Our fragile panfish population

[panniesCPR]

Great article Jim. I couln't agree with you more. After being a long time observer, this article actually got me to register for the forum!!

This problem is much worse towards the cities. Around here, it's a rare occurance to catch a 6 ounch sunfish. The size structure will only get worse with time in all areas of the state.

There definately needs to be statewide reduction in limits. I would love to see regulations of only being able to keep so many in the daily limit > 9 inches. This would help to preserve the bigger fish, and make people practice selective harvest.

Thanks again Jim!

[JigNPlastic]

Great discussion and good post Jim. I have been fishing the area for only 5 years since my in laws fixed up a cabin in the Taconite area. I have been amazed by the different generational views of acceptable harvest. Most of my in law's family is from the Range area and they are pretty firm that natures animals are meant to be harvested 'because that is the way we have always done it.' In the last five years I have really worked hard to try to show them the other side of the arguement and it is amazing how far they have come in their idea of the proper harvest. We still eat a ton of awesome panfish fries but we do throw all the big ones back (after the cool pictures that my two girls love to take with the 'big ones'). I have even heard my father in law teaching my daughter the reasons for throwing back the largest fish. It is this generational change that I see as the biggest need, once we get over doing it 'because it has always been down that way' and start doing it because we feel it is the right way we will be on our way to progress.

Just my two cents,

JigNPlastic

[Zmar]

I agree 101% with your well written piece. The emphasis has always been placed on the "Glamour" species. The lake that I reside on has always been noted as a quality pan fishery. Both in size and population. This no longer the case. The resident fishermen and others treat the bluegill and crappie like an infinite resource. In a 300 acre lake it is most definitely a finite resource. I am appalled by the number of fisher/people that sit on a spawning bed until every last female is gone. I must admit that I was guilty of that in my younger days, but no longer. I would truly like a closed season from the last two weeks of May to the end of June. I know these are the bread and butter species for the DNR and unlikely to change. I would like to see a catch and release every other year for lakes as well. If something isn't done quality panfish will go the way of the 40" northern pike.

[danfall]

I think the Mn DNR has done a pretty decent job of managing the resource. Limits are lower than ever before. I have fished stunted lakes and found mismanagement is generally in not allowing more liberal fishing on those waters.

Bluegill are a unique fish. They don't always grow big just due to tight limits. Some don't have the genetic disposition and some lakes don't have the food.

I personally think a limit of 20 stinks. If you go fishing one week a year and get 35 sunnies; you do a lot less damage than the guy who takes 25 a week all summer from the same lake.

I would advocate for a registration system, where you are allowed say 100 a season max and you need to declare each catch, but you'll never see sunnies treated like ling cod in BC when it isn't done for walleye either.

The best plan is regulate where need is great and educate best practices.

As much as I enjoy sunnies, I don't agree with the article fully because I think the dnr is doing a decent job.

[panman]

Thanks for the great article Jim. We need this awareness to reach all fisherman. Like many others who have replied I have my own "regulations" that my boat follows. We will keep sunfish in the 6"-8" range and return the larger ones. Many of the lakes I fish have a healthy bass and northern population and they help take care of the little ones. If everyone keeps "thinking" we can all keep fishing.

[popriveter]

I kept and ate 10 panfish last week. The largest just touched 8". All but 3 were under 7". My young daughter and I made a dinner of them and I had enough left over to make a fish sandwich for lunch the next day. These were not large fish, but they were well worth the effort.

I was raised to view most of these sunfish to be too small to keep. I read, learned, and adjusted my attitude. I support regs that help encourage this same change in mindset.

I live in the TC metro and have seen 20+ years of stunted sunfish populations. I really think stricter number-based limits would not help metro lakes. So many of these lakes have such a miniscule size structure that no one harvests currently. (for example, in 30 years fishing Crystal lake, I've never seen an angler keep a sunfish.) That's why I think the regs should include un-limiting the harvest under a set length. If folks want to feed their gardens with 4" sunfish they can unstunt a population. If I were allowed to take the time to clean fifty 6" sunnies for my family, I'd actually contribute to a larger heathier size structure while eating well. As it currently sits, those two examples are illegal but I can kill the twenty largest panfish I can catch on any given day- which, while legal, is way more destructive. If the limit is reduced, it encourages the mentality to shift to seeking the 10 (or however many) largest panfish one can catch. Seems like it may intensify the focus on the largest, most vulnerable fish.

We need to redefine the word "keeper." My daughter is 5 and she already knows when to say,"that one is too big to keep." Maybe she'll even get to say that about a sunfish from Crystal someday.

[Jim Uran]

" My daughter is 5 and she already knows when to say,"that one is too big to keep."

Hahaha!! I love it! that's the same way my kids are too, 9 and 3, they understand what I tell them and why we are throwing them back so hopefully they absorb the same mindset and continue this trend, even if it isn't law..

[tolle141]

There is nothing wrong with dakhouse spearing northerns... nothing anymore wrong than harvesting or releasing (catch and release OR look and release) them by any other method that is.

I don't think you will find many people out there that do not agree that we need to harvest more small northern pike. Release the big ones, harvest the small ones... pretty simple concept.

Harvest them by hook and line, harvest them by darkhouse spear, dead is dead. Put the small ones in the pickle jar and the lakes are better off because of it.

MN pretty much has a catch and release only esox, and a harvestable esox. If you want a catch and release only esox, stick to muskies, if you would like to take a meal of esox home every now and again stick to the northern pike. It seems like a pretty fair compromise to me?

.

Could it be that the reason spearers get a bad rap is because of the arbitrary cap on the number of lakes that can have special regs? I'm not for limiting spearing in the same way that I'm not for capping the number of lakes that are managed for trophy sized fish.

[Tom7227]

Spend some time reading the various scientific reports that you can find here: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/publications/fisheries/investigational_reports.html

I have read many of them and from what I can see there is no sure thing in terms of panfish population controls. They have tried numerous strategies and as far as I've read they have not found a magic solution.

[Deet]

How long does it take a "fished-out" lake to recover?

The lake on which I live supposedly had a decent crappie population until about 15 years ago when it had a great population of large crappies. This is the story from one of my neighbors who remorsefully admits he played a large part in "fishing out" the lake. It is less than 100 acres in size and has a public access. I have tried to find crappies out there about a half-dozen times in each the spring and winter with no success. Two of my neighbors each have been unable to catch crappies for the past five years or so. They are apparently entirely absent. The only reason I suspect a few remain is that I have seen one group out ice fishing two or three times each winter for the past three years over the obvious "crappie hole". This leads me to believe there are still a few fish left out there. That, or they are just hopeful for a rebound sooner or later, and they keep checking each year.

Interestingly enough, each year I find a small population of small bluegills. It doesn't seem like they are overabundant by any means, which would typically result in stunted fish. They’re actually tough to find in the summer, and when you do find them, none of them are big. I caught the biggest bluegill of my life on this lake about 17 years ago, then didn’t fish it for about 14 years, and now I can’t believe there are no quality panfish.

Maybe I suck at fishing, but for discussion's sake, let's just say it got "fished out" 15 years ago. Should it have rebounded by now?

[fishuhalik]

Chances are there was a die off of some sort. It's impossible to fish out a lake. The quality of fish will change, but you will never get all of em. A lake my dad use to fish a lot had the same phenomenon. Great crappie lake, now they're nowhere to be found. Anyone know of a reason this might happen?

[Scott M]

Too many unknowns on these example lakes. What happened to the fish community balance? Has predation changed? What about spawning habitat- How many pencil reeds and cattails were ripped out when new homeowners wanted sand beaches for the grandkids? Were crappies always abundant in these lakes? Did lake water clarity or quality change? There's a lot of speculation about what impact fishing has had on the population, but there's a lot of unknowns be be answered first. I'd suggest contacting your local DNR fisheries office and asking these questions to the fish managers from your respective areas.

[bbfenatic]

Used to catch nice crappies on a lake in DL area 10-12 years ago then a few things changed, the DNR put a protective slot on Northerns in this lake(why I have no idea), Muskies became heavily populated in a lake upstream so they navigate down into this lake, and thirdly they get pounded in a bay during spring spawn the last 5-10 yrs. Now they are unavailable during ice season the last 2-3 yrs when you used to be able to catch them every evening and now no one even goes out there and fishes for them....I have tried several times and so have a couple other people with no success.....they are gone for all practical purposes. Even the Spring spawn bit is way down.

[fishuhalik]

dachise, nothing changed on our lake. It's a tiny lake, waaaay back in the woods. My dad use to be the only one who knew about it for years. He could walk to it from our house through the woods, around 3/4 mile. Then they logged to within about 200 yds from the lake and someone else started fishing it & word got out. Nothing changed as far as predation. It was a good bass/pike lake, still is and size is pretty much the same from what I understand. Obviously no shoreline development. Sunfish for some reason have always been tiny. It's mostly spring fed with one tiny swamp/creek going into it. As far as crappies always being abundant, I would think so but I don't know. He fished it for about 25 years before it got fished out, always had good fishing when he went. Now some friends live on the lake. They fish it quite a bit and release everything they catch. Good fishermen, and they can't find a crappie either. It's weird.

[drcarplove]

Here in Nebraska they have changed the regulatons back and forth which could help, but our state is predominately antitax GOP and they have gutted funding for enforcement officers which makes enforcement spotty and disregard for regulation quite prevalent. Sometimes sheriffs and city police will make enforcement check and othertimes they will tell you it is not THEIR job. The best we can do IS to promote selective harvest whatever the premium size of the spawning gills in the spring on each lake these should be released and harvest the ones about an inch or more smaller, Please. As soon as a lake gets 8in gills here the overharvest begins and usually guts the fishery. Please note one of our lakes has a problem with non-native white perch and a local member of a local fishing forum has started an annual kids white perch tourney and fish fry and this tourneys volunteers cleaned hundreds if not a thousand 4 to 5 inch white perch and the fish fry was a huge success. Smaller fish clean and fry well it is just a little more work to get meal amount of meat. Please Please Please practice selective harvest.

Frank

[SmellEsox]

Fishing down big sunfish can have long lasting impacts. If the large parental males are overfished, smaller precosious males will become more prevalent in the population leading to reduced maximum size within the bluegill population. If you are going to keep some big bluegills, try to keep the big females and release the big males.

[PurpleFloyd]

What biological advantage is it to take the large, fertile females out of a population but protect the males?

[PurpleFloyd]

I believe the best way to keep the panfish populations stable in the state is to lower the daily and possession limits and to have a stricter limit on the number of big fish you can remove from the population as well as having the season closed during the spawn.

[JacobG]

I like the thought of having a catch and release season. Probably wont happen tho, unfortunate. I am an avid crappie angler and spend my time on lakes that have trophy potential. Ill travel anywhere for slab crappies. Every spring we catch those giant elusive Upper Red Lake crappies (Yes they are still in there) and we usually only keep a couple for a meal. We need these fish in the lake! I also have been teaching my son and wife the importance of releasing these large fish so that those genetics can stay in the lake. But to me its all about that minute you get to see those big crappies and hold them just for a second while you snap a quick pic. Lakes like these are hard to keep the masses away from. When the bite is on these fish are vulnerable. I believe it is up to us to teach people why we are releasing these fish and being very selective in our harvest.

[Scott M]

These folks are never completely gone, there's always some out there that can't help themselves. If the guy had a freezer full of 6 inchers, I probably wouldn't care, heck he'd probably be doing some lakes a favor. But anyone familiar with large bluegill morphology knows he's got some slabs on that board based on the head knobs and deep bodies...

Possession Limit=Daily Limit for fish.

OTTER TAIL COUNTY, Minn. - A conservation officer with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources recently arrested an angler with nearly 250 fish over the legal limit.

According to a news release, Officer Shane Osborne met the 69-year-old man as he was about to pull his portable fish house off West Spitzer Lake in Otter Tail County.

"I asked how the fishing was and he said he caught some fish, but it wasn't that great," Osborne said. When asked if he had any fish at home, the suspect said he wasn't sure.

"He then asked if I thought he had too many fish," Osborne said. "I said I wouldn't know that until I counted all of the fish he had. He said I could follow him home and check."

When Osborne visited the suspect's home he found 228 sunfish, seven bass and six northern pike over the legal limit. The fish restitution value is $1,560.

According to the 'over-limit law' that took effect in March 2003, the suspect, if convicted, forfeits his or her fishing license for three years. The person also faces up to $3,000 in fines and one year in jail. He is scheduled to appear in Douglas County Court in February.

[Jim Uran]

yeah, that's terrible... I don't think the mind of some anglers will change. There will always be those dudes that take over there limits, and of those big bull gills, taking a ton of those bad boys out of a lake and that lake is done... for a long time.

BUT what I like seeing and what I have been seeing, is guys that I have been fishing with are letting those big pigs go, so it's not just me that has that state of mind. I've fished with some great anglers lately, Greg Clusiau, Chad Peterson, Blake Liend, Mike Raetz, Rick and Joe Paquin, and they ALL have that mentality. It's really not that hard to throw back big fish, it's rewarding.

The measure of a great angler isn't in how full his bucket is.....

[fish_4_fun]

ok... LOL.... dont get mad at me for saying this, and lets make one thing clear right away, I do not agree with poaching, but also did not agree with how this was handled. did he catch more than his daily limit on the lake? why did the CO follow him home, why did he let the CO follow him home? also, if he catches 20 pan fish and ate 20 a day everyday vs catching 20 a day and eating them all at once on the weekend. should he still be punished. guys its common sense that all of those other anglers who sit on the lake everyday and take home their possesion limit and give it all away to friends do the same amount if not more damage as this guy did. with that said its a interesting story, but I dont think we should all put the shame bag on this guy.

again, just my oppinion, hate me if you like, again I do not agree with poaching.

and to all you conservation officers who work hard at actually catching real poachers hats off to you.

[Jim Uran]

That angler is just one example of what is wrong with our panfish poplulations...

Absolutely he did something wrong, why would you need a freezer with that many fish in it.... WOW!

[Scott M]

[harvey lee]

Very sad is all I can say. If there were many who thought like that, we would have very few nice fish. The old take what I want mentality, hopefully some day that will be gone but I doubt it.