Bluegill Bag Proposal

[bigr]

I'm still waiting to see if the Walleye size limit is making a difference. Only thing I see from my take is it is much harder to get a limit of 16in fish compared to 14 in fish. Number of Fish are not growing nor is the over all size. I'll give it another couple years before deciding if the size change helped or just made harvest numbers go down. For me 25 gils a day are a plenty but I too don't agree with any limit/possession change but having a few experimental trophy lakes might over time change my mind.

[sprkplug]

I will readily admit to not being a real fisherman. I only fish for bluegills, a handful of times a year, and haven’t fished public water in many, many years. I have however, spent a lot of years studying bluegills and raising trophy bluegills in private ponds. Most real anglers, even battle hardened, tight-lipped-about-location, “there’s no way you can hurt the BG population by over harvest”, anglers, will grudgingly admit that private water often holds the largest specimens.

They usually are quick to proclaim that feeding by the pond’s owners, is the reason those bluegills may be larger than public water bluegills. And to be sure, feeding is absolutely part of the reason... but equally important to trophy growth, maybe more important in some cases, is the limited access to those fish by anglers which private water allows. I don’t care how much feed you pour to them, you will not grow a pond full of trophies if you allow unrestricted harvest.

We are fortunate to live in a country that allows us the freedom to have and express individual opinions, no matter what their basis. I try to base my opinions on science, corroborated by personal experience and firsthand knowledge. And both are in alignment on this issue.

I also think that deep down, most anglers suspect that over fishing can have negative effects. This is why we see such an unwillingness to give up lake names. The amount of negative effects will vary between different bow’s, with some able to better withstand over harvests than others. I agree that a blanket ruling is not ideal, but I think it’s a step in the right direction.

[Edge]

I'm still waiting to see if the Walleye size limit is making a difference. Only thing I see from my take is it is much harder to get a limit of 16in fish compared to 14 in fish. Number of Fish are not growing nor is the over all size.

Amen

[kfishdoctor]

While your at it lets call for a  ban on all use of bait. Bare hook only. That should help.

[taxid]

While your at it lets call for a  ban on all use of bait. Bare hook only. That should help.

[taxid]

I'm still waiting to see if the Walleye size limit is making a difference. Only thing I see from my take is it is much harder to get a limit of 16in fish compared to 14 in fish. Number of Fish are not growing nor is the over all size. I'll give it another couple years before deciding if the size change helped or just made harvest numbers go down. For me 25 gils a day are a plenty but I too don't agree with any limit/possession change but having a few experimental trophy lakes might over time change my mind.

Can't be much of a fillet on a 14 inch walleye can there?

Way back in the summer of 77' I was doing a creel survey on Sylvan Lake while studying fisheries in college. There was no size limit on walleye then. I swear on a bible there were people keeping walleyes not much bigger than cigars! They put them I their fish baskets with the crappies!

[kfishdoctor]

Even better yet, no hook, just a line for you    Probably don't like it when someone wants to control what you do.

[abishop]

Can't be much of a fillet on a 14 inch walleye can there?

Way back in the summer of 77' I was doing a creel survey on Sylvan Lake while studying fisheries in college. There was no size limit on walleye then. I swear on a bible there were people keeping walleyes not much bigger than cigars! They put them I their fish baskets with the crappies!

A 14 inch perch has a chunkier piece of meat. I have eaten plenty of 14 to 16 inch walleye.YUMMY

[taxid]

Even better yet, no hook, just a line for you    Probably don't like it when someone wants to control what you do.

Oh my tell us how you really feel! 

We could go back to the days of no fish and game laws when people hunted and fished for profit that caused the extinction and near extinction of some species.

 Would you like that? 

[bigr]

A 14in walleye is way bigger than 99 Percent of the perch people keep. One answer I think we will find is our walleye fishery is and should be a  put and take fishery. I hope the Dnr will decide to start a stocking program that benefits and allows the greater public to catch and eat more or this species. Might take pressure off of the over harvest of gils some are concerned about.   

[Tim Bur]

I really don't know where I stand on this. What's the difference of a guy who fishes 5 days a week and keeps 25 every day or the guy that can only get out on a Saturday and keeps 125?  The only difference with a bag limit is the first guy would be legal.

Ya that's the big picture.
Ya I just want a few meals in the fridge. Quart bag every two weeks or so. I grew up near the S.W. suburbs of Cook County, Illinois. You could drive 5 miles or less in your car and be at a different lake. ( ah,hum.. no houses around those puddles ) Most people heavily fished where the gills where bigger. You could go to a less pressured spot and catch dinks all day, but they might have those spotted meat parasites.  Habitat is huge. Some places are hard to overfish,quarrys,rivers, and some places get hit too hard, like small ponds. Have heard all kinds of theories,  like , if you don't remove some, they will go to dinks,the aquarium affect, throw back the large ones for the gene pool. Keep a couple bigger ones, they don't have much many years to spawn left. Bigger gills after a freeze kill....
 Shoot big, get what you get.  30? 3 a day for That every day Guy...lol.

[sprkplug]

It’s not so much the numbers of bluegills that are kept, it’s where those numbers fall in the size hierarchy of a given bow. As an example, let’s say a “typical” catch at a particular lake might yield 30 bluegills. Out of that 30 fish, 15 are <7” length, another 10 are 7-8”, and 5 are >8”.  So the majority of fish caught fall in the <8” category. Those are the fish that need to make up the bulk of a 25 per day limit ON THIS BOW. Harvest of >8” bluegills should be curtailed or limited on this lake.

That’s why a blanket regulation is not enough in my opinion. One size fits all doesnt really “fit” every bow. Now a limit, combined with a slot, has far more potential. But even then, the slot should be adjusted for each bow.

[kfishdoctor]

So now we are talking about keeping the blue gill from going extinct?  Didn't know we were that close but thanks for opening my eyes. I will pay closer attention to the count next time Im out.   Its all about control.

[sprkplug]

So now we are talking about keeping the blue gill from going extinct?  Didn't know we were that close but thanks for opening my eyes. I will pay closer attention to the count next time Im out.   Its all about control.

No, it’s about growing larger bluegills.

[taxid]

So now we are talking about keeping the blue gill from going extinct?  Didn't know we were that close but thanks for opening my eyes. I will pay closer attention to the count next time Im out.   Its all about control.

I never said bluegills.