>8'' sunfish?

[Jim Uran]

Ive caught a ton of 8" + sunnies in my area this winter!! I'm not going to go into details though, but looking at lake surveys and actually getting out on the lake are two different animals.

[itchmesir]

The lake survey for the local lake here would have you think there wasn't a single fish in the lake..wait.. i mean.. there are no fish in the local lake

[Bluegill1510]

I'll give him my honey hole. Biggest Crappies and Sunfish I have ever found, even bigger than Upper Red Lake. Been fishing there for years and only ever ran into one other fisherman, had the whole lake to myself everyday this winter just like every year. Bass Lake on the West side of Hwy. 89, 1 mile South of the junction with Hwy 1, in Northern Minnesota. Off of Hwy. 89, turn west onto the Shell Lake Road and travel 1 mile, Bass Lake is on your left. Best fishing ever.

HAHAHAHAHA good one silkworm! There isn't anyone there for a reason! So your going to have that one to yourself for a LONG time! Its by that trout lake too...you might see me out there sometime!

Leech- I agree with you there.....you can look up all the lake surveys you want they help somewhat but you do have to do the leg work to find the fish obviously. Honestly there are quite a few good bluegill lakes out there with fish over 8", you just have to think outside of the box is all really. There have been some good informative posts already posted, so that's a start...I just think if your limiting yourself to the metro area then you will have a hard time finding those big gills but they are down there thats for sure....there is enough diverse waters and the growing season is much longer than northern or even central Minnesota. There is just WAY....WAY to many people for the amount of water there is in the metro. All common sense issues but the biggest thing is to keep trying and try different spots, lakes, lures, time periods, seasons etc....even fishing during different weather patterns can make you stumble onto those big bluegills as they snap and go on a binge for an afternoon and you can have some of the best bluegill fishing in your life in a 3 hour time frame!

[TravP]

We sat and caught 8"ers all day long last weekend on a very popular South Metro lake. Only a couple topped 8" though.

I have a hard time cleaning anything under 7.5" so if I ever do keep any it's in that 7.5-9" range.

I've fished the area Esox_Magnum speaks of and in his defense he wouldn't be able to keep anything if he released all the 9"ers.

I understand there are some great gill lakes down there, but those fish aren't born 9" long...

[Silkworm]

Outdoors

Small lakes in Red Lake Indian Reservation provide high-quality

fishing opportunities

Published July 13 2008

REDBY, Minn. — The fish twisting and turning some 20 feet below the boat clearly

was a lake trout, and it wasn’t the least bit interested in our company on this

sunny Tuesday morning in late June.

“I hope they’re biting,” Al Pemberton had said less than half an hour earlier as

he launched his 16-foot Lund off a sandy beach at the base of a grassy hill

leading to the lake.

They were, and the proof danced several feet below us at the end of Pemberton’s

12-pound-test line. Splashes of sunlight occasionally caught the laker’s silvery

flanks, giving the fish an almost eerie sheen.

In the crystal-clear water, the fish appeared close enough to reach out and

touch. After a near-miss with the net by Pemberton’s awestruck fishing partner,

a 5-pound lake trout, the perfect size for eating, flopped in the bottom of the

boat.

That didn’t take long.

We could have been fishing a remote Canadian lake, catching lake trout

surrounded by pine, spruce and birch trees, our only company loons and eagles

and other assorted wildlife.

We were, except for the Canadian part.

We were fishing a small lake in the heart of the Red Lake Indian Reservation.

Relatively unknown

It isn’t well known, but several small lakes on the reservation are open to

nontribal members by special license. Visitors also must hire a tribal guide

registered and licensed through the band.

The opportunity doesn’t extend to 152,000-acre Lower Red Lake or the 60,000

acres of Upper Red Lake that lie within reservation boundaries, which are open

only to Red Lake Band members.

But the smaller lakes provide some impressive fishing opportunities.

According to Pemberton, 54, director of the Red Lake Band’s Department of

Natural Resources, that includes everything from bluegills and largemouth bass —

species vary by lake — to the lake trout we catch on Green Lake, an 80-acre

jewel near the town of Redby.

“There’s quite a few lake trout swimming around out here,” Pemberton said.

Small before big

No wonder, then, that Pemberton, of Redby, spends more time fishing the smaller

lakes than he does on the sometimes-treacherous waters of Lower and Upper Red.

“Why should I when I have all of this in my backyard?” he said.

Pemberton, who also serves on the Red Lake Tribal Council, says he takes maybe

seven or eight people a year fishing on the small lakes within the reservation.

Most outsiders, he says, think Red Lake’s restrictions also apply to other

reservation lakes.

“It would be good for the tribe if they got more people, but I don’t think a lot

of people realize (the opportunity) is there,” Pemberton said. “They’re

surprised. Just the thought of going out and catching two or three different

kinds of fish during the day, they like that.

“You don’t have to fish the big lake.”

Pemberton on this day plans to show off two of the reservation’s lakes. We’ll

spend the morning testing the waters of Green for lake trout. After lunch, we’ll

hit Bass Lake, a shallower lake well off the beaten path that teems with pike,

panfish, bass and some big walleyes.

Our first stop, Green, has a natural herring forage base, and the band stocks

lake trout every few years, using adult fish from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service’s federal hatchery in Wisconsin.

The fish don’t reproduce, Pemberton says, but they do well in Green.

“It’s pretty good they let us have them,” Pemberton said.

The screen on Pemberton’s depth-finder shows most of the lake trout are holding

in 35 to 40 feet of water. Green and other trout lakes on the reservation are

limited to electric motors, and we troll deep-diving crankbaits far behind the

boat.

The lures might not dive to 40 feet, but the lake trout can see a long ways in

the clear water.

‘Trout drought’ ends

In the way lake trout fishing often is, there’s a lull after Pemberton catches

the first lake trout, and we troll for nearly an hour before he begins to mark

concentrations of fish.

We spend the time making boat conversation, covering everything from fishing to

Minnesota high school hockey.

Pemberton also is a devoted Minnesota Vikings fan, which by default qualifies

him as an optimist. He has the same outlook when it comes to fishing. If we’re

lucky, Pemberton says, maybe we’ll tie into a real lunker. Lakers weighing 15

pounds aren’t uncommon — his grandson, Brennen Pemberton, 13, caught one just a

few days earlier — and bigger fish lurk in Green’s depths.

“There’s one that’s 25-30 pounds,” he said. “I thought I had him a couple of

years ago.”

Pemberton says he fought that fish more than an hour, only to discover when he

got it to the boat that he’d foul-hooked a lake trout in the cheek.

No pressure, I joke, but I haven’t caught a lake trout since a 2005 fly-in trip

to northern Manitoba.

It wasn’t for lack of trying.

“They’re showing up on the depthfinder,” Pemberton said. “Now, if we can just

get them to bite.”

The words are barely out of his mouth when I feel the smash of a lake trout.

There’s no guessing when these fish hit.

Then I see it far below, doing the lake trout dance. It barrels for the depths

at the sight of the boat, and I hang on and enjoy the ride until Pemberton

sweeps up the 5-pound lake trout in his net.

After three agonizing years, the “trout drought” is history.

I keep the fish for the grill. Half an hour later, I catch another that’s too

big to keep. Barely 10 minutes after that, another lake trout slams my line, and

I eventually land a fish that we estimate weighs 10 to 12 pounds.

Three lake trout in 45 minutes; all, once again, is right with the world.

“We know where they’re at now,” Pemberton says.

Career switch

A lifelong hunting and fishing fanatic, Pemberton took over the helm of the Red

Lake DNR six years ago. As director, he oversees a department of about 80

employees who work in such areas as fish, wildlife, forestry and waters.

It was quite a change from his old job as a forestry technician taking inventory

of timber stands for the tribal DNR.

“I was happy where I was,” Pemberton said. “You’ve got to like being out in the

boonies to do that. I liked timber sales. It’s a lot different being the boss.”

Still, he makes time to get outdoors.

“I like it all,” Pemberton said. “Ducks, geese, partridges or deer.

“I was hooked on fishing a long time ago,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun. My wife

did it for awhile, but she said I stayed out too long.”

There’s no such thing as staying out too long on a sunny day on a beautiful lake

where the lake trout are biting, but there’s new water to explore.

We’ve landed seven lake trout, releasing all but two, when we break for lunch

after four hours of fishing.

Hungry pike

If the lake trout were cooperative, the northern pike were downright voracious

on Bass Lake, which Pemberton reached after we bounce in his truck through the

woods on a maze of roads less traveled.

Several places would be impassable after a rainstorm.

Pemberton’s grandson and frequent fishing partner, Brennen, joins us for the

afternoon, and we release perhaps 50 pike in about 2½ hours casting weed lines

with small jigs and spinners with twister tails.

Most of the pike are 5 pounds or less, but we land a half-dozen 30 inches or

larger.

Pemberton catches the biggest, a thick and healthy 38-inch northern that casts

an imposing form in the water.

“He hit and didn’t move,” Pemberton said. “There’s bigger ones in here. I let

one go in here that was 24 pounds.”

The lake has bass and walleyes, too, but that will have to wait until next time.

There’s not another boat — or person — in sight.

Most band members, he says, prefer to fish Red Lake walleyes.

“Can you imagine how many people would be in here if this was on the outside?”

Pemberton says, referring to areas off the reservation. “These little lakes

don’t get bothered too much.”

Grand Forks Herald 375 2nd Ave. N., Grand Forks, ND 58206-6008 | Phone: (701)

780-1100

© 2008 Forum Communications Co. — All rights reserved

[pureinsanity]

Ive caught my biggest panfish in ponds and pond run offs that probably never get touched because most people wouldn't believe there if fish out in such a small area or in a slough.

[dairyman]

here's one I got today-----10 inches----still swimming too

[Zelmsdawg]

Thanks Silkworm, I wasn't aware of that and might look into it sometime.

Dtro, I'm pretty sure I've been C&Ring those sunnies on the same lake you are. Kinda stumbled into them by accident last year and have been enjoying that class since.

Zelmsdawg

[TravP]

here's one I got today-----10 inches----still swimming too

Nice dinner plate!

[Kettle]

I would agree with pureinsanity, the majority of my larger blue gills I have caught have been in smaller ponds and river backwaters, the best luck I have had were some backwater spots on the rum north of St. Francis and most of these have been caught on small leeches and jigs. I would recommend that if you want to find the larger gills find backwaters on any river, fish em hard and you will find them, rivers typically are underfished and who fishes rivers for gills, very few....

[reinhard1]

very nice gill. glad i'ts still swimming as well. good luck.

[SmellEsox]

We do a lot of panfish netting in late May and early June when bluegills are nesting to truly document panfish quality in our lakes. Whoever said panfish netting in summer rarely shows true quality is absolutely correct. In our area, lakes that have significant numbers of fish over 8" are either overlooked, or the fish have very fast growth rates. Harvest pressure is so intense on bluegills that we see numbers of fish greater than 7" drop off drastically in our length distributions.

As far as regulating panfish is concerned, good luck with that. We held a public meeting to discuss possible lakes that would benefit from a special reg and just about got tarred and feathered. People want to keep their sunfish and don't want regulation.

As far as keeping larger bluegills, do your lake a favor and keep females and release males. Research has shown that removing the large parental males has caused declines in bluegill quality in lakes. Big males guard the nests and when they are removed in large numbers, the genetics can be altered to smaller slower growing fish. Many people release the females because "they have all the eggs". But there are plenty of eggs out there. You need the big males in the population to do the breeding.

[Avid Angler]

Smell Esox,

Amen to this. I am trying to get some of the more popular fishing shows and the DNR to do more education about how to tell the difference between male and female bluegills. I know some darn experienced anglers out there that don't have a clue of how to tell the difference. Release the big mature males and keep smaller males and females. If more people would know this, I think people would catch on because they would realize that they can still keep plenty to eat without hurting the population. The tough part is releasing those big males, but once you do it a few times it becomes natural and you feel good about what you are doing.

If we can start educating people and get the word out. It will come together. You will some people that won't change, but if the majority do, it will be a big help to our lakes.

For those who can't tell the difference between a male and female bluegill, do some internet searching and learn. I have a good HSOforum for this, but am not allowed to post on here. Send me a PM if interested.

Avid

[efishsport]

To Silkworm, is this Bass Lake located in Effie????

[aanderud]

I don't fish for sunfish usually...but one thing I notice when I'm crappie fishing in the winter is that bigazz gills will hit a jig with a minnow on it. Ever try using minnows for sunfish in the summer, to keep the little guys away a little bit?

[Brad B]

I don't fish for sunfish usually...but one thing I notice when I'm crappie fishing in the winter is that bigazz gills will hit a jig with a minnow on it. Ever try using minnows for sunfish in the summer, to keep the little guys away a little bit?

.

Brian,

I have seen this also. if the gills find the minnow and they are aggressive they will hit it and like you said they are on the larger side. I got a large pumpkin seed doing this last year.