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Tell you what I'll do Bear,I'll contact our DEC and put the question to one of our fisheries experts then let you know what they say.RG
You shouldn't take articles in In-Fisherman magazine as biological gospel.
The article I was remembering was not in In-Fisherman as I had thought. I finally got my copies back from the old-man and the magazine is Ice Fishing, 2004/2005 published by F&W Publications. It's an interesting article and the entire magazine is well written and worth the 5 bucks. I got it at Gander Mountain. The article that I was remembering is title "Panfish Experiment" and begins on page 63 of the publication. The article details a study currently being done by Dan Dieterman of the Minnesota DNR on pools 5, 5A, and 8 on the Minnesota side of the Mississippi river system. They've established a 10 fish bag limit in these pools for a 10 year period to evaluate the effect. From the article, Dan Dieterman: "Once a fish is sexually mature, growth rates tend to slow. They're putting energy into reproduction instead of growth. Consequently, if a fish can delay sexual maturity, it can grow incredibly quickly. If you compare a 3 year old, sexually mature bluegill to the same age fish that hasn't matured, the immature fish will often be 1 1/2" to 2" longer."I tried to find the article on-line, but couldn't. Maybe one of the more net-savy members might have more luck.kc17thats the same one i read