Windham: Wipers offer challenges for Nebraska anglers | Columnists

Now let’s talk fishing. If you want to fish for something that hits a lure like a freight train and runs like a torpedo, then wiper may be what you are looking for. This hybrid bass is not a naturally occurring species. It is produced by crossing a male white bass with a female striped bass. It is also one of my favorite summertime fish to go after.

Hybrid wipers are most often identified by the broken lateral stripes along the sides of the body. It also has a noticeably shorter, thicker and deeper body, basically a football shape. This body style creates a very muscular and strong fighting fish!

Pound for pound the wiper is one of hardest fighting freshwater fish you may ever get a chance to tangle with. They are open water predators and normally swim in large schools. Anglers can often tell when wipers are feeding by watching the birds. When you see gulls, terns and pelicans diving at a spot on the surface, chances are good that a school of wiper are attacking shad and pushing them to the surface. Getting to that spot and tossing in a lure that looks like a shad into the fray is a good way to catch one of these fish.

Catching wipers does not require any specialized tackle or gear. You probably have everything you need. Any style of reel spooled with 12- to 20-pound test line will work fine and I prefer a medium action rod. Note: Make sure your drag is set properly and functions smoothly. Wipers hit hard and fast and will easily snap a line if the drag is not set correctly and working properly.

For bait or lures, wipers are opportunists. For my first wiper fishing forays, I like to use big minnows rigged under a slip-bobber. Any place where you find water running into a lake or reservoir is a good spot to try this technique. For summertime wiper fishing, I like drifting or trolling larger floating crankbaits with a small or no diving lip. From May through August, wipers form large schools and roam the edges of underwater humps, ridges and creek channels. They will feed over deep water flats as well. I also use a big bucktail (up to ½-ounce) jigs, the more brightly colored the better.

I’ll also use floating crankbaits with a small or no diving lip. I’ll troll these behind a heavy weight to get it to the depth I want. I set up long drifts or trolling patterns that cross as many of the bottom features as my sonar can find. I’ll also toss big bucktails up against concrete walls of outlet structures or bridge pilings. I’ll let my jig fall straight down along these structures all the way to the bottom to find where the wipers may be holding. One of the more overlooked wiper fishing techniques is surface fishing. Dawn and dusk are great times to toss big topwater lures. My best fishing seems to happen at dusk, right about the time that I see yards lights coming on around a lake.

Wipers were first stocked in Bluestem Lake in Nebraska in 1979. They were then introduced to Branched Oak, Conestoga and Stagecoach lakes. Since then, wipers have been introduced in Lake McConaughy, Elwood, Johnson, Medicine Creek, Red Willow, Swanson, Sutherland, Harlan County, Gallagher, Midway, Plum Creek and many more bodies of water.

Wipers are also a real challenge for fly fishing enthusiasts. Their power makes them a real trophy for light fly rods. If you have ever wondered what it was like to catch a snook or bonefish on a saltwater flat, tangle with a 5-pound plus wiper on the end of a 5 to 6 weight fly rod. You’ll get the idea.

You don’t have to travel too far from North Platte find wiper fishing. Lake Maloney has some wipers, Lake McConaughy, Elwood Reservoir and Red Willow are tops spots on my list. Wipers can be a great challenge for this summer. Gear up and give it a try.

Anyone who fishes regularly from the bank needs a rod holder. A rod holder keeps your rod up and out of the way so it doesn’t get stepped on. It positions your rod so that it is easier to see and allows the rod tip to have the action and play it was designed for.

I can’t take credit for the design of the rod holder I’m using. An old fishing buddy, Chuck Forsgren formerly of Lincoln, showed the design to me maybe 20 years ago. I’ve been using them ever since.

The rod holder is made from PVC plastic pipe. I use a 3-inch diameter pipe, cut in 18-inch to 2-foot sections. At one end, I use a miter box to cut a 45-degree angle at the end. This is the end that gets pushed into the ground. The 45-degree mitered edge comes to a point and makes it easier to push into the ground.

What I like about this design is that it works well in mud and sand banks. Being hollow, the soil inside the tube provides more surface friction and seems to hold better that single spike-type stakes. Another advantage I discovered about this design is that it works well in the rip-rap we have lining much of the canal banks in this country. Try to get a steel rod holder to do that.

The plastic can be worked into the cracks between the rocks and is almost “gripped” by the rough edges. For as simple of a design as it is, and easy to make, it works quite well.

Perhaps best of all is the cost. All you need to make this type of rod holder is a piece of pipe and a hacksaw. If you have to “buy” the pipe, you’ll be out less than $20 to make a few. I admit; I have purchased new pipe to make some rod holders for fishing buddies, but most of the time I pick up a piece here and there in a dumpster at a construction site.

If you are a skeet shooter take note: The Lincoln County Wildlife Gun Club is hosting the 10th annual Jim Conley Shoot, June 17, 18 and 19. Entry fees are $47. This is a National Skeet Shooting Association registered event. There is a lot more information to this than I have room left in this column, so look for more information in my column on Thursday. In the meantime, you can call Tom Englehart at 308-520-7391 to get all the details on costs, paybacks, etc.