[OldBaldGuy]

Got this comment from Daryl (apparently his software can't spell "whine" ):

I have been following the discussion on "Is there a partner in the house"? Of course you know I could not read some of the comments in that thread without responding.

First of all, any of you that know me, know that my biggest button that you can push is to start "bad-mouthing" the fishing in Nebraska. I was about to start posting pictures of a wide variety of big fish caught from public water in Nebraska, caught by a poor soul who owns no boat, but I cannot get to the pictures right now, and besides that would take too much space. Let's just say I have the stack of Nebraska and In-Fisherman Master Angler awards to prove that there is some pretty darned good fishing in Nebraska. No, we do not have the amount of water that many of our neighboring states have, but we do have a great variety of fishing opportunities to offer--everything from brook trout to flathead catfish, bullheads to muskies. Might you have to travel to get to some of that great fishing? Yep. The curse of Nebraska geography is that most of our population lives in the eastern 1/3 of the state while much of our water is in the western parts of the state. If you live in eastern Nebraska, especially southeast Nebraska, it may be just as easy for you to travel to some other state and fish and I can understand that, but do not underestimate the fishing opportunities Nebraska has to offer.

If you live in eastern Nebraska, maybe you should step up in favor of creating new waters that could provide more fishing opportunity.

If you think Kansas has better walleye fishing, well, welcome to it.

Secondly, I am fully aware of the challenges we face. You want to tell me about fisheries that we have lost or fisheries that are suffering or about the trash and neglect of some of our areas? You ain't telling me nothing; I walked back in the office after the weekend just recently and *****ed about those very things. If I wanted to dwell on those things I could darned well get depressed. This much I do know, we have great potential, but we are never going to reach that potential unless we have even more folks standing up for our fish & wildlife resources. It is not time for *****ing and complaining, it is time for standing up to be counted.

I could also get real depressed with the current budget situation and what that is going to mean for our resources in the future. Yes, declining fishing and hunting permit sales is a real issue around the country. The fish & wildlife management model that has been established in this country from day 1 is the best in the world. It is based upon the belief that our fish & wildlife resources belong to all of us. It is based upon hunters, anglers and trappers who stepped up again and again over the years to say they were willing to pay for the stewardship of our fish & wildlife resources. If you think hunting and fishing is too expensive, then take up golf or any other of the pastimes that occupy people's leisure time nowadays. But you need to understand that unless things turn around, fish & wildlife management and everyone's access to our fish & wildlife resources is not going to be the same, and I am betting a lot of folks here ain't gonna like what it becomes.

Lastly, all of you have a stake in this. If you treasure your hunting, fishing and trapping heritage and our fish & wildlife resources then you better be involved. You better find a kid, a neighbor, someone and take them out and get them hooked. Furthermore, I will tell you that some of you NEFGA members are likely to be involved in this a lot more than that.

Daryl Bauer
Lakes and Reservoirs Program Manager
Nebraska Game & Parks Commission
daryl.bauer@ngpc.ne.gov

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