New 2015 Fishing Guide and Fish Forecast is out.

OutdoorNebraska - Fishing Guide 2015

http://www.outdoornebraska.ne.gov/Fi...shForecast.pdf

Of course for those around the Omaha area, the newest "hot spot" will probably being Prairie Queen, which is set to open this spring. Naturally folks have already "slipped in" to fish it, and of course some folks are talking about hitting it hard this year looking for some great bass and panfish fishing out there. Personally to me, I think its too early. The bass fishing would probably be decent, but I think its a little to early for panfish like the crappie, redears and bluegills. A few people I've talked to are expecting the crappie to be like the ones when Wannahoo opened up the first time (+12" range). Crappie weren't stocked in there until Sept of last year, and they were only 3" and with a well established bass population that was already stocked a year before. I probably won't touch Prairie Queen until either mid or late fall this year, or more likely next. I would like to see the area though, get a feel for the place and structure. Supposedly both PQ and WC will get stocked with walleye this year. Pretty interesting when I heard that.

It would seem that some of the best chances to get big crappie this year will be over Central and Western Nebraska.

Personally, I plan on hitting Cunningham a bit more. I only went once last year back in early April, and while I did catch crappie, I wouldn't have called them quality crappie. My hand is 8.5" long and most of these crappie were smaller than my hand. I also plan on going up to Fremont a few times this year as well.

thanks for the info on Prairie Queen (didn't even know what they were gonna call it) - I'll probably hit it for bass and do a little fishing in amongst the trees for crappie see how it pans out but I figured it would be a year or so before we start seeing and hearing of big ones coming out of there.

I went to Cunningham one time last year and didn't have a good experience ... nothing bad with the fishing just the idiot who doesn't know what "no wake" means . he opened up his jet boat which as you know the entire lake is no wake and this idiot in a moron suit did it right at the dock. Needless to say my little 8' pond boat bounced around a bit. Another guy at the boat ramp called the authorities on him - so hopefully he got a heavity fine.

Anyone have an actually date for when the new lake Prairie Queen will open?

I don't believe an official date has been set yet. Most rumors have been March or April. My best bet, April 1st or April 15th. With the exception of walleye, its pretty much been stocked with what they wanted to be in there.

thanks - this beautiful weather we've had the last few days has me itching to get out on the water - probably will jump on Walnut Creek on Mon and Tue next week as those are my days off

Talked to someone with the NRD and they said it will be open March 31st at 6am.

The brochure's on PQ lake are out now and have a map and diagram of the lake with some info about it! The lake will open on March 31st!
I get my boat from storage on April 4th so won't make opening day! It will take a day to get it set up for fishing! EB

I was told today that there were Crappie put in PQ as soon as it had some water in it and there are some decent Crappie in it according to one of the guys from the NRD. I thought it was funny that they wouldn't stock Crappie along with the Blueills right away for the Bass and Cats to feed on. That is one of the first fish to be stocked in lakes around here. EB

Eh, I don't know. I think I'll let your pictures do the talking EB, haha.

Just what I was told! EB

Anyone heading out to Prairie Queen today as it opens - I was planning on it but had a work schedule change and now I don't have my normal Sun, Mon and Tues off - went to a Mon-Fri 0530-2pm - so now I'll have to hit them during the week in the afternoon and evenings - and jockey for spots fighting the crowds on weekends :hatchet::Doh:

I did not go, I hit Shadow Lake instead for some gills and the possibility that there are crappie in there. Plenty of gills, no luck on the crappie though.

From what I heard, it was a decent opening. Boat traffic was steady, not too heavy, but not exactly light either. Was told there wasn't as many bank fishermen as they expected.

I went out to Prairie Queen after lunch to just see how many people where there. I was surprised that the parking lot wasn't full of boats or cars. We went back over the bridge on Lincoln St an the parking lot wasn't full there either so we stopped and fished down by the bridge off the rock ledge. We didn't get any Crappie but did get a couple of 1-1/2 lb bass that was very healthy looking. My wife got a bass up to the bank and it got off. I talked to the lady at the dock that was checking what was being caught and she said the only thing being caught was bass. A lady came around checking what was being caught while we was fishing and said the same thing. There wasn't many boat out there when we was there. The parking lot off Lincoln St is very narrow and have to watch when backing out of the parking spot if up to a curb.
The fish only wanted a Maribou jig. We tried several plastic jigs but didn't get a hit on any of them. We only caught fish on the Maribou jigs. I cant wait to get the boat home on Saturday and check this lake out with the boat. EB

Yes, I believe some UNL grads who are contracted out from the NGPC to do some research surveys on what was being caught. They did the same thing on opening day at Wannahoo.