The author is all smiles over this chunky largemouth that he caught at Grove Lake in northeastern Nebraska. Photo by Jeff Kurrus.

When I think about Nebraska bass fishing, I think about sharing my boat with my best friends in the world.

Yes, the day at Walnut Creek that saw me catch 85 bass in less than three hours does occupy a special section of my memory, but for the most part it's always been about sharing time with good friends and, of course, catching fish. So I got on the phone and starting talking to those who had shared more than a small amount of time in a boat with me in the Cornhusker State, and asked each where he'd go if he had only one day to fish for bass in Nebraska.

I called Paul Turner first.

"How 'bout that Father's Day when we fished Fremont?" he asked, his Southern drawl bleeding into his accompanying laugh. "Those big fish were everywhere."

Each lake we went to that day gave up even more nice fish than had the one before it. That's the great thing about the Fremont State Recreation Area: It's like fishing different spots on a big reservoir. Paul and I caught fish at multiple lakes on the same day many times, with great fish always coming at lake No. 7/8 and No. 16. If you want to fish hard to reach bass in deep cover, you can do that; if you want to fish deep-diving crankbaits and plastics in clear water, that option's available as well. Just don't ever spend too long fishing one spot if you're not catching bass -- the next spot's likely to be better.

I called Robbie Gaia next. He's always talking about the multiple trips that he's made to the Louisville State Recreation Area south of Bellevue.

"I've never seen fish hit so hard before," he began. "The rain was falling so hard that one day. And they were just inhaling those scum frogs."

We were working one of the many grassbeds on the lakes when the fish began slamming into our green and white frogs. We'd overshoot our intended area, hop the plastics off the land and allow them to sit in the strike zone for as long as they could. A wrist-twitch here, another subtle twitch there; then, the strike. When we got off the grass, however, things slowed dramatically -- but we didn't let that go on for very long. At each lake we went on to target every grassy area that we could find, fishing and refishing the areas. Then the rain stopped; luckily, the fish didn't.

As I spoke with Robbie he suddenly interrupted his own story about pulling in another Louisville fish. "Verdon," he said. "How could I have forgotten about Verdon?"

I knew that was coming. Verdon is perhaps one of the best small lakes that I've ever fished, rivaling many of the great lakes I've fished in the Dakotas and Kansas. What makes Verdon so great is the amount of choice you have in terms of structure and cover. If bass aren't on the rocks, then fish the stickups; if they're not sitting above the bottom vegetation in the open water, they'll be in the heavy duckweed areas.