Quite a few of the lakes near me used to be good hot bites lots of sizable fish with good quantities. Now every one seems to over fish them. Do they keep everything? It’s sad, I went to a lake I fished since I was a kid very regularly. All smaller fish and guys were cheering over 10 inch crappies.
Here’s a General List:
1. Better technology (flashers, cameras, thermal shacks, new ice suits, GPS, Facebook and other social media)
2. Urge to keep fish and “provide” something for their efforts regardless of what damage it could do to lakes
3. Changing water dynamics either lowers fish numbers or causes them to relocate (invasives, developed shoreline providing excessive nitrogen and phosphate)
4. “The Good Ole’ Days Effect” People remember fishing as slightly better than it ever truly was and use it as a scapegoat for outings with low numbers in current time
Another possibility is the fishing may be off. Last year was a very good year ice fishing on the local pond. This year was good early ice but not the all season bite we had last year. I know the fish are still there and come spring the big girl gils will come in shallow and I’ll have a blast catching them. Something to consider, lack of oxygen, food source, snow cover all have an effect on any year of ice fishing….
It’s amazing a lot of people I’ve talked to this ice season have said the fishing just sucks this year. It seems the normal now.
Fishing hasn’t been slow this winter we do very well. Just having to travel a little further north. Because every lake in the chisago area have 1000 shacks set on them. Why would you fish in a group of a 100 in the first place. Then a lot of them keep every fish caught all day every day. Hurts these lakes
X2 of badger. Advancement in all aspects of fishing = more people enjoying the resource as it’s meant for all. IMO limits in most places could be lowered across the board even more than they have. A lot of people don’t have a lot of time to fish so the fish they catch they keep based upon limits set by state guidelines.
Seth f must be sleeping. 
Are those crappie in freezers? It’s verry possible depending on the size of lake. The different year classes will grow into keepers in a few years. Hopefully the crowds leave and don’t crush your keeper year class for a while. I hear the sunfish populations can’t handle that kind of pressure like other species. Time will tell on those.
Yeah it is a little sad to see when you go to a spot I’ve fished daily for years and now the last 2 winters the villages on these small lakes is so ridiculous. Hope the dnr catches on soon and cuts the limits in half. Before it’s to late. Some guys are keeping these 5 inch sunfish and 7 8 inch crappies. Having fun catching them is one thing but keeping limits of them in the numbers of these groups on small lakes is sad to see
Just for example 3 years ago the area I fish there was 4 portables on it. Maybe 10 on a heavy weekend. Today when I drove out to visit a buddy that same spot had well over 60 shacks. And now the big 10 inch sunfish are far and few between and 14 15 some days 16 inch crappies are unheard of.
Hot bites always get out. The closer to the metro the faster the lake dies. Been that way forever. Same thing happens everywhere. Even “up north”.
I am old enough to have seen many lakes cycle several times. Some lakes never seem to come back after the initial annihilation. All you can do is NOT fish memories.
Seth f must be sleeping.
It’s hard to keep up with all these mysteries.
All you can do is NOT fish memories.
I’ve fished panfish around the Hutchinson area for decades. From South of Hutchinson up to the Horseshoe in the summer.
One thing we could almost always count on was that last years lake seldom put out two years in a row for sizable gills. Sizable to me is 3 to a pound or better.
Some lakes froze out. I’m sure some had too much fishing pressure while others I might guess had predator pressure.
That being said, Dad, who was a 99% panfish nut changed his mind in the ’90’s. “I use to say that people could never fish a lake out of panfish. I don’t believe that’s true anymore.”
Some guys are keeping these 5 inch sunfish and 7 8 inch crappies.
Just an FYI, that’s actually GOOD for panfish lakes…Harvesting smaller panfish allows the remaining fish to grow and produce exponentially more offspring.
Other things to consider is how well the bass are managed on each body of water. Generally, if there is a healthy population of big bass, the panfish will be small. On the flip side, if there is a healthy population of small bass, the gills are usually bigger on average.
Over fishing is only one piece to this incredibly complex puzzle that never seems to get put fully together. Predation, habitat destruction or over-abundance, over fishing and incorrect regulations are all small aspects to an ever-expanding question of how to balance the fish populations in each lake. Will it ever be solved? No way in heck.
Nothing I like better than chasing panfish on lakes that freeze out occasionally..its all cyclical..if you keep fishing memories that’s all you’ll have..memories. I believe there are a gazillion reasons why fish do what they do and its pretty much huberis that some people think “they” know the reason..there will always be a battle between the “Farmers” and the “Hunters”…another reason its called fishing and not catching..just my 2 cents..
I understand how the lakes work and how management works. I don’t understand going to a lake and saying wow there is 52 shacks over there I’m gonna go sit in the middle of them all. Get out and do some work on your own, find your own spots and catch fish. My self and 2 other buddies set our shacks up on a terrible spot the other day all close to each other and just hung out and grilled. Wouldn’t you know it within a couple house there was 12 more shacks and they were all bullshitting saying how slow the bite was. No kidding huh we wanted to see if the crowd would follow. And yes they do. Some times it pays to do a little exploring on your own
My self and 2 other buddies set our shacks up on a terrible spot the other day all close to each other and just hung out and grilled. Wouldn’t you know it within a couple house there was 12 more shacks and they were all bullshitting saying how slow the bite was. No kidding huh we wanted to see if the crowd would follow.
I used to use my toy hauler Yetti to haul my ATV and portable to the lake. I would drop the wheelhouse in a 100% dead spot and not even drill holes and head out with the portable. On almost all occasions, I’ve experienced the same exact thing. It makes me laugh every time! Head back to the wheelhouse to warm up and make some food and no one is catching a thing, imagine that…
I’m not fishing memories at all. I fish daily I go all over. Usually target small lakes with low pressure and don’t post it. As you can see if u post it then 400 others will be there that weekend.
Oh man that’s my favorite to watch the group follow. Like a bunch of sheep.
Search this site about sunfish stunt growth.
Some guys are keeping these 5 inch sunfish and 7 8 inch crappies. Having fun catching them is one thing but keeping limits of them in the numbers of these groups on small lakes is sad to see
Sorry to say it Bearcat, but your comment and thought process is why you have no decent fish left 
As stated earlier, keeping small sunfish is good… People can do it all day everyday and it won’t hurt a thing as long as the big ones go back. This is the opposite of what 90% of anglers actually do.
The small fish only take 2-3 yrs to replace so why not keep them? It’s the larger fish we need to protect. They take 8-10 yrs to become big and that’s only if there are other big sunfish in the system to force the small ones to grow. If you take all of the big fish out and expect the small ones to grow up you will see what you have now, declining fish size. The lake will be full of 10year old sunfish that are 6″ long. (see the article below)
This IS an issue we can stop from happening and as sportsmen we need to step up and do something about it. I had a group out this weekend. We caught 100 gills, we kept 20-30 sunfish around 7″ and let the stud gills 9″-10″ go. This is how you maintain a quality bluegill fishery. But ask yourself, would you do the same? If not, then we will continue to loose more great sunfish lakes.
Check out this link from SDSU. MN WI and IA are starting to post the same findings but it’s getting around way too slow IMO. Just to clarify, walleye and crappie are different. If you give a walleye or crappie food and time they will grow. Bluegill on the other hand are a different animal.
Thanks Bearcat for caring enough to post this thread. It all helps, one angler at a time needs to start caring and if we do our kids can also enjoy big bluegill fishing. If we keep doing what we are doing then no, our kids will be hearing stories of 10″ gills instead of catching them.
SD-State-Bluegill-Stunting.jpg
What you may want to do is just not fish near them at all. I have tried doing that sometimes, and it really pays off. All the people are just gathering in the wrong spot, often!
BTW your new post title doesn’t fit the thread very well.
Your original title “where are all the decent panfish?” or something like that fit the thread very well.
Now it’s titled “why fish in groups or villages?” The new title has very little to do with the thread you started. That’s too bad, it might keep you from getting actual responses to your original question.
I will change it back. Got sick of the response saying I’m fishing memories and telling me I was wrong. I’m a very avid angler on the ice 5 to 6 times a week. In the boat just as equal. I will take a limit of fish now and then but mostly fish for catch and release.
I always veer from the group. Never do I catch my self in a village of houses. Unless it’s buddies and I. But we put in lots of hours scouting as well. Not much of a guy to just drill a hole and hope it works.
Not much of a guy to just drill a hole and hope it works.
I’m sure this is why you are normally so successful. The anglers that work hard get rewarded.
I hope some of the info above helps you understand where your big sunfish have gone. Spread the word and lets save the big bluegill lakes we have left.
I’m with ya and experience the same thing. However, let me clue you in. If you are fishing “daily” like you say. Are you hitting the same spot more than once in a row? Do you go to the well often? If you do, you are partly to blame for your spots getting hammered. If you want fish to yourself, you have to be really sneaky and smart about it. You have a good day in an area, have some self control and leave it alone for a week or at least a few days. It only take one person seeing the same rig on a spot to figure it out. Ice fishing it’s hard to hide what you are doing. Evidence is everywhere.
IEvidence is everywhere.
X2. There’s a reason I don’t throw my minnow bodies I pinched off on the ice. On the reverse side, if I left all sorts of trash and garbage in a hot spot, someone may write the spot off as someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing? 
Vey comprehensive list, BuckyBadger! I feel it’s accurate.
What I don’t get is how the DNR is continually bemoaning the fact that license sales are down and no one is fishing anymore, but then you go by any lake and see the villages set up like I have never seen before. Maybe just more people are ice fishing today and they are right that fewer people summer fish?
When you see the numbers about how many years it takes for panfish to get to that big size, you start keeping less. Especially the big ones.
Once your hot lake burns out from fishing pressure you have to continually look for lakes that are not being pressured and trying lakes you have never fished before.
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