PHOTO
BY
ERIC
FOWLER
DECEMBER 2017 • NEBRASKAland 55
fishing lake; and Willow lakes. The staggered schedule will
insure anglers always have several lakes to fish.
Current length limits on pike and bass are planned to
be rescinded starting this winter on Pelican Lake to allow
anglers to harvest them with legal methods. Additionally,
Commission biologists will trap, net and electro-fish lakes to
collect gamefish and transfer them to other area lakes. The
same process will be followed on the other lakes prior to
their scheduled renovation.
Following renovations, the Game and Parks Commission
is proposing to allow only five bluegills in a 15-panfish daily
limit to create a trophy bluegill fishery on Pelican Lake.
They will also propose new pike length limits with a 24-inch
minimum or no minimum with one fish over 34 inches on
lakes where they are present.
Because northern pike can affect the abundance and size
structure of gamefish species, they will not be restocked
in Hackberry and Pelican lakes, where they are currently
present. Those two lakes, as well as Duck, Rice, West Long
and Watts – the upper lakes in the system – will be managed
for bass and panfish. Dewey, Clear and Willow lakes will be
managed for pike, bass and panfish.
Fish and anglers won't be the only beneficiaries to the
project. Aquatic vegetation and invertebrate abundance,
as well as waterfowl and shorebird use of the refuge, are
expected to increase as well. An Environmental Protection
Agency grant will fund a study that will look at the effects
of common carp, and the benefits of eliminating them,
across these environments. ■
Water control structures, such as this one in the ditch between
Hackberry and Dewey lakes, have been installed in the outlets
to most refuge lakes. They include solar-powered rotating drum
screens that keep vegetation from clogging the outlets.
The map below shows the general area around the refuge.
MAP
BY
TRISHA
SCHLAKE,
GIS
APPLICATIONS
DEVELOPER
MAP MAP MAP MAP
BY
T
BY
T
BY
T
BY
TRISH
RISH RISH RISHA
SC
A
SC
A
SC
A
SCHLAK
HLAK HLAK HLAKE,
G
E,
G
E
G
E
GIS
A
IS
A
IS
A
IS
APPLI
PPLI PPLI PPLICATI
CATI CATI CATIONS
ONS ONS ONS
DEVE DEVE DEVE DEVELOPE
LOPE LOPE LOPER
Valentine
NWR
Fort Niobrara
NWR
McKelvie
National
Forest
Halsey
National
Forest
Valentine
S O U T H D A K O T A
N E B R A S K A
