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there are no big gills left in the metro!!!!!


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I've spent most of my winter trying to track some down. Tried all my usual spots. tried all different lures.LOTS of really small ones, but nothing to bring home and eat.

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What kind of gills are you looking for? It is better to eat a few little ones and let the big ones go to reproduce than it is to take all the big ones out of the lakes. That is the main reason the fish are stunted in many metro lakes.

Just because you aren't getting into big gills doesn't mean they are not in the lake. I know quite a few people that have gotten into gills in the 8-10 range this winter on the ice in metro area lakes. You need to think like the fish if you want to catch the big fish. Find the right type of forage, cover, and areas with less pressure and you can get onto some decent fish.

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I like to stay in that 6 inch range for dinner, keep 5 or 6 enough for my kids and me. hard time finding them though, don't fish as much as I used to due to said offspring.

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How big do you consider an "eater?" We've had many meals of 6"er's this winter. I caught an 8 1/2"er last week.

I too would like to catch some real bulls though. I believe they're out there, I just haven't located them yet.

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I caught a really nice bluegill on a small southern metro lake on Friday. They're still around!

In addition to the pressure on the bigger ones, I think it has to do with the pressure on the predators, too. If there more & bigger predator fish lurking in some of these lakes, I believe the stunted panfish populations would be thinned out & allow the survivors to grow to a more reasonable size...

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If the usual spots are not working, find 'secondary' spots.A guy has to think out of the box this time of the winter, with thicker ice, oxygen depletion, and fishing pressure, to find the 'gills.There are plenty of posts at the forum here, and at the panfish forum, to give any additional info. to help you out.

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Have you tried Shallow water, I'm talking 6-8fow? We have been sight fishing big gills for a week now and we are getting plenty in the 7-9" range. We are fishing a large heavily pressured metro lake and could not fisnd the big gills in our usual winter spots. From what I understand nobody out here is getting into them in deep water. I'd love to post a pic of some we caught Friday, but I can't figure out how to post pics here????

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have'nt really tried that shallow,have to wait next weekend my portable is an old clam jr. hard to set up in wind, and today is pretty windy and cold, makes it hard to move around.

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I also noticed the decrease of larger gills. Yes they are still out there because I do get into them every now and then. What I have noticed though is that there are a lot more people out fishing now vs 25-30 yrs ago when a guy could really get them. Point being that we really do need to release the bigger fish to keep the size structure up there. Way to many people keeping all the big ones! JMO. ole

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 Quote:
old clam jr. hard to set up in wind, and today is pretty windy and cold, makes it hard to move around.

I hear ya there! I use the same shack for sight fishing and the wind is the only thing keeping me inside today. The places we are fishing are small bays off the main lake. The best ones have very deep water just outside the bay. They also have lots of vegetation in them. The key is find the pockets in the weeds. I ususally go out a couple hours before I want ot fish to do some searching. Drill a bunch of holes, for me that's 15-20. Grab a dark towel, put your hood up, put the towel over your head and start looking down the holes. If the water is clear enough you should be able to see just fine. The darker you can make your house the better. I use a couple of buckets to mark the holes that I saw fish in or where there was a clean sand bottom surrounded by weeds. That way you don't waste time setting up over holes that aren't holding fish. There is nothing better than watching these fish. You would not beleive the amount of fish in shallow right now. I've seen bass, crappies, eye's, a couple very large northerns and of course gills.

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Big panfish are hard to find in this area. There will never be a good amount of nice panfish in the metro unless fishing pressure goes down or the DNR imposes size limits or slot limits on panfish.....which we all know isn't going to happen anytime soon unless the public puts a great amount of pressure on them at public hearings. I would be in favor of it, but you know the bucket brigades won't be. And we all know the bucket brigade individuals are everywhere around here.

GoggleEye

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I have to agree with Goggle on this, the DNR should start imposing size limits, but I really don't see that happening. Even if they did I would have to think some wouldn't adhere . Just the other night I was out fishing a lake with a size limit on the crappies and ran into a couple of guys who told me they just hammered the fish, when I looked in their bucket I can gaurantee you most of the fish wouldn't have made the slot! Just ignorant or not informed/ who knows,all I knew was it didn't work in that case. I do think it needs to be addressed because the number of people fishing just keeps rising and the lakes can't keep up with the pressure.

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I've found 8-10" gills quite regularly in the last 2-3 yrs. The main thing is to try new lakes and to try to do some research. CHeck out the DNR surveys on the the lakefinder and see how the fish stack up.

Someone mentioned fishing shallower. Lately I've been finding them deeper since the shallow spots are getting less oxygen and the weeds are starting to break down.

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Here a link for putting photo's on here:

http://www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1219014/fpart/1

I have to agree with Powerstroke's reply that a guy has to do the homework to find the lakes with respectable size fish.The fish are out there with the better quality size I see in a few photos here.

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So basically what you are saying is, I have to start an account on another webpage, download my photos to that site and then I can upload them onto this website confused.gif

Any more hoops I can jump thru before I can post picture's?

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Hey gotcatfish...

If you would rather have someone else post em up, you can email em to me and I can put them up for ya. Just send em to my screenname at yahoo.com. The website does not have the space required to host all the photos for everyone to post. It takes a lot of space when you start to host photos for the public.

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Whoa, take it easy,dude. \:\( If you want more detailed info. on this,post up and ask over at the photography forum.Otherwise, as polar offered, have him do it for you.That's the choices you have.

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Polarsusd81-

Thank you!! I should not have posted my thoughts at that time:( Found out some bad news just before I posted and was not in the greatest of moods.

SORRY!!! bout that guys. didn't mean anything by it cry.gif

Polarsusd81- you should have mail!! Thanks again!!

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nothing came through as of yet...did you send to polarsusd81 @ yahoo . com? I will watch for ya, don't worry about the outburst. I kinda laughed when I read it cause a lot of people think the same thing, but few have the cajones to post it.

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No harm done.Quite a few folks ask about how to do that here at FM.com,so that is the link that is usually provided.Only trying to help answer your inquiry about posting photos.

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Fishing pressure and over harvesting has taken a toll on the Metro Area's panfish. Ice fishing is growing by leaps and bounds and the panfish usually takes the brunt of it because most anglers see sunfish and crappies as table fair. The bigger the better seems to be the reasoning for a lot of anglers. However, the mindset is getting better, but the amount of anglers is drastically starting to out-weigh that mindset once again.

Selective harvest plays a huge role here. Keeping a limit of fish is not necessarily frowned upon, but paying attention to the size of the fish you keep can make a big difference in preserving that particular fishery. The brute stock in the lake is oftentimes thrown in the bucket, and by brute stock I mean the fish over that 8-inch mark. Those are the fish that keep the genetics thriving in the lake, which in turn help preserve the abundance of larger fish. Smaller fish only over-populate the lake and cause stunting, which is what we're experiencing in the vast majority of our Metro lakes. The opportunity for the lake to grow larger fish is drastically decreased and we're stuck with monster pods of runty 3-5 inch fish.

While the lakes and habitat are changing slightly, it's the fishing pressure and over harvesting thats the main cause to stunted panfish in most of our Metro lakes.

But like mentioned above, there still are some big panfish throughout the Metro lakes, just not as many in numbers anymore. Even some of the lakes close to the Metro are starting to take a hit. The Chisago Area has been dropping in fish size over the last few years as well.

I think more of the Metro lakes need to be regulated in terms of panfish. Start dropping the limit on some of the lakes to 5 sunfish and 10 crappies. Also consider a size restriction on some of the lakes too. This would help bounce some of the panfish populations/sizes back to where they should be. This system has worked for many lakes up north. Many of the lakes who boast a 5 fish sunfish limit are now experiencing phenomenal sunfish fishing, for both numbers and size.

Dropping the limit to 5 fish will cut back the number of bucket-fillers who go to the lake because they can no longer keep their 10 fish and they will find a different lake to attack. Instead now we've developed a lake where anglers can go to catch a few big fish for the sport of it. Believe it or not, but panfish can be a sporty fish and are beginning to gain more trophy class recognition \:\)

The DNR is working towards incorporating more panfish regulations. The Metro has a few lakes where there are 5 fish limits, and if you track those lakes you will see that the larger fish are starting to come back.

With all this being said, I still wouldn't look past the Metro when looking for larger panfish. Many of the lakes still hold a fair number of quality fish. They are just in unusual spots and take a little more effort to find...

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Matt---right on the money,panfish are not just for the table,big 'gills should be protected as well as slab crappies.Too many bucket fillers invade lakes and destroy the size structure and all we are left with is 'sun chip' sized panfish.It's all about more regs and enforcing them.

1.Lower limits

2.Slots/and or min/max on sizes

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I was wondering when the whole slot/number theory was going to be thrown out there on this one. I think it is funny that people think the bucket fillers are the only ones to blame. I have noticed that there are more fisherman on the lakes the last few years. That has nothing to do with big fish numbers declining now could it? Didn't think so.

You just have to put in the time and energy. The days of being the only one on a great sunfish/crappie lake are over and done with. Get used to it and try some new spots.

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I got my 2 biggest sunfish ever last spring from a metro lake that receives almost no pressure summer and winter. 10 & 10.5" hybrids. Big fish are around, probably in a lake right down the road from you, but the numbers are dropping because of the increased fishing pressure on all lakes. Some lakes my not even seem like good panfish lakes, and maybe they are not for numbers, but there are some little lakes around here with bigguns. I cant wait for spring!

I agree there should be some more lakes managed for big panfish. I think a statewide lowering of the limit would not be realistic, we need to leave many lakes for those who want to go out and catch dinner several times a week, I think the best place to start would be lake specific regulations that are clearly posted at each lake. I would like to see some more C&R only lakes for all fish, including panfish. There should be some lakes like that around here for those of use that have no intention of keeping a fish.

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 Quote:
I cant wait for spring!

Thats another reason why there are less bigger gills and crappies because there is no season where they are closed..even for spawning, and to many guys catch those big fish when they are spawning and keep them. I think the DNR should look at possibly shutting down the panfishing season after ice out such as Mid April to June 1st when muskie opens. This way they can spawn and the bigger gills and crappies are less likely to be caught, when it is the easist time to catch and locate those bigger gills and craps. Just an idea, but like what others stated is being selective in what you harvest will be the key. Even if lakes get dropped down to a limit of 5 people will go there and catch the 5 biggest sunfish they can get. Even if it's 5..10 inch sunfish I bet people would do it. What I do personally and learned from experience is if your getting big sunfish or crappies just keep your trap shut and don't go back to your spot day after day, like so many do. Plus my rule of thumb if I am catching nice bluegills is keep anything up to 9" to eat and throw back the 9-10" fish and if I get one over 10" I'll take a picture and release it or keep it to get mounted if it weighs a pound or more.

I'm not from down there or ever fished a metro lake but you all gotta realize there are a sh!tload of people down there. Which in turn a higher amount of people that fish, and most people will fish the local area lakes that they live by. I guess thats all commen sense but as person who's live in the St. Cloud/Mille Lacs area and the Bemidji area you see and hear how the lakes down in the metro get hammered to pretty much nothing left. Well as a local you don't want that to happen to the lakes you fish in your own area, so you just keep quiet and keep it to yourself if you can. I've just learned over time people talk way to much and there is way to many resources (drunken friends, untrustworthy relatives, The "Central Minnesota big mouth", cell phones, forums, baitshops, etc) where you can get information about where the fish are biting or where to go and try. So you just gotta watch yourself when you give out information about lakes especially about bluegills and crappies too because like I was reading an article by Brosdahl where catching big bluegills and slab crappies is like finding a gold mine and everyone comes a running if they find out and wants a piece too.

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 Originally Posted By: Bluegill1510
I think the DNR should look at possibly shutting down the panfishing season after ice out such as Mid April to June 1st when muskie opens. This way they can spawn and the bigger gills and crappies are less likely to be caught, when it is the easist time to catch and locate those bigger gills and craps. Just an idea....

A very good idea. Catching fish off of their nests is just plain stupid.

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