MN DNR seeking lower sunfish limits on 50 lakes

Second phase of lakes in Quality Sunfish Initiative would get lower sunfish bag limits
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources encourages to the public to weigh in on proposed special fishing regulations that would allow anglers to keep fewer sunfish from 50 lakes. The proposed regulations are part of the ongoing Quality Sunfish Initiative.

“These new regulations would continue our response to angler concerns about the declining sizes of some of our state’s most prized and frequently caught fish,” said Dave Weitzel, Grand Rapids area fisheries supervisor. “We’re aiming to protect and improve sunfish sizes on select lakes with the biological potential to produce large sunfish.”

The proposed lower bag limits on 50 lakes would go into effect in March 2022. Under the proposal, sunfish daily bag limits would be reduced from the statewide limit of 20 sunfish to five sunfish on some lakes and 10 sunfish on others. Some lakes also have similar proposals for lower crappie daily bag limits.

Comments on the proposed regulation changes may be submitted multiple ways, including through an online survey that is open through Sunday, Oct. 31, by contacting an area fisheries office, or by attending an in-person meeting this fall. Details about the meetings will be posted and publicized later this summer. More information about comment options, including a link to the survey, is available on the DNR website.

Through the Quality Sunfish Initiative, nearly 100 lakes received bag limit reductions in March of 2021. In total, the DNR plans to increase the number of lakes with reduced bag limits to approximately 210 by 2023, up from 60 before the initiative began.

Although anglers have told the DNR they are satisfied with sunfish numbers, they have voiced increasing concerns about sunfish size quality. They also have voiced concern about the added pressure on fisheries as a result of electronic fish finders and other technological advancements, including rapid social media communication between anglers when fish are biting.

“Sunfish grow only about an inch per year, so a large sunfish can be more than a decade old. It’s critical to protect these large fish from excessive harvest because they aren’t easily replaced,” Weitzel said.

In addition to the 50 lakes where the DNR is proposing new special sunfish and crappie regulations, the DNR also is proposing minor changes to 63 lakes that already have special reduced possession limits. Under these changes, the reduced possession limit will change to a reduced daily limit, which will allow an angler to take a daily limit from a lake multiple days in a row until reaching their statewide possession limit (20 sunfish, 10 crappie). The change will create consistency with the newly implemented Quality Sunfish Initiative regulations and is not projected to have additional biological impacts.

Minnesota fishing regulations use sunfish as the generic name for bluegill, pumpkinseed, green sunfish, orange-spotted sunfish, longear, warmouth and their hybrids. More about sunfish biology, the Quality Sunfish Initiative, and lists of lakes proposed for special sunfish regulations can be found on the DNR website.

From MN DNR:

Why do bag limits need to be reduced to improve or maintain size quality?
Studies show that angler harvest, especially of the large male sunfish, can have a huge impact on size quality. It takes a surprising amount of time to grow a large sunfish – you can grow three trophy bucks in the amount of time it takes to grow one 10 inch bluegill! Consequently, large fish are often removed faster than they can be replaced. Sunfish also have unique spawning behavior; large males create an incentive for other males to grow equally large and compete for good spawning sites – when large males are harvested other males have no reason to keep growing and tend to stay smaller. Because anglers usually keep the largest sunfish, reducing overall harvest can have noticeable benefits.

Do reduced bag limits work?
In most cases, yes! Lakes recently managed with 10 fish bag limits have generally maintained good size quality while average size increased in lakes managed with 5 fish limits.

Around 30 lakes have been through a formal review process including feedback from anglers – generally anglers were supportive and the bag limits were maintained or further reduced in every case. Published scientific studies from Minnesota and Wisconsin show similarly positive results from bag limit reductions. Most lakes showed improvements in average size of half of an inch or more. The gains angler’s saw in the size of the fillets taken home tended to offset the reduced total number of fish allowed.

How does that work? Take a look at the graphic, which depicts the relationship between bluegill length and weight of fillets. If an angler kept only six-inch fish, she would need 25 bluegills for one pound of fillets. If the bluegills were all eight inches, she would only need six fish for one pound of fillets.

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fish/sunfish/index.html

I opened the survey.
Seems it is just lake specific.
Impact: Fish are 1/2″ bigger.

Their example is a little funny when saying you’d need 25 6″ gills to make 1 LB fillets vs 6 gills that are 8″. But, they state scientific studies that you’ll gain 1/2″. So, i’m going to say instead of 25 6″ gills you get 5 6.5″ gills. Nobody looking at a pound of fillets just because of this. They’re trying to get to you to selectively harvest the bigger fish, which seems counterintuitive with largely stunted fisheries.

IMO this doesn’t add up to better sunfish fisheries but it can reduce the harvest during certain peak harvesting periods.

i found the lakes they are looking at……..not real familiar with them but i’ve personally had first hand experience with this Wentzel guy from the grand rapids fisheries dept. lets just say i’m not impressed with him!!!!!!!!