Loup River Fishing Guides and Conditions, Nebraska

About the Loup River

The Loup River is what a Great Plains sand-bed river looks like when it is still working the way it always has. Its North, Middle and South forks drain the Nebraska Sandhills and come together above Columbus, and the USGS gauge near Genoa reads the main stem on the reach below that junction, a few miles above the Platte confluence. The gauge reports discharge and stage but carries no current water temperature series, which matters less here than on a trout river; on the Loup, stage is the number that tells you whether the sandbars are walkable.

The Loup is broad, shallow and braided, running over shifting sand between low cottonwood banks, and it is fished on foot far more than from a boat. Waders work the bars and the deeper cut channels for channel catfish, which are the mainstay, and for flathead catfish that get genuinely large in the log jams and deep bends. Walleye and sauger run the river out of the Platte and the lower Loup, white bass push up in spring, and shovelnose sturgeon hold in the fastest sand-bottomed chutes, one of the more distinctive catches available anywhere on the plains. Smallmouth bass turn up around rock riprap and bridge structure.

There is essentially no commercial guiding on the Loup main stem. Nebraska guides work the Missouri, the reservoirs and the Sandhills lakes, and the Loup is fished by locals who know which bridge crossings and public accesses put them on the right bars. Access is a mix of county road crossings, public bridge easements, wildlife management areas and a good deal of private ground that needs permission. The Loup Power Canal diverts a share of the flow above Genoa and adds its own fishery.

Flow drives everything. After a wet spring or a big rain the river runs high and dangerous over unstable sand, and wading it is a genuinely bad idea; at moderate to low summer and fall flows it is one of the more pleasant places in Nebraska to spend a day. June through September is the core season, with the best catfishing on warm nights and the walleye and sauger fishing improving as water cools in October. Nebraska licenses are required and the regulations linked below carry current limits.

Access

Genoa river access at the USGS gauge - the flow reference and a walk-in wading point on the lower main stem.
Columbus area accesses near the Platte confluence - the downstream end of the river and the best walleye water.
Loup Power Canal diversion near Genoa - separate canal fishery with bank access.
Fullerton and Palmer bridge crossings - middle-river access to the sandbars.
St. Paul area accesses on the North and Middle forks - upper-basin wading above the junction.
Genoa and Monroe county road crossings - bridge access points scattered along the lower river.
Wildlife management area frontage along the lower Loup - public walk-in access to the river bottom.

Seasons

Spring: high and pushy on snowmelt and rain, with white bass and walleye running up out of the Platte as it settles.
Summer: the core season, with wadeable sandbars and the best channel and flathead catfishing on warm nights.
Fall: cooling water and low clear flows bring the walleye and sauger fishing to its peak in October.
Winter: low and cold with ice on the slack water; limited fishing and difficult access.