NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/977334
MAY 2018 • NEBRASKAland 47 Sportfish Dollars As a sportfish with dedicated funding from permit dollars and excise taxes on fishing equipment, the channel catfish was the number one species to index. But with the way conservation usually works, what's good for one species is usually beneficial for many others. "There is so much more happening in these rivers. Sampling is intensive work, so since we were there, we wanted to collect as much data as we could," Barada said. "And even in the four years we did this sampling, we still wished we could've collected more data." Sampling occurred at six locations on the Big Blue River, five in the Little Blue, four in the Big Nemaha and five in the Little Nemaha – all dependent on where there was suitable access and permission from landowners. Barada and Blank's team set out baited hoop nets and also used electrofishing at each site. Each captured catfish was run through the gamut: They were measured for length and weight, and one pectoral spine was removed from each fish for age and growth analysis – cross sections of these spines can be observed under a microscope to approximate a fish's age. Each catfish was also tagged. To piggyback on a 10-year Missouri River catfish study conducted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Barada wants to find out how these fish are moving by comparing where these fish were tagged to where they may be caught by other research groups or anglers, since all catfish can be migratory. However, out of the nearly 1,000 tags Barada's team has put out, they've only had about 10 calls from anglers. He encourages more anglers to call back. "Either anglers aren't seeing the tag, they just don't report it or not many of these fish are being caught. But the people who do report the tags are really intrigued," Barada said. "These fish can travel considerable distances compared to fish that sit in a reservoir. We tagged some near Fairbury on the Little Blue River, and a man caught one by Hebron during a high water event. It's kind of cool to have these conversations with our river anglers." Catfish populations in the Blues and Nemahas are doing "fairly well." "I think our rivers are overlooked as far as opportunities for catching catfish in our state, especially in Southeastern Nebraska fisheries biologists indexed catfish populations in the Big Nemaha, Little Nemaha, Big Blue and Little Blue rivers from 2013 through 2016. Catfish were marked with T-bar anchor tags. The Commission encourages anglers to report tagged fish. This information will help biologists understand catfish movement and migration.