Year Round Fishing

Fishing has always been the primary drawing card at Lake Mac, with its cool, clear, deep waters. Game fish vary from the sporty rainbow trout to the every-day channel catfish. Prized most highly by the local angler is the walleye, and Nebraska’s current state record of 16-lbs., 2 oz. came from Lake McConaughy. Also top ranked is the white bass fishing. In recent years, wipers, a white bass/striped bass hybrid, have been stocked in the lake, offering a tackle-testing contest the angler will not soon forget. A few large striped bass still remain in the lake from stockings in the 1970s and 80s.

In a typical year, a Lake McConaughy angler’s diary might read something like this:

Ice-out at west end in the early spring, excellent channel catfishing late April-early May, good walleye fishing along the dam May through June, walleye fishing in bays and upper end of the lake June and July, trolling for rainbow trout June through August, spin-casting the southeast bays for smallmouth bass July and August, white bass fishing over most of the lake September through October, striped bass along the north shore.