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20151108-BFOTD!! 8' CLASS B'GILL FISHING "IN THE ZONE"

b'gill caught fishing in the zone at 23' FOW jigged and tagged from a tight neutral school. since we agreed at the beginning to keep a few fish under 7.5" this fish was quickly photo'ed and released. protect your fisheries and keep only smaller fish. an 8" fish in Michigan is top tier... know your fisheries and fish and release top tier fish. you are doing your sport a favor by doing so.

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Albums: 2015. FISHING. FIVE LAKES

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Comment by Slip Sinker on November 9, 2015 at 7:25pm: Tony... i asked if it was in the DNR's future interest to stock Red Ear... their answer was it showed no angler interest... i said WHAT!! who wouldn't want to catch a bigger B'Gill... i ripped them a new one on their expensive stocking efforts on the Muskellunge when nobody here fishes for them.

Comment by Slip Sinker on November 9, 2015 at 7:21pm: slip stinker;; Tony;; this past summer; I was checked by a warden; only wanted to see my fish catch; to weight; and get the length;; saying the twra was doing a study on all available fish catches.

Carl...that is a step in the right direction ... i dont see that happening here

Comment by Tony Livingston on November 9, 2015 at 7:17pm: Also need to factor in the angler....predation by human is often significant where redears are concerned, as their tendency to grow larger than bluegills make them an attractive target.

Comment by Slip Sinker on November 9, 2015 at 7:10pm: Disappearing Populations

It is not uncommon to see a population of redear disappear from a lake or pond over a period of years. Limited reproduction and heavy predation by early spawned bass often take their toll. It is possible to re-establish populations of redear by restocking redear fingerlings into existing bass/bluegill ponds. It typically takes three years for stocked fingerlings to enter the catch as fish that are one-half pound or larger.

Fingerling redear as small as two inches can be used to successfully re-establish fishable populations, even in lakes with large numbers of small bass. Stocking rates of approximately 200 fingerlings per acre are preferred to establish reproducing populations of redear. We have documented this success in several lakes in the southeast.

ive read a few articles with similar information... maybe with addition to predation is significant.

Comment by Tony Livingston on November 9, 2015 at 7:00pm: In the BG/RES scenario mentioned by slip sinker, I'm not sure how I feel about BG replacing RES over time. Our ponds have been here for over 40 years, and have never had a supplemental stocking of either BG or RES since the initial stocking efforts back in the early seventies. We still have viable populations of bluegills and redears in all ponds, but what continues to amaze me is the number of naturally occurring hybrids (BG x RES) that we get. They are very plentiful. Perhaps, given enough decades, this interbreeding would eventually allow the bluegills to assimilate the redears into their population. Remember also that bluegills probably spawn 3-5 times a summer, while redears may only once or twice.

Comment by Slip Sinker on November 9, 2015 at 6:54pm: Tony ... i to believe there is a specific slot limit for every specific lake... in a perfect fishing world.

i would love to be on a MGT team assigned to a few specific lakes to manage slot limits.

Comment by Slip Sinker on November 9, 2015 at 6:48pm: Carl... i was reading a study.... given a lake with B'Gill and Red Ear stocked in a pond ... the bluegill will eventually over run the Red Ear where finally the Red Ear will fail to exist.

Comment by carl hendrix on November 9, 2015 at 6:40pm: slip stinker;; Tony;; this past summer; I was checked by a warden; only wanted to see my fish catch; to weight; and get the length;; saying the twra was doing a study on all available fish catches.

Comment by Tony Livingston on November 9, 2015 at 6:33pm: I tend to agree on the slot limit offering the best chance at maintaining and/or producing big bluegills. The problem as I see it, is that no two lakes are exactly alike... some need more harvest than others, some have good stocks of bigger gills while others have far less. A blanket regulation is seldom the best answer, but I recognize the need to keep things as simple and enforceable as possible. Hence the daily limit applied statewide.

I would love to see a handful of "experimental" lakes managed for trophy bluegills by a state agency. Maybe someday.

Comment by Slip Sinker on November 9, 2015 at 6:25pm: Carl... most fisherman throw back the smaller culling to keep the bigger ones ... (my advice to them is to choke up on the blade!)...that is one way to compound the problem... i know one lake in particular that has a huge base of dink fish... and i know another lake that is desperate in need for any size bluegill because of an overabundant supply of N.Pike and other preds that keep the population very thin but transferring one to another to mutually benefit is against the law.