Bluegill size on the Mississippi river………

I havent seen a big bluegill bite in years not just the last couple. Before they dredged Bussey early ice was fantastic for big gills, Greymore was another big gill spot! These spot were small towns in the winter and that never seemed to hurt. I havent fished gills in a long time but here is my 2 cents, I believe the bulls and big crappies are staying in the main or side channels to long, once the river is fozen solid they are “locked out” of the backwaters due to sediment. With the winter time low flow is there a reason to go into the backwaters?
Maybe running sleus are the answer, I remember catching some real nice crappies right off the lower boat ramp (Ambro Sleu) in 9′ of water. Thats been a few years ago .
Heres a question: the places that have been dregded… Spring Lake..Big Missouri,etc. has it helped? Do you catch more now?

Great post Jeff!

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We’ve encountered great bites in dredged areas Mark. The lakes you mentioned and three or four others off the top of my head. In my mind, dredging sure doesn’t hurt the fishing.
As far as the side chutes with current, I couldn’t agree more. Too many of us will cut holes ,find current and presume it will be fishless. Some current can be a great thing,not too much of course but some.One thing about finding fish in deep chutes with a little flow, their usually very hungry Good observation Mark, hope to see you at PDC in a few weeks

Good ol boys,keep em all,eat some,and let the rest freezer burn.I love the 10 panfish limit.5 people,50 fish.Thats alotta eatin.Lower the the limits….!!

Great Q & Q (Quality & Quantity) discussion!

For starters let me say this. The next gill that is 10+ inches long with a set of shoulders I catch is going on the wall. I’ve done a ton of fishing on the backwaters of Pool 9 and either A) my fishing skills rival those of my three year old son B) I’m the unluckiest guy to wet a line east of the Mississippi or C) gills of that length & mass are simple NOT a dime a dozen. So – when I talk Bluegill Quality I’m talking gills in that 8 to 9 inch range. And yes, the Quantity of gills this size I’ve pulled overboard, drug ashore, or pulled through a hole over the past 3 years has most definitely declined. “January Keepers” – a personal term I use to describe gills in that 7 inch range has actually remained about the same as far as numbers caught. The “dinks” have always been there and hopefully always will. I realize they can be a nuisance at times – but hey – let’s face it. Without em we don’t have a shot at a 10 incher….

Switching species for a minute because interestingly enough the Quality of crappie (11+ inchers) I’ve been catching since this past fall is definitely up from prior years. Granted I may be a little more aggressive chasing the specs versus the gills. Also, the Quantity of walleyes I caught last summer was up significantly. The Quality wasn’t there but I boated a lot of 12 to 18 inch fish last summer as compared to the previous few summers.

I agree with pretty much of what has all ready been said.
Fishing Pressure. Technology. Management Practices. Tape Measures that are missing the numbers from 3 inches to 6 inches.

Last but least. I challenge the notion a 10″ gill is going to spawn longer or release more eggs than say a 7 or 8 inch gill. I challenge this because of an article in the January issue of Wisconsin Sportsman on Perch. And lets face it folks….there aren’t as many 60 year old dad’s with a 2 year old as there are with a 30 year old in this lovely world we live in. And don’t gimme that “Gene” line either. We aren’t talking about horns on buck.

Jeff, Thanks for the reply on the dredge areas, reason I asked is because I havent fish none of the dredge areas since they been dredged exception of spring lake.

Yep I’m there on the 23rd-4 for the gtg.I might even journey up there this weekend.

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All we can do is practice responsible fishing management. As a rule people on this site are willing to do that. However there is still a huge group of meat slayers out there. People that will limit day after day on a hot bite and tell all their meat hauling friends, who do the same. Its human nature. I cant put a number to it but my guess is the majority of ice fisherman out there still lean that direction. I’ll continue to do my part as I’m sure most of you will.

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We did our part the other night! Both crappies were left for seed!
Now where was that ?

I’ll say something I saw.

Last weekend I fished an area in LaCrosse. As I was heading out, and loading up the truck, I noticed some dead fish on the ground in the snow…….I walked over there, and found 8 or 9 crappie (decent size too) burried in the snow. Gills were there too.

I suggested that someone HAD to forget that he/she set a grocery sack on the ground w/ fish in it, and totally forgot it…….RIGHT?

What a waste! I’m trying to convince myself they were left behind by accident. They were there for a few days…if not longer.

Kind of off topic, but when I read above about people taking fish home, and they end up getting freezer burnt and going to waste….made me think of what I saw last week.

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Jeff, Thanks for the reply on the dredge areas, reason I asked is because I havent fish none of the dredge areas since they been dredged exception of spring lake.
Yep I’m there on the 23rd-4 for the gtg.I might even journey up there this weekend.

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The one thing about dredging Mark that can lead to good fishing is how the dredging is done. I’ve seen cases where dredging has taken place in backwaters where the the transition from the dredge hole to the bank or undredged area is too steep . A gouge if you will. In this case weeds don’t have a good shot at growing on these edges until mother nature slowly tapers them off. When the dredging areas are more tapered those are the areas that seem to hold fish sooner. I love to get into freshly dredged areas and pick it apart with the LX5 just to get a feel for it.
Let me know if you’re hitting 10 for sure this w-end.

Personally I don’t think the problem is overharvest. For years places like Cold Spings have been producing big bluegills despite a tremendous amount of fishing pressure. In our own Pool 10 I know of at least three quality backwaters that get no real pressure save for some people in airboats and hovercrafts.Then what is the problem??

I believe that weed growth is a requirement for a healthy panfish population. THis year is the worst year for pads that I can remember since the mid 90s. Hmm, I think the panfish bite was even worse then. I really believe the spring floods limiting weed growth especially pads have more to do with fish populations than overharvesting.

I’m also old enough to remember the bucket full days. Despite people catching fish by the bucketfull fishing remained good. It was not until we lost some wintering habitat and summer weeds that the fishing turned sour.

I’ve also noticed a tremendous amount of bass in the ecosystem in Pool 10 the last two years. I don’t know if they could be adversely affecting the panfish population. Personally I would like to think there not and it’s more of a habitat issue.

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Personally I don’t think the problem is overharvest. For years places like Cold Spings have been producing big bluegills despite a tremendous amount of fishing pressure. In our own Pool 10 I know of at least three quality backwaters that get no real pressure save for some people in airboats and hovercrafts.Then what is the problem??

I believe that weed growth is a requirement for a healthy panfish population. THis year is the worst year for pads that I can remember since the mid 90s. Hmm, I think the panfish bite was even worse then. I really believe the spring floods limiting weed growth especially pads have more to do with fish populations than overharvesting.

I’m also old enough to remember the bucket full days. Despite people catching fish by the bucketfull fishing remained good. It was not until we lost some wintering habitat and summer weeds that the fishing turned sour.

I’ve also noticed a tremendous amount of bass in the ecosystem in Pool 10 the last two years. I don’t know if they could be adversely affecting the panfish population. Personally I would like to think there not and it’s more of a habitat issue.

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I’ll agree with the bass, hoping that’s a good thing when their numbers are high though. They must keep alot of forage in check.
As far as the overharvest question, believe it is part of the problem but not THE problem. To touch on your point Bird, the huge areas that only get hit with hovercrafts and airboats, why are these guys struggling for big gills too?We know for a fact that these far out backwaters recieved very little pressure through the years but these boys are struggling as much as the local yokels.
I’m guessing that along with pressure,overharvest,lack of weedgrowth and siltation that there is a possible year class or two missing in this equation.
I don’t know if the DNR follows the panfish spawn or not but it would be interesting to see some surveys from say 2002 to 2008.

Just an opinion here from a barstool biologist. Koonce and birdman got it right. Habitat is number 1 for fish populations. In the 80’s you guys lost a lot of grass up there due to high water periods and it took a lot of years for it to come back. As the grass disapeared,so did the gill and perch population to the point it was noticable. As the grass returned, so did the fish. I have to add that pads are VERY important to those same fish in the winter for feeding purposes. It’s all in what these fish are conditioned for. But, in the same context you’ll still find fish, smaller numbers of them, near brush piles in areas void of any vegetation. CONDITIONING. And as your backwater wintering areas are filling in, you’ll find more and more the fish are seeking areas that have brush for cover and ample supplies of oxygen.

The fish will seek out the most favorable wintering area that suits them, and it may not be your traditional fishing hole.

Koonce mentioned fishing during the spawns. This is a very important point. Perhaps too many big bulls are taken from the system during the spawn when they are most vulnerable and needed to be left in the system. It’s already been proven in a few studies that big male gills produce big fish. Big fish genes if you want to call it that. Selective harvest is very important here I think. And this is where I think the 25 fish limit is doing the most good.

One more point, you have to remember that all species go through a natural ‘up and down’ cycle that can take several years to complete. Not much anyone can do about this, but we can help level out the curve through habitat, selective harvest, and limits.

I contacted the DNR to get their take on the declining size thing…… Here is what Ron Benjamin had to say. Nothing to startling, alot of this has been touched on already. Don’t be afraid to contact these depts. guys…..squeaky wheel grease thing

We are getting these questions commonly. You are correct that the factors affecting year class strength vary widely. There are many pieces to the puzzle that relate to large bluegill abundance. Bluegill year class abundance has and is historically been variable on many of our waters. Our sampling, showed many fewer large (greater than 7.5 inch bluegill) in the population. This is attributed to a number of factors in this complex puzzle. The year class that represents the fish you speak of has never be abundant. Think about the last few years when good size gill’s seemed to be plentiful, there were fewer small ones in the population that gives the illusion of more larger fish. Another factor that is a piece of the puzzle is we had a hard winter last year and documented winterkill in many areas. This is also beginning to happen again this year. On a brighter note there are a good number of 4 to 6 inch fish out there that if everything works out will grow into nice size fish in a year or so.

We (Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota DNR’s) sample Centrarchids (the family of bass and panfish) extensively each fall as we do walleye and sauger. We see year class strength fluctuations commonly. In fact it’s uncommon for it not to fluctuate.

In this short piece I can’t describe all of the puzzle pieces in depth.

Here are some leads to much more data.

Jeff Janvrin, my habitat specialist is just completing a publication for the American Fisheries Society on the importance of Winter habitat to year class strength and abundance.

Bartels, A., J. Janvrin, and S. Giblin. Indirect Evidence of Fish Migration to Upper Mississippi River Backwaters in Late Fall. U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, La Crosse, Wisconsin, October 2008. Long Term Resource Monitoring Program Completion Report 2006B8 submitted to the US Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island, Illinois. 24 pp.

Knights, B. 2007. Identifying Potential Controls on the Abundance and Size Structure of Centrarchids and Diversity of Fishes in Off-Channel Areas in the Upper Mississippi River System: Aquatic Vegetation and Physical Features. U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, La Crosse, Wisconsin, May 2007. Long Term Resource Monitoring Program Completion Report 2006APE34 submitted to the US Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island, Illinois. 64 pp. + Appendixes A-M.

Thanks for your interest.

P Ronald L Benjamin
Mississippi River Fisheries Supervisor
3550 Mormon Coulee Road
Lacrosse WI 54601
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
(() phone: (608) 785-9012
(() fax: (608) 785-9990
(+) e-mail: [email protected]

thats some interesting stuff Jeff….This is all very interesting

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I contacted the DNR to get their take on the declining size thing…… Here is what Ron Benjamin had to say. Nothing to startling, alot of this has been touched on already. Don’t be afraid to contact these depts. guys…..squeaky wheel grease thing

We are getting these questions commonly. You are correct that the factors affecting year class strength vary widely. There are many pieces to the puzzle that relate to large bluegill abundance. Bluegill year class abundance has and is historically been variable on many of our waters. Our sampling, showed many fewer large (greater than 7.5 inch bluegill) in the population. This is attributed to a number of factors in this complex puzzle. The year class that represents the fish you speak of has never be abundant. Think about the last few years when good size gill’s seemed to be plentiful, there were fewer small ones in the population that gives the illusion of more larger fish. Another factor that is a piece of the puzzle is we had a hard winter last year and documented winterkill in many areas. This is also beginning to happen again this year. On a brighter note there are a good number of 4 to 6 inch fish out there that if everything works out will grow into nice size fish in a year or so.

We (Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota DNR’s) sample Centrarchids (the family of bass and panfish) extensively each fall as we do walleye and sauger. We see year class strength fluctuations commonly. In fact it’s uncommon for it not to fluctuate.

In this short piece I can’t describe all of the puzzle pieces in depth.

Here are some leads to much more data.

Jeff Janvrin, my habitat specialist is just completing a publication for the American Fisheries Society on the importance of Winter habitat to year class strength and abundance.

Bartels, A., J. Janvrin, and S. Giblin. Indirect Evidence of Fish Migration to Upper Mississippi River Backwaters in Late Fall. U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, La Crosse, Wisconsin, October 2008. Long Term Resource Monitoring Program Completion Report 2006B8 submitted to the US Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island, Illinois. 24 pp.

Knights, B. 2007. Identifying Potential Controls on the Abundance and Size Structure of Centrarchids and Diversity of Fishes in Off-Channel Areas in the Upper Mississippi River System: Aquatic Vegetation and Physical Features. U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, La Crosse, Wisconsin, May 2007. Long Term Resource Monitoring Program Completion Report 2006APE34 submitted to the US Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island, Illinois. 64 pp. + Appendixes A-M.

Thanks for your interest.

P Ronald L Benjamin
Mississippi River Fisheries Supervisor
3550 Mormon Coulee Road
Lacrosse WI 54601
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
(() phone: (608) 785-9012
(() fax: (608) 785-9990
(+) e-mail: [email protected]

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