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: https://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/1545575
May 2026 • Nebraskaland 63 Before anyone makes a cast, a 25-pound channel catfish named Brutus must be fed. He's been hanging around the dock for five or six years, and the Wednesday Night Fishing Therapy group considers him part of the ritual. "We know it's him because his whiskers are all rubbed off," Mark Dietz said. Some evenings a couple smaller buddies drift in behind him, but Brutus is the regular. When Mark tosses a few handfuls of cat food onto the water, the big fish surfaces and gulps it down, unfazed by the commotion just feet away. Only after Brutus has eaten does the real therapy begin. The group of Sarpy and Douglas County friends fish together nearly every week, May through mid-September, at Mark's pond on the outskirts of Bellevue. They crowd onto a pontoon boat, christened The Barge, and circle the pond, casting until dark. The banter, joking and laughter are nearly nonstop. A poor cast or lost fish draws a barrage of good-natured jabs that only close friends can deliver. With this group, if you can't take the heat — and dish it out — you'd best not come aboard. The Therapy Group Mark, a Papillion native, is the heart of the group. In 1993, he started a Wednesday night fishing event at Lake Olivo, a Platte River sandpit where members had a cabin. In 2015, however, the group faced a crossroads: They were "booted from the cabin" when a campground was planned for the site. Undeterred, they began fishing a 6-acre flood-control pond adjoining 12 acres of grass and woods owned by Mark and his wife, Beth. They had purchased the land in 2002 from her grandparents, Glen and Mary Jane Miller, whose family had homesteaded there. The name Wednesday Night Fishing Therapy soon followed when, on a lark, Mark made it the title of a group text to see who would be fishing that week. Today, longtime members include Dietz, Ron Koenig, Marty Giff, Todd Dubay and Steve Finley, along with a few newer faces. Each week, Mark texts seven or eight people to see who's in, and four or five usually show up. A few guys come only once or twice a year. "They always have to mow the lawn, walk the dog or something," he said. The tight-knit group also takes part in other Dietz-organized events. These include the River Bottom Boys' annual deer camp at his Platte River cabin, where "we sometimes shoot deer, but mostly we eat really well and watch a lot of football." There's also his 35-year-running annual triathlon, when more than 30 friends and family gather for a grueling day of golf, horseshoes and lawn darts. Lastly, they occasionally get together to sample Mark's home-brewed beer and wine — some batches better than others.