5 Crappie/5 Sunfish Limit

[noodlerod]

Amen!!! The only answer that makes any sense close the season 4/15-6/15. Rules are for people who break them.

Im glad someone agrees with me ! It may or maynot be the solution but makes the most since to me

[frazwood]

I think that there might be a bigger harvest during ice fishing, since so many people ice fish. How about we close the season from January 1 until April 15?

[ozzie]

you don't need to close any season in the state if you ask me....just make it catch and release only on walleye, northern, crappies and sunnies from march 1st to may 1st........I am sure that would go over well....I can say this as it doesn't bother me one bit to go and catch fish and release them!! But if I were to have to chose on a method to change the current limits I guess I would put them at 15 sunnies and 10 crappies but set a 1 over 9 for sunnies and 1 over 12 for crappies

[ozzie]

I guess rereading my post that limit would suck if you lived on Red Lake as you would only be bringing home 1 crappie as they all seem to be 13+ inches but that lake is not normal....lol

[LightningBG]

I haven't even been allowed to go fishing lately. My dad gave me a daily limit of pannies before he went to AZ and I haven't had time to eat them. I cant even C&R at this point.

Maybe I should just throw them in the trash so I can go fishing (or at least one fish?)

[reinhard1]

thats where the each lake is different comes to play. the one over would work in most places, but if you have a lake like red the 5 would be plenty. good luck.

[AndersonOutdoors]

Well said Brad B.

[whitetail_freak]

Reduced limits work well on smaller lakes, but on larger lakes it is very tough to make them effective. When you have lakes that are 4 and 5 thousand acres reduced limits will only add more fish to the population.

However, minimum size limits work well on large or small bodies of water, I fish alot of lakes that have size restrictions on the crappies and they all produce very nice fish.

[JP Z]

I don't know what to say on this. On one hand I am for a 5/5 limit as I love Crappies and Gills and want them to flourish. But on the other hand, at least with Gills most if not all of the lakes I fish have an over abundance of Pringles. But I don't think a statewide limit is the answer as said in previous posts each lake is different. What works for Gull Lake wouldn't work for Red, etc. What works for either of these 2 would probably kill my 60acre lake. I think the DNR needs to work on per lake regs. And then with this they need to work better with the local anglers on moderating the harvest and conducting surveys to see what is happening and if they need to change these regs either by increasing or decreasing them. It would be interesting to see them open up a limit of 20+ gills 5" or less though on some. That might help the lake. Of course then using them for bait would be a plus at least in the south where there are kitties.

[Jarrid Houston]

I am in favor always if it makes for a better fishery. . eating fish can be nice, but catching fish is way funner......

[Fred_Bear]

Lowering limits would be the solution if not low numbers of panfish were the problem. But IMO the problem is clearly not numbers, it is the size structure. Most fisherman have no problem going out and catching numbers of panfish, it is getting decent sized fish that is the challenge right now. I see 2 ways to fix this.

Some sort of restrictions from the general time of March late ice through the spawn in June. Whether this is size restriction, lowering the limits, or a combination of both; something needs to be done during this time frame. It's been said many times, "Any fisherman can pull into a warm bay and catch the biggest panfish in the lake at this time." For sure size limits need to be implemented to protect the important spawning classes of crappies and sunfish. Something like all crappies 10" and greater must be released and sunfish 8" and greater must be released. 1 crappie over 14" and 1 sunfish over 10" in possession. Similar to 1 walleye over 28" and 1 pike over 36" on other protected lakes.

The other possibility is simply going to 5/5 limits only during this time frame, but the problem is protecting the BIG fish and this does nothing to help that. Most people aren't taking home limits of fish very often anyway.

Personally I do not like the idea of lowering limits for the entire season or closing panfish at any point during the season. Lowering limits to 5/5 is bordering on crazy talk. Think of the idea that any angler can go out and keep 6 walleyes but only 5 crappies or 5 sunfish... seriously just think about that. The problem is not numbers, it is the size structure of these fish!

Perch cannot be managed together with sunfish and crappies. They are a totally different beast.

[theiceman]

Why not have a ice season and an open water season. It seems to me in the last few years the number of ice fisherman have skyrocketed and everyone has a locator. I see the same people day in day out in the same spot on late ice. I believe Ice fishing limits should be 5/7 and opened water should be 10/15 on most lakes and a size restriction. To me it seems that ice fishing has done more harm than open water fishing the last few years.

[Trapper J]

As much as i dislike more rules and regulations,something has to be done to protect our panfish.There are a couple of lakes in the Brainerd area that have the 5\5 limit and the panfish quality is better.That being said,it may not be the answer for all lakes.The lakes Im refering to are medium to small lakes.Maybe a limit 5 gills over 8" and 5 [PoorWordUsage]'s over 10" along with 5 gills under 8" and 5 [PoorWordUsage]'s under 10" or something like that would work out.What would really be nice is if people could stop being so piggish and use some common sense then we could leave well enough alone!