Limits on Ohio Bluegill & Crappies.... both Numbers & Slot Limitations

[icebucketjohn]

Brad Crappie Robinson has started this petition:

As me & my fellow outdoorsmen & women converse on issues of our Ohio fisheries, one topic that always comes back is the fact that there is no limit on Bluegills and Crappies on Lake Erie plus Bluegill limits on Inland Ohio waters statewide.

So I, Brad Robinson am starting a petition to start mandating regulations on these two topics.

Reasons For:
. Bigger overall size Crappie & Bluegill populations
. Generate out of state revenue with fisheries that produce world class & Bluegill & Crappie
fiehseries
. Get youth more involved in fishing
. With the advance in fish finding electronics, catch rates are improving making fish
populations more vulnerable to over fishing

Thank you for your time & consideration


Brad Robinson

Name Address

[snowcone]

yeh   I get it , funny how a person can get fish happy .  I think the crappy are covered. but the gills do need protected , as sad as that sounds should have 30 limit like crappy , perch ect.

better electronics, the internet, more people = less fish 

[Ntoiceman36]

Interesting a!

[slabslayer]

I agree, but for bluegill, anything over 9-10” should be released for quality breed stock. They are the best breeders that big. 

[Fish flasher]

Runs me $50 to $80 to go over to India lake. I don't do this for sport this is how I put food on the table. So when you start talking bout limits on Gil's your talking food off my table. Slot limit will work but if I can only keep say 10 Gil's for what it cost then what's the point. If you look over the law's there is a  limit of 10 any lake under a certain acreage. I don't fish up to killdeer on 33 do to this. It's not worth my time or money to go there. I'm hopefully you see my point.




          David

[Ntoiceman36]

 I am a strong believer in limits, if they are not in place our lakes will not be able to with stand the pressure as the human population continues to expand at an alarming rate, not to mention predation,pollution and other environmental issues. 10 pan fish a day is 70 fish a week, that should give several meals a week for a family.

[Tkfurs]

 First off let me say I am not opposed to limits on gills, I have seen first hand how it can help the quality of bluegill fishing. I have not seen where it has helped the quantity of fish though.
 
  I can give you one small example; the closest lake to me that is state owned is Oxbow lake. This lake used to be good for going and catching a ton of dinks (With a few nice ones thrown in) and was great for taking young ones out to get them on some fish. Both on the ice and in the summer. A few years ago the state implemented a 10 fish limit on bluegill and crappie (combined). In the years since this was put in place the number of bigger gills has exploded and the QUALITY of the fish is actually very good. I can go out now and catch a few 8"-9+" gills on a good day. But what I have found, and others have mentioned to me as well, is that we do not catch near as many smaller gills, in fact so far this year on the ice, I have only caught 2 that were under 8" and throwbacks. BUT, I have ice fished it probably 7-8 times and the most gills I have caught is 5 at one shot. What I have caught is a TON of small bass and a few larger ones as well.

 I have a good friend that works as a fishery biologist in another state and talked to him about this lake and he said that he is not surprised because with the limits as they are, he would expect the Bass to explode due to all the forage (IE, Small bluegill and bluegill fry) and the overall population of gills to decrease over time. He said that most lakes that have this type of limit do indeed improve over time QUALITY wise, but the Quantity is more often than not, decreased.

 As I started with, I am not opposed to limits on gills, the fishery in Michigan is phenomenal and has had a 25 fish limit for many many years. But I would wonder how far the reasons listed in the petition will get it. As I am not sure how science will prove out the more fish thinking. I also don't see Ohio EVER becoming a fishing destination for bluegill fishing. We just do not have enough lakes to be a big draw for panfish and panfish are not a typical fish that most anglers are going to travel long distances to chase. (particularly if they can only catch so many a day)

 As far as the electronics being so much better, yes that is true and basically impacts Ice fishing only. Which, sorry guys, is an extremely small percentage of the fishing that occurs. Frankly, as much as you and I LOVE to ice fish, we are a vast minority in the overall fishing population so our big picture impact is actually a lot smaller than we would like to think.

 I'm all for a decent limit on gills, and would support a scientific approach to getting one in place that makes sense to improve pan fishing.
 

[FishLaughAtMe]

I for one usually don't catch enough to keep(hence the name)but when I do I normally keep enough for one meal, which is about 10 or 12 depending on size. So some quality would be nice. It would take a while before anything to be done, with DNR and then implementing it and then the wait for the results. I'm going to be 61 and with bad knees I doubt that I would even see the results but I would go for some kind of bag limit. 30 fish is a lot in 1 day to keep, anything more unless your feeding your family(mercury levels have to watch) is a bit much. My back hurts thinking about cleaning 30 fish or more yikes. But I'm a follower, so I'll keep an eye on this one.

[Fish flasher]

Ya, I see your point's if you fish it ever day and you see the drop. I fish it 2 to 3 times a season for gills. It's a good year if I get a 100 for the year there. I don't see me being the issue there. There is a new issue that has not been considered. Your lake now has shovel heads in it and they'll destroy a lake. Then there's the oldest issue. (Stop fishing it every day). Lol, I'm lucky to fish 20 time's a year but I'll try not to catch them all hehe. I'm beat it was a long day on Delaware.