Are Bluegill Regulations Needed?

[@Codyeye]

Absolutely needed here in Michigan. So many stunted lakes for the reasons you pointed out. You can fish any inland lake here and find pan fish. If you find a lake with big ones you own it, you’re trespassing, orrrr it hasn’t made its debut on Facebook somehow yet.

[@jacobguy3343]

This is a interesting video i live on the alabama gulf coast and we have soooo many sunfish that this has never crossed my mind but i can see the limited growing season effecting the sunfish up there

[@Brian-wq6oi]

Great video guys. Im an avid panfish fisherman in MN and I see alot of people keeping over limits. DNR needs to get tougher on these people.

[@raystomberski4480]

I watched a little longer and you said what rod set up you were using , thanks for the awesome videos

[@JasonMitchellOutdoors]

You bet

[@Malaphisis]

yes

[@raystomberski4480]

What fishing rod are you using in this video, looks like it has great action

[@JMonOutdoors]

I am 110% in support of this....I love chasing panfish in MN all year long and I release 9" to 9.5' or bigger. To me, 8 inches is the ideal sunfish to eat. I love the fight they provide and they just look awesome when you pull them out of the water....take a pic with it and let it go. I hope it keeps gaining traction in MN! Lastly, like Jason said, some lakes this won't benefit and it isn't a once size fits all, but I have seen a difference in lakes that do this vs not and I'd rather fish the lakes that do this.

[@kpling6915]

I like the ideas new regulations to improve the quality of our bluegill and crappie fisheries. With the number of people out fishing today and all the technology available to use, the fish need some protection. Panfish are especially susceptible to overharvest when the bite is on. And its encouraging to here a majority of anglers agree there needs to be regulations in place to protect fisheries so our kids and grandkids can experience what many of us have had the opportunities to catch. One other idea I have heard that sounds interesting, we close seasons for all gamefish species to protect the larger spawning fish during the spawn when they are very vulnerable to over harvest. Why can't we do the same for bluegills and crappies? Just make May 15th to June 15th catch and release only.

[@kevindenevan8404]

i live in the west side of michigan and the regulations that are in place are great but the enforcment of the regulations is most of the problem.i havent seen a dnr officer on the ice in the last 2 seasons

[@codypurgiel8844]

Come to Michigan i have a lake that will produce very big gills plus we have a valentines weekend tournament

[@codypurgiel8844]

10 plus inches

[@grantjamrock3812]

Some lakes should be catch and release only for awhile thats for sure here in Wi!

[@muskybites505]

I’d love to see rotations on lakes with catch and release for periods to allow natural reproduction to sustain fisheries. I live in WI too and around me the take is crazy year round for panfish

[@andyjones5835]

How do we try and get this implemented. Where I live in MI there are 4 local lakes that always produced big gills until the last couple years they have become non existent. When there’s 200 guys there on a Saturday and all killing limits of 25 each it has devastated the fishery. With today’s electronics it happened fast. HELP!!!!

[@fishinfool247]

I throw back buckets of big gills every year here in WI people always ask y i dont keep um...i just like pictures and the challenge of finding big gills n crappies the problem is 75 percent of ice fisherman have no clue anf dont catch alot of fish so they keep everything

[@dumpbuck]

Definitely need lower limits here on certain lakes in NY. The meat pirates hammer on the waters with bigger fish and could care less about the future of that body of water. They will just be the first ones to complain that the fishing stinks there because of the decrease in the size of fish. Unfortunately I don’t think the NYS DEC is very concerned about sunfish here as they are not considered a sport fish.

[@fishhuntgrow7727]

YES!!!!!! over the lockdown my favorite brim lake got ice fished to hell. It's only a 8 acre lake, there were 150 people at times. Long story short, my lovely hole where I could catch a limit in a hour, is just about dead now.

[@billcoats6239]

We need to have lower limits here in wisconsin, so much pressure and the effectiveness of the new electronics

[@muskybites505]

WI had 1/3 the acreage of MN and twice the pressure. Regulations are not keeping up with the changes in angling pressure.

[@Malaphisis]

my family decimates them every year, all pannys all fish. they'll go back to the same spot all weekend and catch all of them.

[@denniscrane9753]

To many damn flatlanders aye!

[@Murphydoge]

Great to see so much support for reduced bag limits. Totally agree we need to do a better job sustaining our fisheries.

[@lorenduerr8186]

lake specific panfish limits 5 or 10 gills depending on lake especially in May and June Max 10 gills statewide in U.P. of MI and WI

[@accurateoutdooradventures]

I love sobi's cameo!

[@patindvik3408]

It's really hard to keep those fish when KZbinrs give the names of small lakes that have them and the lake gets decimated and fished out. I sure with people would do that but I guess they don't care what they do to small local lakes they will never come back to

[@aaronalto3034]

Slots are the way to go, then you can let folks that want/ need a bigger batch to feed their fams, take a bunch of small ones, and keep the big ones alive.

[@ernieferguson9513]

Excellent job fellas. I always shake my head when a person who would never think of keeping a 23 inch walleye doesn't think twice about keeping a limit of trophy crappies or sunfish.

[@MattMSchmidt]

I think the regs are awesome, living on the Mississippi river P5 area I am glad the DNR dropped the limit, I wish they would put in something like a 1 over 10" to keep that gene pool around but a person can keep a trophy if they choose

[@codypurgiel8844]

How much line do you put on your reels?

[@JasonMitchellOutdoors]

I like to start out with about 3/4 of the spool full of new line and than just replace about fifty feet of line at a time as I fish through the winter when using the Spooler reels.

[@codypurgiel8844]

@@JasonMitchellOutdoors love the content! Thanks for the response

[@ballistic350]

I think in wi should be reduce to 15 pan fish allowed state wide and crappies should be 10" above. Madison chain the big bluegills are slowly disappearing ..

[@DWSOutdoors]

Unless they put a size cap on it people will only keep the biggest fish they catch and that will stunt the population 100x faster 🤦🏼‍♂️ should be 10fish with 1 over 9 and that would insure giants for the future

[@ballistic350]

@@DWSOutdoors that'll work too with maybe 3 allowed over 8" as for gills Monona bay is tough this yr not like before .I know Madison chain and could tell its taken a big fall ..more people fishing/hunting due to covid19

[@DWSOutdoors]

@@ballistic350 Yeah that bay was destined to get crushed and shrink the over all population in that lake! Lucky for the Chain there is still a population of fish over 9in that could get things back to where they once were but really it would have to probably be a 5 or 10fish limit there with NONE over 9in just to try to bring back the numbers of big fish and it would absolutely have to be a 10yr program no less...

[@tonyfreund6769]

5 gills or 5 crappies is all that is needed to make fish tacos in our household. Bigger fish fry gets a few northerns. I'm all for the lower limits and hopefully better management plans

[@caseyhammomd746]

I think they defiantly need to do something about lower bag limits across the board the technology has gotten so good they need to find a way to keep trophy panfish around even lowering bag limits on walleye you don't need 6 fish

[@onamissionfishinguideservi7054]

Yes I think bag and size limits can benefit certain lakes.

[@donaldmancini6273]

Here in New Hampshire this is just a bag limit of 25 each no size limit for pan fish and we need to do something here about it just not catching big sizes any more in some lakes I do good in

[@markeggert4535]

With the technology that we have now days there's no reason to keep so many fish. I want my kids and grandchildren to catch these beautiful fish.

[@patrickhankins5381]

I think MN is spot on with regs to protect big bluegills. Multiple reasons, parental bed protection, genetics, “a given area will only support so much protein” (ie. 1,000 stunted lil ones or a 100 healthy big ones). I wish MI would reduce the creel limit and protect the biggins!

[@hooligangeneral.5988]

Great idea. Michigan cut the perch limit down to 25 from 50 for most waters. I’d like to see a 15 fish limit and size limits for gills and crappie.

[@Onthespotdetailingmn]

All for a 5 bag gill and crappie limit. 20 nice filets should be plenty of fish for you and the family. Protect these fish before it's to late! Great video and information

[@tbonesoutdooradventures6474]

Sad to see my favorite lakes getting fished out in the matter of a few years glad to see something happening people don’t understand how old 10 inch gills are

[@sleddingman1447]

We already throw back the big ones and the small ones. Some people are just greedy. When I was a kid [70s] there was tons of pan fish.

[@dillonroe7471]

In my area people prey on them when they are spawning on their beds and hammer them out for a weekend straight. Sad. And I'm sure they'll keep as many as they can on the ice as well.

[@evanborgerding4223]

I'd be in favor of a statewide slot limit on Bluegill and Crappie. Keep one gill over 9" one Crappie over 12" the rest over go back. I set that rule for myself years ago and encourage my buddies to do the same. I personally take a lot of pride and satisfaction in letting those big fish go

[@DWSOutdoors]

It needed to be done 10yrs ago.... I watched as 100s of lakes lost their biggest male breeders and now have disgusting stunted Gil populations that will never return to the past giants... 10 fish limits with one over 9 should be in place all across the upper Midwest because of the big gill dynamics in this part of the country! It’s nothing like anywhere else in the country!

[@nickwilson6913]

Mn should be 5 sunfish 5 crappies state wide and 3 walleyes so many people fishing more and more every year which is great but something needs to be done.

[@rossziegler8167]

I'm game for lowering blue hill limit id be happy with ten under 8 would be okay and maybe they can lower the price of the license to right that wouldn't happen

[@christianrodriguez9346]

Definitely need stricter limits for pan fish here in Minnesota they get hammered threw out the whole year I love fishing them but the real joy for me is releasing those nicer ones and letting that fish give someone else a story to tell and so forth. We must all do our part to save not only our fisheries but our waters also and the solution is simple throw some back and not only the fish thrive but the ecosystem as well.

[@mattlien5844]

It's the law of unintended consequences. As regulations grew more restrictive on walleye, people who wanted enough fish to feed their family switched to panfish. As panfish limits get lower they look for larger fish. Yes there are fish hogs who keep everything they can, but are they really doing more damage than that catch & release guy who catches (and releases) dozens off the beds in the spring?

[@Nieland8]

The people I fish with have been throwing the bulls back for years. It's unfortunate that fisherman can't make this judgment call on their own and the DNR has to step in! I agree education is very important. This information should be stressed on all of the fishing programs out there. Not Not gills but all fish.

[@Skank_Hunt42]

What needs to happen is to stop introducing new anglers to the sport. The waters and woods are so crowded now.

[@JasonMitchellOutdoors]

The problem with this world isn’t too many people fishing as more people fishing means a better voice for our resources and better funding. The problems in this world come from not enough people fishing. Do you think the angry young man who walked into a Florida school with a semi auto rifle just got done fishing that morning? Do you think the angry young man on top of a car with a baseball bat just got back from fishing? We need to keep introducing new anglers to the sport.

[@ronaldkulas5748]

IMO, producing big bluegills is not easy. There is a small lake near Fergus Falls where the lake was shut down to fishing for about 5 years. It was a bluegill, crappie, and bass lake. When it reopened the limit on the gills was severe (5 I think), crappies was normal limit and no bass could be taken. The strange thing is that the lake produced huge crappies but finding gills over 9 inches (big gills are over 10 inches, IMO) was difficult. The lake's crappie population was quickly decimated when the word got out, but I never heard of big gills...only small and average ones. So growing big gills appears to be not as easy as one would think, but growing big crappies appears easier. Forty years ago I read a study out of Kentucky (I think Kentucky) where a biologist said that small and average gills have to be harvested in large numbers for a lake to produce big gills. So, it appears that a slot limit on gills might be the answer; and a severe limit probably does not work.

[@mricefishermen]

I would like to see a slot on panfish so more of the big ones go back. Or maybe a modified slot of so many over a certain size. Bluegills over 9.5", perch over 12" and crappie over 12" should be protected. WI should lower the panfish limit from 25 to 10. 10 fish equals 20 fillets which is more than enough for one person. For the people that have a big family to feed, take them with you so they can keep some fish too if you need more than 20 fillets for a meal! Catch and release only season during the spawning periods. I see people keeping limits of spawning gills when they are on their beds and easy pickings, they need to be protected during this time. If you are fishing with a guide you should not be able to keep your full limit. Maybe only 1/4 or 1/2 of the regular bag limit. I see guides with airboats on the Mississippi River take 10+ people out to the same areas everyday keeping piles of fish until they fish out the spot. One guide can be solely responsible for removing thousands of fish a year out of the system. Add in several other guides in the area and that is a lot of fish! I see guides post pictures of piles of fish every day on social media.

[@DWSOutdoors]

Having met Jason in person some of those gills are FREAKS! Hopefully this trend on saving the GIANTS for the future catches on sooner than later! It hurts to watch my local fisheries stunt out...

[@paulwalleyefisher8983]

Lakes stunt out cause there's not enough fish being taken out.

[@jamesallen4855]

Mn allowed 20 use to be 30 should have to release 8 1/2 or bigger and one over 10

[@wisconsinlife3971]

Any Gill I catch over 8 inches back down the hole they go... Those were some monsters you caught!

[@umntom]

I just fished Madison last weekend with my father in law and did well on panfish. How close is this lake to Madison?

[@Skank_Hunt42]

Have you heard of lake nunya? Look it up. It's not that far from Madison

[@casper8662]

Like with hunting, there needs to be more regulations on some of these electronics.

[@paulwalleyefisher8983]

Yah okay.