Today's Bluegill fishing is not like it was when I first started fishing
as a youngster,
both size and numbers have decreased significantly. My father did not
have the great fishing
my grandfather had and I do not have the good fishing that my father
had and my kids are
not having the type of fishing I did when I started. I believe it is
a downward trend that is positive
proof that we are over harvesting the resource and I think we can and
should do something
about it.
Bluegill in particlar have been really taking the hit in the last couple
of years as more and more
people are becoming aware of the great fun involved with Bluegills
which pound for pound are the
greatest fighting fish there is is fresh water. We have more and more
fishermen and combined
with the latest and greatest of electronic inovations and methods the
poor Bluegill can,t keep
up his end which is supplying us with daily limits. In my
opinion most DNR's cater to the tourist
facter because resorts and campground operators etc. complain they
need the limits up for their
clients to justify the amount of money they spend while at their
faciltys and the DNR's also sell
more licenses. The State of Michigan just icreased their possession
limit to 3 x times the daily
limit because if they get into good fishing they can bring home more
fish and justify there trip.
The state of michigan does not do any reasearch in Bluegills . Here
in the U.P. in the last couple
of years the Bluegill fishing has gone way downhill due to the over
fishing and greed. I do not name
any lakes in my reports
During the spawning season I throw
back all of my Bluegills to finish what they are doing. Every article
a person reads on how to catch
gills says to fish the beds, I think this is probably the worst thing if
a
decent quality population is to
be maintained. When I hear someone say "boy I got my limit today and
they were going crazy on the beds".
My Answer; Any dummy can catch Bluegills when they are on the bed's.
More Bluegill research must be
done by all of the States and DNR,s that have a Panfish population.
Some states like Ill, Mn &
Wi have been doing research on Bluegills and that is starting to get
answers on what it takes to increse
the size and quality of the fishery.
I just ask that you only take home
enough for a meal and throw back any Male Bluegill over 9 inches.