Bluegill Infestation

[WasteManagement]

Was at my uncles near Bigfork MN this past week end. Did not catch a Rainbow. But at the end i wanted to go away with something. Targeted the little minows. Thinking they would be shiners. They ended being bluegills. Lots of tiny ones. Silver dollars.

Illegal minows are one thing. But planting sunnies seems a bit much for a decent trout lake. There are tons of little lakes in the area and some failed trout lakes in itasca county.

Maybe a dumb question before i get too negative. Would rainbows and sunnies work well in a lake? Or would the gills eventually eat all the forage and push out the rainbows? Leaving a lake of stunted gills. Its only a 15 acre lake.

Could they turn it into a brown/splake lake and let the gills get eating beofre long. Or would that just prolong the problem.

Or do i need to find a different trout lake when i visit my uncle?

[waterbound]

I don't think the bluegills will present a major problem, but it can't be good for the lake. Brown trout would effectively control small fish, but splake would do so even better, and faster too. Don't give up on the lake, but contact the DNR about the bluegills. They may be natural of course, but the DNR doesn't generally stock trout in lakes with significant populations of other fish.

[dudewheresmyboat]

There are a lot of lakes in northern wi that are Great trout lakes that have gills, crappies and lmb. The lakes are still producing some monster trout to this day. I dont' think that will be a problem, but i'm no fish biologist.