Brad Ifert, South Central District manager for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, said the district’s 2025 stocking request approaches 15 million fish across 15 species and described the agency’s annual sampling and reporting practices.

Ifert said the district’s primary stocked species are walleye (including sauger in canal systems), channel catfish on smaller waters, hybrid striped bass in several reservoirs and introductions such as blue catfish into selected canals and reservoirs. He said smallmouth and yellow perch are also stocked in several interstate lakes and noted NGPC posts stocking lists and annual sampling summaries on outdoorNebraska.gov.

Colton Curtis, a district biologist, gave an interim update on NGPC’s spring trout angler survey. Curtis said the online and QR-code–driven survey had received 867 responses at the time of the presentation and would remain open through spring; he said the three most cited lakes in responses were CenturyLink, Holmes and Fort Kearney. Curtis said anglers reported highest satisfaction in scenarios that included catching at least one larger trout and that about 70% of survey respondents supported a reduced daily bag limit if NGPC stocks larger trout. Curtis said full survey results and a final report will be published on NGPC’s website after collection ends.

Ifert said the NGPC hatchery produced larger trout this spring — averaging about 12 inches rather than the typical 10 — and that many trout stockings for the spring had been completed.

On walleye and wiper management, Ifert said the district uses fry and fingerling stockings for some reservoirs; he described Davis Creek plans to use fry at about 1,000 per surface acre and a fingerling component (he said the fingerling rate was approximately 50, per transcript) and said NGPC intended to maintain current walleye regulation strategies while seeking angler input when appropriate. He also said a statewide minimum-size change for wipers and white bass increased the one-over minimum to 18 inches (up from 16 inches); Elwood retains a three-fish bag limit with only one fish over 18 inches allowed.

Ifert and staff discussed recent creel-survey results: Harlan saw more than 33,000 angler trips in a six-month creel period and reported harvest of about 11,000 walleyes; McConaughey’s 2022 seven-month creel counted roughly 20,000 trips; Sherman recorded about 16,000 angler trips and a record crappie catch of about 88,000 fish with a harvest near 40,000 during surveyed periods. Ifert said the NGPC uses those creel data to inform stocking and regulation choices.

Ifert also described one recent renovation: Buffelhead Wildlife Management Area, a 15-acre sandpit near Kearney, was renovated after persistent declines in sport-fish biomass; NGPC plans to restock it with smallmouth bass, yellow perch and black crappie.