A World Apart

Nestled within the north-central part of Nebraska’s arid Sandhills is a seemingly inappropriate body of water that penetrates three valleys with squidlike tentacles. Merritt Reservoir was created in 1964 when the Snake River was dammed near its confluence with Boardman Creek, flooding both valleys

Many anglers go to Merritt exclusively for the panfishing, especially later in the year.

as well as the reservoir’s third meandering arm, called the Powder Horn because of its unique shape. In all, Merritt Reservoir can hold nearly 75,000 acre-feet of water, much of which is eventually channeled through a cement-lined canal to irrigate nearly 35,000 acres of farmland.

Merritt Reservoir, however, means much more than water for corn. More than 44 miles of sandy shoreline encircle the nearly 3,000 surface acres of water, and its striking scenery and peaceful surroundings offer Sandhills solitude for those seeking respite from the

One of Merritt's most addicted anglers, John Bauer reels in a nice northern pike in the Boardman arm of the lake.

hubbub of daily life. The lake is so far from city lights that stargazers make a pilgrimage to Merritt annually to peer deep into the heavens with powerful telescopes. Others focus their attention through another type of lens, as nature photographers capture images of the area’s unique natural legacy, including bald eagles and trumpeter swans.

Where there is big water in Nebraska, there are also likely to be big fish, and anglers have found Merritt Reservoir quite habit forming. John Bauer is one of Merritt’s most addicted anglers. A diehard bass fisherman, Bauer has had great success fishing Merritt’s ample structure, and for years he traversed the 100 miles of patchwork highway between North Platte and the Sandhills reservoir, often several times each summer. Many of those trips involved traveling a short stretch of road north of Mullen that was commonly referred to as “the dirty thirteen” for a baker’s dozen miles of treacherous terrain that by summer’s end was often strewn with bolts from boat trailers, fenders and rollers.

Today, those thirteen miles are covered by a smooth-surfaced highway, but Bauer travels the road less frequently. When the Trading Post, Merritt’s only concession, came up for sale last year, Bauer and his wife Regina bought it.

Stocky largemouth bass provide great sport for shoreline and boat anglers alike.

“This was a dream of a lifetime,” Bauer recalled last September as he sacked a few candy bars, a soda and a handful of brightly painted jigs for a customer. “I might not get to fish as much as I would like with my new responsibilities, but I’m here on the lake and you can’t improve on that very much.”

Bauer got a chance to skip work later that morning, so with a heavy fog hanging over the lake, he fueled his boat and headed toward the Boardman arm, hoping to sneak up on a few bass that he thought would be shallow around submerged trees. His hunch paid off, as he was soon able to catch and release several chunky largemouth bass. Bauer was in his element. Surrounded by golden ash and cottonwoods, red sumac and the fluorescent grasses of fall, he propped himself against his casting seat and let the silent turn of his electric motor’s propeller move him from tree to tree.

On his way out of the Boardman arm, he anchored at the mouth of the creek and jigged up several nice crappies for lunch before heading up the Snake arm toward the bird trees. When Merritt’s dam flooded the Snake River Valley, a cottonwood grove was overtaken by water and soon attracted the nesting interest of a large colony of cormorants. Anglers referred to the spot as the bird trees, and it became a favorite fishing hole for many. Today only the protruding snags of those trees remain visible, but it is still a popular destination for anglers familiar with the reservoir.

At the bird trees Bauer continued to flip for bass, but he remained constantly aware that fish of much larger proportions have claimed some of this territory. Merritt’s muskies are notorious lure thieves that only rarely lose a battle with anglers, and the lake currently claims the muskellunge state record.

Nestled in the Sandhills, a high water line and exposed beach show the result of irrigation demands by late-summer.

At 41 pounds, 8 ounces, that fish was big enough that the record is likely to stand for a while, but according to Nebraska Game and Parks Commission fisheries biologist Joel Klammer of Ainsworth, “If the record is broken in the near future, it will likely be broken at Merritt. Our muskie fishery has responded well to alternate-year stockings of advanced muskies, and muskie catches are no longer rarities.”

Klammer said the Commission will begin stocking muskie at Merritt every third year now, because recent studies indicate that a single, strong year-class can sustain a trophy muskie fishery for many years. Muskies are long lived, and given a strong prey base, adequate habitat and catch-and-release adherents, stockings need not occur as frequently.

Klammer thinks that Merritt could be one of the best spots in Nebraska for big walleye this year, as it ranked fourth for the species during the 2005 fall netting surveys. Survey nets not only captured a lot of walleye at Merritt, they also caught a large percentage from 15 to 25 inches in length, with a few over 25 inches.

Klammer said that although the size of Merritt’s channel catfish has fallen off from the whopping 20-pound-plus class of fish it once produced, it is still a good place for channel catfish weighing three to ten pounds.

The lake also continues to be popular among panfishing enthusiasts. “We have three species of panfish — crappie, perch and bluegill — and in almost any given year one of those species will have a strong population,” said Klammer, who added that the area’s panfishing gets better as the fall months approach and continues to improve through the ice fishing season. Many anglers come to Merritt exclusively for the panfish, he said, instead of the trophy muskie and walleyes.

Submerged trees and sunken cedar trees in the Boardman arm make great fish attractors for anglers.

After fishing the bird trees, Bauer had to head back to work. The rest of the day was spent at the resort where he and his family manage the modern cabins and the beautiful Waters Edge Restaurant and Lounge in addition to providing guide service and boat rental.

En route to one of the lake’s fish-cleaning stations, Bauer’s boat passed by several camping areas on the east shore of the lake. A solitary camping unit could be seen on a high bank overlooking the scenic shoreline, and dog boxes were visible in the bed of the truck. The prairie grouse season had recently opened, and Merritt’s campgrounds provide excellent base camps for bird hunters, who like to branch out into adjacent grouse range. Some who visit Merritt in the fall combine fishing and hunting, finding they have a lot of elbowroom for both.

Tom Krolikowski, a Commission biologist at Valentine, manages more than 6,000 acres of wildlife land around Merritt Reservoir. He said grouse hunting has been excellent there the past couple of years. Krolikowski’s upland game bird management is designed primarily to help sharp-tailed grouse through techniques that improve nesting and brood-rearing cover.

“Our goal is to improve desirable plant diversity,” Krolikowski said. “To do so we are employing high intensity, short-duration grazing mostly throughout the month of May and the first week or so of June. We received a grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust to fund cross fencing with high tensile electric wire. The cross fencing will allow us to target and intensify our grazing effort with a rotational grazing system.”

Krolikowski said hunters visiting Merritt get an extra bonus because Samuel R. McKelvie National Forest borders Merritt’s wildlife management area, providing an additional 115,000 acres of public hunting. Hunters should find good numbers of mule and white-tailed deer on both state and federal lands, along with some fairly decent wild turkey numbers, Krolikowski said.

The lone grouse hunter was camped with his dogs at Merritt’s Cedar Bay State Recreation Area. His two pointers, a pup and one slightly gray older dog, were his only companions at Cedar Bay, although two parties of hunters were staying at Beed’s Landing on the Boardman. It was late fall, and the nights had been chilly, actually downright cold, in northern Nebraska. Daytime temps, however, were unseasonably warm. The hunter had been working his dogs for sharptails early and late, but both hunter and beasts kicked back and enjoyed the beauty of the reservoir during the mid-day heat.

During the traditional camping season from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, the campgrounds at Merritt are more lively but rarely crowded. Park superintendent Loren Murray said he’s seen some big changes around the Sandhills reservoir in recent years.

“Our most notable improvement was the modernization of the Cedar Bay Recreation Area, which brought the first electrical hookups to Merritt in the history of the reservoir,” Murray said.

“We chose Cedar Bay for our updating effort because it’s centrally located on the lake three miles south of the dam on highway 97. We installed 20-, 30- and 50-amp services to the campsites. Of the 28 modern camping pads at Cedar Bay, eight have the 50-amp services, which are necessary for motor homes and large fifth wheels that utilize twin air-conditioning units,” he said.

Also located at Cedar Bay is a modern shower building that is wheelchair- accessible and approachable by a wide, concrete walkway. A trailer dumping station is located near the concession area by the dam.

Eight camping areas support 200 campsites that are strategically spaced along Merritt’s shore. All but the Cedar Bay campsites are designated as primitive sites, but each individual site has a picnic table, and each campground has a picnic shelter. Merritt can host about 600 visitors at capacity.

The Merritt Trading Post has long been a remote stopping place for anglers and ranchers.

The lake normally suffers from extreme irrigation drawdown by summer’s end, but the Commission took advantage of a recent drawdown to lengthen and widen two of the lake’s five boat ramps. In past years, ramps at Beed’s Landing and Cedar Bay were left high and dry by mid-August. Now both Beed’s and Cedar Bay’s ramps remain in the water and they have also been widened. Two docks are located at each of the extended ramps to provide for extra traffic.

A concrete comfort station is installed at Beed’s Landing and one of the lake’s two fish-cleaning stations is also located there. The other fish- cleaning station is located at the main area near the concession. Here Bauer cleaned the few crappies he caught for lunch. He spent the remainder of the day preparing his rental boats and motors for winter. There was a definite change in weather riding the newly formed northwest wind. His next visitors would be waterfowl from the Dakotas and the neighboring Sandhills lakes that freeze early. Then would come the goose hunters with their boat blinds and decoys.