Southwest Nebraska – Red Willow Fishing Report

It has been a slow fishing year for me so far!! We have recently moved, I started a new job and my wife and I just had our second child, all adding up to a very busy life and very little fishing. That being said, the tribe and I were able to get out and visit our friends and their family in McCook this last weekend to catch up, show off the kids and do a little fishing.

Jeremy and I decided that Red Willow would be our best shot at some action. We thought that the crappie and walleye should be in some predictable locations and the whites and wipers would be a cinch. That turned out to not be the case. The crappie and walleye were non-existent for us but we were able to find a few white bass and wipers.

The whites and wipers were relating to the upper end of the lake in mid-depth water, around 15’ or so. My guess is that they are staging there in preparation for the spawn. The fish were not easy to coax, but we were able to boat a few decent fish jigging 1/8th oz marabou jigs off the bottom. We caught our fish on chartreuse and white feathers and you really had to be on your game to pick up some of the strikes. It was extremely important to keep the bow out of your line so you could pick up on the subtle taps.

We didn’t end up with any monster Red Willow wipers but we did boat some nice 3-4lb fish, some decent whites and a carp that really had us going for a while. It was nice to get out on the water with my best friend and play with the kids and I guess it goes to show that a guy doesn’t need to come home with a great bag to have a great time!!