Where were they?

For the last year and a half bluegill fishing in our area of Pool 10 has been poor. Many accomplished fisherman all saying the same thing, where did all the big bluegills go.

Last winter and this summer were the worst years for bluegill fishing that I had seen in about 10 years. Nobody that I knew ever did get “on them”. Looks like it’s going to be another disappointing ice season.

Sooo, imagine my surprize when the first time out this last weekend I ran into a huge bluegill bite. All kinds of seven to nine inch gills laying on the ice. I don’t think it was possible to not catch a limit if you wanted if you could walk and chew gum at the same time. One of the best gill bites I have ever seen.

Sooo, where were they these last 18 months? Did some of you have similar experiences. For once, I’m very happy to be wrong about how “bad” bluegill fishing has become.

Now that’s some GREAT news Brian. Heard it was on fire
Where were they? Great question! It’s going to be interesting to see if pods of good gills show up in other backwaters or isolated to the area you were in. Let’s hope for a full pool recovery

Oh yeah, I’ll be up for supplies on Friday

Hey Brian…..if Jeff is heading up for supplies on Friday, you better pull all the good stuff Thursday night! He doesn’t need any more help than what he’s already got!

I’ve heard about this bite your talking about from 5 different people…….and it sounded AMAZING! I tried to get there on Sunday but a train broke down or something. It came to a sudden stop and a worker came walking the tracks and said, “it’s going to be awhile…..sorry” I headed for home.

Oh well……….maybe later this week I’ll see what is going on there!

I can tell you that this area is way overpopulated with bass that munch on young gills and crappies. another factor is way more icefisherman out with all the hi=tech crap that has put a hurt on all fishing in general.Years ago you never seen anyonekeep 25 gills in the 5-6 inch range like you do today. I can remember gramps telling me;we will keep a meal and toss back the rest and nothing smaller than 8 inches.So we’d keep 8-10 and go home.Fishermen better wake up or they won’t see a darn thing in that fishfinder.For the life of me I can’t understand keeping 5-6 inch gills.I am not aiming this rant at you birdman,this mentality just pisses me off

Mike, I must be a little older than you. In my younger years they didn’t keep 8 to 10 fish, they kept them by the bucket full. And the little ones weren’t thrown back, they were left on top of the ice. Not saying we need to go back to that, but it did happen and it happened alot.

I do agree that bass numbers might be having an adverse effect on the gill population though. Although I think the reduction of pad fields has more of an effect though.

The fish that were caught there this weekend were not 5 or 6 inchers. They were legitamate 7 to 9 inchers with a few that even crept over the 9 inch mark. I have no problem with people catching their limit of fish. They’ve broken no laws and as long as they clean them I say good for them.

Jeff, I was wondering the same thing if it was a big pod of big gills that just came cruising through. That was the purpose of my post, trying to figure out if this was just an isolated incident or if fishing picked up for everyone up and down the river for gills.

Maybe keeping a few of those smaller fish and letting the big girls go might help out the future of your fishery down there as well. Selective harvest goes a long ways fellas.

Mike, Please take this to cool not fuel!If you have the chance to speak with a fish biologest at a sport show,hatchery,boat ramp or somewere.Ask him to make a better fishery would you be best to take 10- 8″+ or 25 5-7″ you might be suprised.Those 8+ers in a lot lakes could be less than 5% of population.Next spring look at the spawning beds and see whos making your next generation.I would also say I always fish with a flasher, it has helped me catch more fish,but with that value the resource more.Without question I keep less fish now than I did with my hand auger, schooley and 5 gal bucket!Slob fishing is a mindset,not something you buy at the store.Please just take this as food for thought as it was intended.thanks Steve

Thanks for the report

Birdman: I don’t know about you,but I’ve been fishing this area soon to be fifty years now. Keeping a limit of 7-9 inchers because the law says you can will not help our fishery.My biggest beef, as Steve puts it, is with the slobs that take their morning limit, go home clean them, and return for another evening limit. My hope is if you see this happening you report their I believe in selective harvest, and your comment Jeremy better not be aimed at me, as I’ve been practcing it longer than you have been alive.And Steve you are right , slob fishing is a mindset, with a flasher as just one of their many tools.All I ask is we all be good stewards and sportsman and the fishing will improve

When I was a kid in boy scouts, we would make an annual trip down to the backwaters near Prairie. We would usually bring home 2 5 gallon buckets full of fish between 10 fisherman. We pickled them up and boy were they good. If we would have done this every weekend it would have been bad for the population. I tend to do the same thing when we get the hot crappie bite in the spring. I usually keep my limit (which is 10 on Lake Menomonin) the first time out and maybe once more later in the spawn. The rest of the time I fish for fun. We all have to come to some sort of moral fishery management decision on our own that we apply to our selves regardless of the regulations set by your DNR. If we all go out and take a limit every time we go our kids may find it hard to enjoy fishing with a much smaller or non existent fish population.

Brian, I echo your post. I found similar results on pool 9 as well. Not sure what the deal was.

I’m just glad to hear you found some good ones! I sure hope we can get back to the good old days.

Hopefully we cross paths this weekend! (pms welcome )

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I believe in selective harvest, and your comment Jeremy better not be aimed at me, as I’ve been practcing it longer than you have been alive.And Steve you are right , slob fishing is a mindset, with a flasher as just one of their many tools.All I ask is we all be good stewards and sportsman and the fishing will improve

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Not aimed at anyone…just food for thought for the masses. A little education goes a long ways as far as preserving our fisheries.

Jeremy is right though….
Weeding out the smaller fish and releasing most of the big ones helps in the long run…
Genetics aside, too many little ones means more competition for food,habitat etc ….
I have no problem taking home a meal or 2 of smaller fish..
Gut,scale and fry….nothing goes to waste

I don’t agree with part of that Mudshark. In a river system there is very little chance of competition for food and habitat.

The only thing too many little ones on the big river means is there was a very good spawn.

Like Brian I too remember the years of watching people throw the little fish on the ice to waste away. They called them stunted and thought they were doing the fishery a favor. The Iowa conservation commision can take a good deal of blame for that one, because it was their magazine that reccomended tossing the smaller fish to make more room and feed for the bigger ones. BUT!!!!!!!, they were reffering to farm ponds and just forgot to express that little detail, so everyone took it for gospel everywhere. You have to leave that Iowa farm pond mentality at home when you fish big lakes and rivers.

You know the sad part of this story? That article came out in the early 60’s and still to this day you will see people icefishing the Miss. throwing little fish on the ice thinking they are stunted.

Even on the farms ponds, just because you are catching small fish doesn’t mean they are stunted. You could very well just be into a group of younger year class fish.