake, one not beseeched with carp, and
he'll passionately point every time he
pulls a gigantic bluegill from a hole.
"See! That's the possibility on those
public lakes!" he says.
When the fish is on the end of your
line, his excitement is even more. "Get
'em! Get 'em!" he calls out, as if it's
1990 all over again and every fish is a
revelation.
In many ways, it is – especially when
he thinks about the future. "I want to
see bluegill so big you can't fit them
through the hole," he said. "And when
those Refuge lakes are renovated, that's
exactly what we'll see again."
And he'll be there to witness it –
probably within eyesight of novice
anglers wondering what tackle and
technique he's employing.
All they'll have to do is ask. ■
Caught on a private Sandhills lake, Don is convinced bluegills this size will be caught from Refuge lakes after they are renovated.