The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission will consider amendments to sportfishing orders when it meets Oct. 10 at Niobrara State Park. These orders regard daily bag limits, possession limits and open areas.
The meeting will begin at 8 a.m. in Eagle View Group Lodge at the park located at 89261 522 Ave., Niobrara.
Proposed amendments to sportfishing orders would, among other things:
- clarify that the two-fish daily trout limit at the Soldier Creek Wilderness Area may include only one fish 16 inches or longer;
- add Marlin Petermann Recreation Area in Douglas County to the list of waters with a two-fish daily bag limit and 12-inch maximum length limit on smallmouth bass;
- add Marlin Petermann Recreation Area to the list of waters with a daily bag limit of five yellow perch;
- add Wolbach City Lake in Greeley County, Forest City Recreation Area in Sarpy County and Mad Bear Recreation Area in Sarpy County to the list of waters with a one-fish daily bag limit and 21-inch minimum length limit on black bass;
- rescind the exceptions (one over 34 inches or longer, no minimum length, three-fish bag limit, three-fish possession limit) on muskellunge and tiger muskellunge at Pelican Lake in Cherry County; and
- confirm legal paddlefish archery fishing hours of sunrise to sunset.
Commissioners also will consider sportfishing regulation amendments that would remove redundant language, reorganize paddlefish regulations for clarity, provide new definitions of terms, and add new water bodies and renovated water bodies to the list of waters where possession of live baitfish is unlawful.
Commissioners will consider wildlife regulation amendments that would clarify rules for buying a preference or bonus point, allow the use of breech-loading muzzleloaders during the muzzleloader season, combine checking requirements for bobcat, gray fox and river otter, and move language on incidentally caught otters from one chapter of regulations to another.
Among other proposed wildlife amendments are those that would:
- change the date a youth must be 15 to be eligible for a youth deer permit and eliminate the requirement for participants in the Free-earned Landowner Elk Program to designate their earned permit for the following elk season from when they earn them;
- specify which birds are defined as nuisance birds, clarify when a permit may be issued, and clarify which parts may not be bought, sold or bartered;
- add a carriage to the list of vehicles not allowed on a wildlife management area, with exceptions; and
- make some changes to area-specific regulations on the following wildlife management areas: Catfish Run, Enders, Gifford Point, Kea West, Medicine Creek, Oak Glen, Randall W. Schilling, Red Willow and Swanson.
In other business, commissioners will consider staff recommendations to approve:
- fee increases for park lodging and rental facilities;
- a lease agreement for 90 acres in Sioux County for the Bighorn Sheep Restoration Facility, contingent upon securing funding through grants and donations;
- the 2026-2028 Focus on Education Plan “Education Strategy: Connecting Through Experience”;
- the 2026-2030 Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan to maintain eligibility for the Land and Water Conservation Fund Statewide Assistance Program through the National Park Service;
- the Recreational Road Program’s 1-5 Year Plan; and
- the 2026 Nebraska Game and Parks meeting schedule.
To view a complete agenda, visit OutdoorNebraska.gov and search for “public notices.” To view proposed changes to Commission regulations and orders, search for “regulations.”
