5 sunfish is utterly ridiculous

buckybadger wrote:

The question below is kind of from far left field, but it does apply to protecting fish. Until we can be sure we have a means of enforcing regulations, everything is just speculation. Yes, I’ve called TIP on guys before once I factually know they are breaking laws. I think the breaking of possession laws is a big issue that has no answer or means of enforcement. Panfish are hurt by this every day.
What % of anglers do you think have knowingly exceeded possession limits in MN?

10%?
25%?
>50%?

Not in left field at all. It’s a central issue in the whole problem and to be honest, if there weren’t large numbers of anglers blatantly ignoring the possession limit, there would be little to no need for this limit change.

To answer your question, it’s >50%.

My family had a cabin rented last summer at an Alexandria resort. Our cabin happened to be 100 feet from the fish cleaning hut. We saw group after group of anglers filleting buckets full of panfish every night and we watched this happen every night for the entire week. In making conversation with these anglers, I got several versions of: “We have to keep fish every day, got to fill the freezer for the rest of the year and this is our chance to do it.” There is no way that any of these anglers were eating everything they caught, every night. People were leaving with coolers full of fish and I could tell nobody had the slightest concern for the possession limit.

I’m not saying I don’t keep fish, but I treat the limit as the limit and that includes the possession limit. Do I eat some fish every year? Hell yes, but to me eating fish I caught is like lobster or any other “treat” I may fix in the course of a year–it’s a treat, not an entitlement.

I’m not saying I don’t keep fish, but I treat the limit as the limit and that includes the possession limit. Do I eat some fish every year? Hell yes, but to me eating fish I caught is like lobster or any other “treat” I may fix in the course of a year–it’s a treat, not an entitlement

I assume this is to the cooler stuffers.
But we eat fish weekly in my house. We also fish daily. I keep what’s legal when we want to eat. 90 percent of the time is catch and release. But we still keep and clean them often. And eat them often. Ita not a treat, it’s a well earned meal

gim wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>ClownColor wrote:</div>
I just hope people never forget why or how they got into fishing/hunting. For many, it wasn’t about getting a trophy…

You missed his final point. He specifically stated he did it for the experience being outdoors and spending time with people he’s with.

Really wasn’t aimed at a person but yes.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

I question these statements. Are those made up statements or do you have specific instances that you did not act upon. I ask that pointedly because of the strong feeling against it, yet the frequency in which people claim to know it is very abundant. Panfish limits are larger than other species, and a “Pile” of fish photo, can easily drive perceptions of WALKING CORMORANTS. For some, perception is considered reality and that is becoming more true everyday in OUR SOCIETY.

No, I see it happen in our area, southern Minnesota. The same people year after year. It only takes 10 good hooks hitting it every day to affect a population. There aren’t countless supplies of large panfish in every lake.

Winter fishing is what kills it. Lots of guy laid off they can hammer away all day every day. And no enforecment.

And what do you mean about not act on it? Have you ever called the TIP line? 99% of the time it doesn’t result in anything. Drives me nuts.

I believe that the current limits are fine. It is greed, ego, bragging that is the problem. Plain fact is certain people cannot catch and release. Like others have stated no one needs to fill a bucket full of fish every time they fish, however people continue to do so. How many people give all the fish they keep away, therefore never having any in possession legally allowing daily harvest limits. The people need to change. I do believe it is lack of enforcement enabling this activity. Not enough people getting caught breaking the current laws and making headlines give confidence to the lawbreakers. You shouldn’t need rules to do what is right for the resource. Practicing selective harvest works.

I have a really tough time relating to the folks who want to feed a large group of people with a 2 person limit of fish. Want to have a fish fry for 8+ people? Bring more of them fishing. Matter of fact, take the $40+ you would have spent on the day of fishing to get that feed and buy some Cod fillets. 5 good-sized gills is plenty of fish for myself, my wife, and my 2-yr old (who is a little fish monster btw) with a salad and maybe some rice on the side.

Can’t remember the last time I really had to worry about possession limit in my freezer, as we only freeze fish unless we have to.

For the past few decades, the mindset of plenty of people was “why eat a walleye or Bass, if I want a meal, I catch panfish” it has now come to this.

Just looked at the entire list, didn’t effect 1 lake in my area. That’s really to bad. I wish it did.

Could only shore fish Tonka last spring for 5 minutes due to destroying my back in a fall, caught 4 crappies, made 3 meals for me. People looking to feed multiples, bring them fishing.

Any fish that suspends in winter is at risk to be decimated with the newer technology.

You can easily find them with livescope and lowrance new version of it.

In 10 yrs this technology will be all over the place and affordable.

I’m not pointing fingers at anyone in particular but I think the self righteous look at me catch and release crowd is a bigger problem. The ones who have to take a million pictures to post all over internet.

Have the fish out of water way to long to get all the look at how cool I am pictures.

How many trophy fish get killed this way?

Gary wrote:

Any fish that suspends in winter is at risk to be decimated with the newer technology.

You can easily find them with livescope and lowrance new version of it.

In 10 yrs this technology will be all over the place and affordable.

I’m not pointing fingers at anyone in particular but I think the self righteous look at me catch and release crowd is a bigger problem. The ones who have to take a million pictures to post all over internet.

Have the fish out of water way to long to get all the look at how cool I am pictures.

How many trophy fish get killed this way?

How many trophy sunfish get killed by being out of the water for pictures to long? Probably not enough to make any difference.
Your other points I thought were valid.
And I am not defending that crowd or any for that matter but I think that’s a bit of a reach.

Just because you can find the suspended fish don’t mean you can make them bite. I marked hundreds of fish last weekend and couldn’t hardly get any to bite

Gary wrote:

How many trophy fish get killed this way?

While it’s certainly possible that some fish, including large sunfish, succumb to hooking mortality or suffocation because they’re out of the water too long or are deep hooked, if you keep it, it has NO chance of survival. If you make an attempt to release it properly, it has a chance. In most cases on a forum like this, it has a high chance of survival too.

big_g wrote:

For the past few decades, the mindset of plenty of people was “why eat a walleye or Bass, if I want a meal, I catch panfish” it has now come to this.

Completely agree with this! Panfish are much easier to catch and get decimated unlike walleye. I’m a bass angler and actually wish people would take more of the smaller bass home to eat. It would help the larger ones get a little larger. But even then, the problem becomes people overharvesting and taking the large fish instead of the smaller ones. I’ve seen often with bass and one of my favorite C&R lakes has been decimated over the last 5 years with poaching.

And to that comment on calling the TIP line…..yeah, I’ve called it numerous times for people poaching at this lake. Not once has anyone come out or even called. That’s the real problem. They don’t have the means to enforce any of this.

I have practiced selective harvest on the lakes I fish. I let the bigger ones go and keep some of the smaller ones for a meal. I try to teach this with anyone who fishes with me. I take into account the lake I am on. I have seen during the spring spawn of bluegills that the same fisherman are on the beds daily with taking their limits. One guy even boasted how many fish him and his buddies kept over a weeks time. He asked how many fish I kept and told him 10. He kinda of laughed and said that I should keep all I could because it was my legal right. I told him 10 was plenty and I enjoy coming back to this lake a couple times in a year to catch them. I also told him there are so many lakes in the area that I fish I like to spread out my selective harvest.
I have fished these lakes for many years when it appears that the populations are down I let them rest for a year and then the following year I come back to check them out. Most years I notice they are starting a come back be it crappies, bluegills or perch.

You can keep 50 sunfish and 25 crappie down here while using as many poles as you want. But you can’t compare it to mn because I guarantee you the harvest and pressure is a fraction of Minnesota’s. I don’t see people keeping limits of them and there are not as many people fishing for them.

I’ve probably killed more sunfish by releasing them than by keeping them. I can’t count the number I gut hooked or tore up trying to get the hook out.

This thread is hilarious.

I bet half think it’s a daily limit and the other half a possesion limit.

And this is on a fishing forum.

What does the average guy out there fishing going to think it is?

stout93 wrote:

This thread is hilarious.

I bet half think it’s a daily limit and the other half a possesion limit.

And this is on a fishing forum.

What does the average guy out there fishing going to think it is?

pretty clear to me. Depending on lake with the 5 or 10 fish limit. It’s the daily limit with a total of 20 sunfish for a possession limit. On lakes not listed with the new restrictions it’s a 20 sunfish daily and possession limit.

Oh and on the daily limit, you can only keep the limit once per day, so you can’t catch 5)10 in the morning and 5/10 in the same afternoon

mahtofire14 wrote:

But even then, the problem becomes people overharvesting and taking the large fish instead of the smaller ones.

This has occurred for many years with northern pike. Most of the larger fish were harvested and very few of the snakes were. I can personally tell you that my own extended family contributed to this problem and some of them constantly now say “there’s nothing but hammer handles left in lake X.”

Geez I wonder why. Large pike are often the apex predator in a lake without muskies and help control the smaller ones. Plus they take how many years to get that big.

We’re already heading down that road with panfish now too.

Here’s a question for everyone.
How long does it take to grow an 8″ sunfish in Minnesota?
I have read from the DNR that on average 8 years.
Think about that.

Tom schmitt wrote:

Here’s a question for everyone.
How long does it take to grow an 8″ sunfish in Minnesota?
I have read from the DNR that on average 8 years.
Think about that.

Doesn’t matter to most. But they brag about keeping a 9.5
Thats the problem.

Ok I haven’t been able to keep up with this in a few days but to the people that say it is an individual limit it is but I buy a combination license every year and buy the walleye stamp just because. Every other game fish limit will feed a family whether it be bass walleye or pike. I would love to take my kids but they just are not into it. I dont think I have taken a limit of fish in years except my 1 walleye on mille lacs. I make my kids eat fish because it is good for them.i never freeze fish only fresh. I understand the problem but then again I think we should stop stocking walleyes in lakes that they weren’t in originally.

I just noticed this one. A little different as it is 10 in aggregate. Normal limit would be 25.

tegg wrote:

I just noticed this one. A little different as it is 10 in aggregate. Normal limit would be 25.

Now that is different. I have never seen a posting like that one. What lake was that posted on?

That picture is from Wisconsin DNR FYI

Did they also close fishing down from 10:00 pm till 6:00 am on these lakes? Do they some times close the panfish season down in the fall on these lakes? Did they change it to catch and release only?

There could be much worse regulations on your favorite lake.

St Criox county in WI has 10 panfish limit. Most are 25

tegg wrote:

I just noticed this one. A little different as it is 10 in aggregate. Normal limit would be 25.

sunnies and crappies, huh! Wisconsin always do it that way?

Eelpoutguy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tegg wrote:</div>
I just noticed this one. A little different as it is 10 in aggregate. Normal limit would be 25.

sunnies and crappies, huh! Wisconsin always do it that way?

Perch as well. Not sure how long it’s been that way. Many years.

gim wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mahtofire14 wrote:</div>
But even then, the problem becomes people overharvesting and taking the large fish instead of the smaller ones.

This has occurred for many years with northern pike. Most of the larger fish were harvested and very few of the snakes were. I can personally tell you that my own extended family contributed to this problem and some of them constantly now say “there’s nothing but hammer handles left in lake X.”

Geez I wonder why. Large pike are often the apex predator in a lake without muskies and help control the smaller ones. Plus they take how many years to get that big.

We’re already heading down that road with panfish now too.

This statement got me curious so I looked it up.
It takes about 5 years for a northern pike to grow to 24″.
This comes from an Ontario research study.
In those 5 years a bluegill would be about 6″