Why not a season

[City_Slicker]

Why dont pan fish have season like the other game fish? I belive that is why it is so hard to find big pan fish. Wouldnt it be nice just to beable to catch big sunnies now and then. I catch about 3 really big sunnies a year.

[Guest]

There is not a season because people think of them as "panfish" and not for the true trophies they can be. The problem with gills in particular is that "our" way of thinking is not condusive to producing big bulls. We as anglers tend to harvest the larger fish leaving the smaller ones. I have long been a supporter of a protective slot on gills. I have no problem with a person taking 30 gills home but I do have a problem with a person taking 30 seven inch plus gills home. Gills are prolific spawners and can handle extreme fishing pressure, but you will end up with a lot of small fish in the lake is the catch & sort continues.

I know I have gotten away from the topic, but I enjoy being able to fish year around and the problem we have is not a "season" problem it is a fisheries management problem. Oh, and lowering the limit to 20 isn't going to make a difference. They should have increased the limit to 40 but only 5 or 10 over 7 inches. There are lots of other reasons that we see lots of small fish in lakes and those would have to be addressed also. It takes good balance in a lake to produce big gills and unfortunatly the balance in many of our lakes has been destroyed or shifted.ScottS

[fishnutbob]

Scotts,Your reply to sunnies was interesting as I fish a lake that the DNR manages for sunnies and the limit is five and every time I've been there I keep my five and I measure them when I get home and the smallest is 7.25 " and the largest was 8.5" I like what the DNR is doing on this lake they also dont allow any keeping of Bass all catch and release to keep the small sun fish down, so what you said catch 40 but keep only 5 or 6 over 7" makes sense. I fish mtka alot for sunnies and I find alot of large sunnies over deep water that are 7 0r 8 inches the bigger sunnies are there but you need to get away from the weeds to catch them. Fishnutbob

[Guest]

Thanks for your input fishnutbob. Large Mouth Bass are key to keeping bluegill populations in check. It would be nice to see a zero limit on Large Mouth Bass on all lakes. They are a very important part of the balance in many lakes.

Lakes that have a bluegill limit of 5 have proven their ability to produce large gills. I would not like to see this limit on every lake because certain lakes are incapable of producing or sustaining large numbers of bluegill. The limit I was talking about would work well on those lakes that used to produce big gills but are currenly full of little ones.

I have had many coversations with the DNR about this. I would be nice to see each lake managed with specific regulations that pertain the "state of the fishery". But, obvioulsy this would take significant resources to pull off.ScottS