Conestoga Lake in Lancaster County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Conestoga Lake is listed under Lancaster County, Nebraska. It sits in rolling bush country. It measures about 190 acres, which is a comfortable size for bank fishing. Shoreline comes to about 2.3 miles, small enough to learn in a day. It is among the larger waters listed here for Lancaster County. Some 10 miles away sits Lincoln, the nearest settlement. It is 9.9 miles to Lincoln, the nearest city. This one sits near enough to a boundary to be worth checking.

• Where to Fish on Conestoga Lake

  The charted maximum sits at about 16 feet. Held water runs deepest at the wall and shallows back to the inflow. Rip-rap along the wall holds fish that the open bank never does. Open biodiversity records for Lancaster County list green sunfish, common carp, flathead catfish and bluegill. Records at county level tell you what is around, not what is stocked here. Read Conestoga Lake before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages move between 23°F in January and 77°F in July. Expect a real winter and a strong spring after it. After mid March the shallows warm and the fish move up. Climate averages put the opening at about mid March and the closing near mid December. The strong weeks are the first after break-up and the last before the freeze. Conestoga Lake runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. There is a mapped slipway roughly half a mile away. Parking is close: a car park sits half a mile from the bank. There are toilets mapped about half a mile away. For the catfish, fish bottom baits into the deeper holes and let them sit. Ask in the nearest town if you are unsure. Check whether bait restrictions apply before you buy any. If the gate is shut, Yankee Hill Lake at 4.3 miles is the nearest alternative. Where Conestoga Lake is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.