Any help for a Nebraska Newbie?

[Kodiakman]

OK, I'm kinda new to Nebraska and I've been fishing mainly city lakes around Omaha.  I'd like to start exploring the country side a little here and target some perch, northerns and maybe get into some better walleye numbers.  I've been told I need to go north and check out "The Refuge" and/or "The Sandhills".  My problem is, I'm not sure exactly where people are talking about. 

I think the refuge is referring to the refuge areas outside of Valentine but I'm not sure if that's the only place.

The sandhills have me totally stumped.  I look at a map and it seems like almost a third of the state is sandhills north of I-80.  So where are people talking about here?

Any other suggestions for targeting perch and pike within 2 - 3 hours of Omaha?  I'm not looking for your secret spot, just a few lakes, I can usually figure it out from there (of course extra details are always welcome ).

[hankthecrank]

Yes, the Valentine National Wildlife Area is South of Valentine approximately 25 miles, and the Sandhills cover a major portion of Nebraska, here is a link to better explain this area, http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/pfw/ne/ne4.htm

OK, I'm kinda new to Nebraska and I've been fishing mainly city lakes around Omaha.  I'd like to start exploring the country side a little here and target some perch, northerns and maybe get into some better walleye numbers.  I've been told I need to go north and check out "The Refuge" and/or "The Sandhills".  My problem is, I'm not sure exactly where people are talking about. 

I think the refuge is referring to the refuge areas outside of Valentine but I'm not sure if that's the only place.

The sandhills have me totally stumped.  I look at a map and it seems like almost a third of the state is sandhills north of I-80.  So where are people talking about here?

Any other suggestions for targeting perch and pike within 2 - 3 hours of Omaha?  I'm not looking for your secret spot, just a few lakes, I can usually figure it out from there (of course extra details are always welcome ).

[hankthecrank]

As far as Pike and Perch there are places West of Omaha closer to the SD border but I am not familiar with them, I do almost all of my Pike fishing as the refuge.

[Sandbilly]

I think the refuge is referring to the refuge areas outside of Valentine but I'm not sure if that's the only place.

Yes sir, that is one National Wildlife Refuge. Crescent Lake is another NWR located North of Oshkosh that is open to ice fishing until Feb 15 every year. Those lakes were hit hard by the drought but are starting to come back now.

 

The sandhills have me totally stumped.  I look at a map and it seems like almost a third of the state is sandhills north of I-80.  So where are people talking about here?

A lot of surface water in the hills with several State owned lakes. Best bet is to get a Gazetteer and look at destinations within a 2 -3 hour drive from Omaha. It won't get you very far into the hills but there are some good Sandhill lakes with your target species. Goose lake is kicking out nice fish, Twin Lakes (Rock Co) was recently renovated and should be producing but reaching the 3 hour drive limit.  Reservoirs like Willow Creek SRA and Grove Lake are also great fisheries on ice.

More drive time or a weekend trip opens up a huge amount of water to check out in the hills. A few even have walleye that reproduce in these shallow sandy lakes. Something that was unheard of until a few years ago.

Give me a shout if ya get this way.

dc
 

[FishGut]

Check out the Nebraska Game and Parks website http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/ for a ton of great information, from fish sampling results http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/fishing/programs/sampling/ and fishing forecasts http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/fishing/pdfs/FishForecast.pdf , to lake maps http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/fishing/programs/lakemapping/lakemapping.asp , to  county by county maps of public land/water http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/hunting/programs/crp/crp.asp .  The latter includes up-to-date info on a new state program, Open Fields and Waters, which opens up private land to walk in users.

Another useful site is the Nebraska Fish and Game Association forum http://www.nefga.org/forum/  . There are a lot of friendly and knowledgable guys, many from the Lincoln and Omaha metro areas, that will bend over backwards to help a newbie out.

[Kodiakman]

Thanks everyone.  I was afraid the sandhills were going to comedown to a lot of pavement/gravel time while pond hopping.  That's a big area.  Much appreciated though.