Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Crescent Lake WMA a quality bullhead fishery

LINCOLN, Neb. – Panhandle anglers have a quality bullhead fishery in Crescent Lake Wildlife Management Area (WMA).

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission fisheries biologists recently conducted a fish survey at the lake and collected "several hundred bullheads per frame net," according to northwest district biologist Joe Rydell. "We weren't expecting quite so many."

Rydell said most of the bullheads surveyed were 6 to 7 inches in length but one or two out of every 100 were 13 inches or longer.

Crescent Lake was renovated in 2008 to remove common carp. "Bullheads are native to the Sandhills, and some of them, as well as common carp and green sunfish, survived the renovation," Rydell said.

Fishing for bullheads at Crescent Lake, where there are no limits on them, is not complicated. "The most effective way to catch bullheads is to throw a worm on the bottom," Rydell said.

There are plenty of opportunities for mixed bag fishing at Crescent Lake, too. Other fish present in the lake are northern pike, muskellunge, largemouth bass, saugeye, black crappie, bluegill, green sunfish, yellow perch and common carp.

Crescent Lake WMA is located 22 miles north of Oshkosh in Garden County.