Our Fragile Panfish Population

[Rick]

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by Jim Uran

Is it human nature to pick on things that are smaller than us? To take advantage of things that are susceptible? There is a new breed of anglers out there that would like to turn this mentality around, and I’m here to voice our opinions.

Why is it that bluegills and crappies are thought of as a lesser species, “panfish” we call them. Why aren’t they babied and nurtured like walleyes, muskies, and bass. We rarely see any special regulations involving our beloved panfish species, and it shows in our cyclical panfish populations in the lakes that we fish. Their population swings are due to over-harvesting, their lack in size is due to the same factor. These “uneducated” anglers will find a “hot” lake and over-harvest it and move on to the next “hot lake” to do the same thing. In this article I’ll be focusing more on bluegills and other sunfish species here in Minnesota.

What I would like to see, is a shift in the mentality, and more time spent on educating Minnesota anglers on the panfish population. We are talking about one of the most popular fish in Minnesota here, with creel survey data showing that of the 57 million hours Minnesota Anglers log each year, 18 million of those hours are dedicated to chasing sunfish, and recent data shows that more sunfish are caught than all other gamefish species combines, 25-30 million sunfish caught annually. These numbers show just how many bluegills and other sunfish species are hoisted over the gunwales every season!

However, in recent years I have been pleased to see more and more lakes dropping the possession limit to 10, and 5 fish. It shows that the respect is growing, but it’s not where it needs to be yet. We need to see a drop in the possession limit statewide, to see some sort of size limit regulations, and to protect these fish when they are on the beds when they are the most susceptible. I can’t imagine that they would ever shut the panfish season down as they do for other gamefish species while they are spawning, but adding some protective regulations during the spawning period would undoubtedly be beneficial. 20 fish a day is just too many to be taking out of a lake.

Let’s face it, us anglers have become a little deadlier and a little more precise when it comes to locating these fish, thanks to all of the technology that’s out there for us now. Let’s do our part and start putting the big ones back. I know plenty of anglers that won’t hesitate to throw back a walleye that’s over 20”, or a pike that’s over 30”, but rarely do I find an angler who treats panfish with the same regard, but when I do talk to those few that have the same passion as me, they know, and understand that we are looking into the future, a future full of stories of the big ones our grandparents talked of.

So the next time you are out, toss a few back and remember who will be fishing these same waters in 20 years.

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