# Bedded gills



## 6Speed (Mar 8, 2013)

Shoeman said:


> Ok...
> 
> 
> No gills forr you! 2 yearrs!


Ok, I'll just eat the Zander gills...


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## kzoofisher (Mar 6, 2011)

6Speed said:


> Won't they get bigger if you let them go and grow? Seems weird we close places for walleye, salmon and trout to spawn and not gills?
> 
> Maybe we need to change the laws to protect the blue gills? BGLM?


Sort of. Not that I think putting some sort of regulation on spawning gills would be workable without a lot of education. But the two easiest regulations that would grow more big bluegill are either dropping the creel limit to 10 or putting a max size limit of 8”. You can achieve the same results by never keeping any males over 8” but getting people to do that voluntarily is pretty hopeless.


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## crossneyes (Sep 26, 2005)

I will generally only keep 15 to 20 when fishing with the wife,that's kinda a self imposed limit . But again it depends on what lake I'm on,some of the bigger lakes I fish can take a little more heat than some smaller lakes. Do what you personally feel as long as you stay within the limit. 
Good luck and most of all have fun!


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## rob0311 (May 11, 2012)

Get them before the neighbor does!


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## june bugger (Oct 28, 2015)

the sparkys taste the best anyways


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## lodge lounger (Sep 16, 2005)

After too many instances of finding ancient packs of fish that had gotten shoved to the back of my freezer, I shifted gears some time ago and now only keep what fish I can eat fresh within a day or two. This approach has a number of advantages, chief among them the simple fact that fish, any fish, tastes way better when it's fresh (fortunately not the case with venison). Further, I don't need to wrestle with guilt over depleting the resource (which, given my expertise with a fly rod, my current weapon of choice, isn't much of a threat in any case). And creel limits are never an issue, since in virtually every case my family and I could never eat in one sitting what the DNR says it's legal for me to keep (not applicable to families that include a hoard of perpetually famished teenagers).

But I regularly fish the big water with guys who would no sooner release a legal fish than root for Ohio State. It's all good. They benefit from my decision to only keep a single, smallish salmon or steelhead after they browbeat me into adding more than that to the cooler.

Bluegills on the beds? Sure, why not. Keeping a dozen a couple times during the bedding season probably won't cause the population to plummet.


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## mkcass (Oct 18, 2006)

Gills are on the beds in the southwest counties. Have been for the last week or so. High water levels are making some hard to see in some places.


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## lodge lounger (Sep 16, 2005)

Oh, right. Kinda lost the thread there in my last post. Happens a lot these days. This last Saturday the gills were staging in 4-6 fow, bedding appeared imminent.


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## kzoofisher (Mar 6, 2011)

lodge lounger said:


> Bluegills on the beds? Sure, why not. Keeping a dozen a couple times during the bedding season probably won't cause the population to plummet.


Its actually much easier to over harvest ‘gills than we thought. We’ve been doing it so long we don’t even remember what the fishing could be like. The Wisconsin study will be done in a couple years, with luck that will produce convincing enough data to make a change. 

https://afspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02755947.2014.1001929

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mcvmagazine/issues/2019/may-jun/sunfish.html


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## lodge lounger (Sep 16, 2005)

Good read kzoo! The MN article suggests that harvest would need to be reduced by 40% to positively impact size. I'd totally support lowering the limit to 15. And putting a max size limit as well, say, 9". Regarding bedding gills, difficult (and questionable) to regulate. I think lowering the number kept and maximum size would likely get it done.


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

lodge lounger said:


> Good read kzoo! The MN article suggests that harvest would need to be reduced by 40% to positively impact size. I'd totally support lowering the limit to 15. And putting a max size limit as well, say, 9". Regarding bedding gills, difficult (and questionable) to regulate. I think lowering the number kept and maximum size would likely get it done.


It use to be 15 and was raised because the lakes were becoming over run with gills and small ones at that


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## Jiw275 (Jan 1, 2015)

Scout 2 said:


> It use to be 15 and was raised because the lakes were becoming over run with gills and small ones at that


Please jog my memory as to when the limit was 15.

Thanks.


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

Jiw275 said:


> Please jog my memory as to when the limit was 15.
> 
> Thanks.


In the 50's


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## kzoofisher (Mar 6, 2011)

You mean back when everybody kept bass, too? But I’m sure your memories of 60+ years ago are more valid than current scientific studies. 

In 1945 fifteen years of study concluded that stocking bluegill and bass had harmed fisheries. This was also the year the panfish limit was set at 25, no more than 15 of which could be bluegill. I don’t know that there was a limit before that. Minimum size on bass was 5”.


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

kzoofisher said:


> You mean back when everybody kept bass, too? But I’m sure your memories of 60+ years ago are more valid than current scientific studies.
> 
> In 1945 fifteen years of study concluded that stocking bluegill and bass had harmed fisheries. This was also the year the panfish limit was set at 25, no more than 15 of which could be bluegill. I don’t know that there was a limit before that. Minimum size on bass was 5”.


I never like bass and still don't yet today and the size limit that I remember was 10 inches. The limit for gills and panfish was 15 when I started fishing in the early 1950's


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## 4h20 (Jan 14, 2016)

Bluegills are the perfect bass bait under a bobber after a high lobbing cast or two. Can fish the back of the boat and drink beer while you're buddy casts under stuff all in front of you while running the trolling motor. The gills get it done.


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## Musket (May 11, 2009)

Varying opinions, for me, catching bass is just a little bit better than catching nothing.


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## EZHOOPS (Feb 6, 2008)

4h20 said:


> Bluegills are the perfect bass bait under a bobber after a high lobbing cast or two. Can fish the back of the boat and drink beer while you're buddy casts under stuff all in front of you while running the trolling motor. The gills get it done.


perfect bait for channel cats too


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## Musket (May 11, 2009)

And that is perfectly legal. Ethics should not get lost in the desert of legalities. The state sets the minimum level of acceptance as our maximum level of take. The new perch limit is an example of that. Good luck, stay legal and have fun.


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## Bay BornNRaised (Oct 23, 2017)

Musket said:


> Varying opinions, for me, catching bass is just a little bit better than catching nothing.


Agree on varying opinions. Cant Imagine how catching 40-50 brute Smallies an outing don't get ANY fisherman excited.....action to other species dont even come close to comparison! Atleast I know you'll be saving more of them no good useless bass for me to catch, thanks!


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## Hookernuts (Mar 2, 2019)

Gillgitter said:


> Pictures or it didn't happen. :evil:


I didn’t want to spook them. Last time I saw that much white meat it came with a side of mashed taters and cole slaw.


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## anon02032020 (Oct 2, 2003)

Hey musket jumbo bluegill bunker lake is amazing. Are you from the kazoo area


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## Musket (May 11, 2009)

I am just west of the Sister lakes. We truly do have some amazing lakes around the area. Best of luck to all who are getting out.


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## BillBuster (Apr 25, 2005)

Fished a northern Livingston county lake tonight for bass. I fish it a lot for big gills in the spring, but normally not after Father’s Day. I was surprised to still see big bull gills on beds and not just a few!! May need to go out for one last mess!


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