Fishing at Bos Lake, Sheridan County, Nebraska

• Overview

  Set in Sheridan County, Nebraska, this is Bos Lake. Everything around it is rolling bush. Roughly 63 acres: a morning covers one end, an afternoon the other. The edge runs 2.9 miles or so, easy to work in an afternoon. Some 38 miles away sits Gordon, the nearest settlement. Alliance follows at 49 miles, then Pine Ridge at 60 miles. It lies deep inside the county rather than near an edge.

• Where to Fish on Bos Lake

  No published figure covers depth, so learn it as you fish. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Records held for Sheridan County cover white sucker, brown trout and rock bass. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. Work Bos Lake in sections rather than trying to cover it.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 72°F at the top of summer and 22°F at the bottom of winter. Winter puts a hard lid on this one. Firm cover through the cold months, then open water from late March. On the long-run averages the water opens up around late March and starts locking again about early December. Early summer and early autumn carry the open-water season. Bos Lake runs to that rhythm year in and year out.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. Mapping shows no built access close by; expect to walk in from wherever you can leave the car. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Parking space is the usual limit rather than the bank itself. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. Red Mill Lake, 0.7 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Check the position at Bos Lake before loading the car.