Fishing near Kearney, NE

Set in Buffalo County in south-central Nebraska, Kearney sits along the Platte River, a shallow, braided, sand-bottomed channel that anchors local fishing. Anglers work the river's deeper holes and bends for channel and flathead catfish, then fan out to a network of sandpit lakes, community ponds, and reservoirs. Marquee day trips include Johnson Lake (2,068 acres, ~30 miles SW), Sherman Reservoir, and Harlan County Lake (13,250 acres), Nebraska's second-largest lake.