So have we moved up to shaming people for keeping big panfish now?

[taxi1]

I view a few ice fishing pages on Facebook and am seeing something I don't think was prevalent before. Or am I wrong? Shaming people for keeping big panfish. I've heard it for bass and trout but bluegill and crappie now?

[JIGMAN21]

no shame.  no big bluegill or crappies ?

[Doeslayer]

I keep whatever i want.... People that have a problem with it can kiss my butt..... People say that big fish taste worse.... Never noticed that at all... They also say that they are good breeders.... But that fish has been breeding for years putting its genes out there so im not worried about that either.... Ive heard that the biggest fish carry the most toxins but im still alive so i either dont catch enough giants or its not all that bad lol

[sparksNfishing]

I view a few ice fishing pages on Facebook and am seeing something I don't think was prevalent before. Or am I wrong? Shaming people for keeping big panfish. I've heard it for bass and trout but bluegill and crappie now?

That may be because Facebook is toxic crap. The worst of the worst go there to breed their opinions.
I believe there is some science behind that when a large quantity of large fish are removed from a body of water is takes a long time for that specific species to fully recover and produce a size it once did.
I'd lean more to the side that they are just jealous A-holes.

[Fishy Fishy]

Hey if it's legal and you want to eat it, keep it!

[Old Goat]

shame shame shame   can't recall the song now

[taxi1]

That may be because Facebook is toxic crap. The worst of the worst go there to breed their opinions.
I believe there is some science behind that when a large quantity of large fish are removed from a body of water is takes a long time for that specific species to fully recover and produce a size it once did.
I'd lean more to the side that they are just jealous A-holes.

It appears all social media has it's negatives. I even have someone that trolls me here.

[fishinator]

What is facebook?

[taxi1]

On a  funny note a guy got banned for 3 days on an ice fishing page of Facebook for typing "fathead minnows." Apparently the bot that searches for derogatory words thought fathead minnow was him calling someone a fathead.

I was banned for a week for "sexual solicitation." Apparently a link I posted about a woman in the news with a sordid past had some words in the article that were a big no no.

[Spider1]

yeah, I've noticed this also. Woke ice fishing. I seriously never though I would see this crap. Lately I've not been posting as much just because of it.

[lefty2053]

shame shame shame   can't recall the song now

Here you go.

[river_scum]

That may be because Facebook is toxic crap. The worst of the worst go there to breed their opinions.
I believe there is some science behind that when a large quantity of large fish are removed from a body of water is takes a long time for that specific species to fully recover and produce a size it once did.
I'd lean more to the side that they are just jealous A-holes.

agree on the facrbook 100%  sites like that have evolved into apolitical tool.

as for the fish size in lake being affected im not sure about that.  if the lake had food for all before it should grow more?  im no scientist though by far. lol


as for topic, i say keep what you want. other peoples opinions in the world dont mean a squirt to your life.  live it like you want.

 

[filetandrelease]

 Stay within the legal limit life is good , FB = foolish Babble 🙄

[FishGut]

I don't keep crappie over 12 inches, I don't keep male bluegills. Why? Because it takes a long time to grow a large speck, and 11 inch fish eat just as well as a 14. Large male bluegills keep predators off the beds

There's plenty of science behind the notion of releasing the largest fish of any species, keeping the genetics going. There's also lots and lots of evidence saying that populations of panfish are the most susceptible to fishing pressure, especially during the winter. Blaming social media for information you don't want to hear isn't the way to learn and grow.

[DowneastPescador]

Here you go.

What a great song, thanks for sharing. That guy can hit the high note like no other, perhaps minus micheal Jackson.

And all panfish minus pumpkinseeds were illegally introduced in Maine so keep em, kill em, leave em for the birds or eat them, from 3 inches to trophy size  I don’t care.

[Gamalot]

Fascist Book is what it should be named. There is nothing to the claim about keeping the big fish and breeding. Ask anyone who works in a fish hatchery. They keep the healthy younger fish for breeders because they are in their prime. It's not rocket science and at 69 I take up more space and eat more food than any value I would have as a breeder.
The quicker you Cancel FB, Twitter, Instagram, Google and a bunch of these other "Censored" sites the better off we all will be.

[Badder]

CANCEL CULTURE 

[esox_xtm]

Nothing new to me. Been shamed for keeping muskies (and that was some 30 years ago), a 22" walleye during the spring run ("we don't keep the spawners up here"), but never pannies (yet). Probably only a matter of time.

For me, the laws say I can keep one legal musky per day. Tell you the truth they eat really good so I might be good for one near the lower end of the size limit per year. Trouble is now the length limit gets bigger and bigger and, for me, I just can't see carving up a 40" fish just for a coupla dinners. Plenty of pike to go around for that.

As far as that walleye, turned out to be the only one we caught all day. We don't fish that resource every day during the run (which is massive) like lots of folks. We'll get maybe two days a year and that's it. If we were up there all the time and had lots of opportunity I can see being more selective but that should be a personal decision based on the regulations.

I've been through this discussion before and it seems the most strident haters are those that don't do so well on fish. I think the reasoning is if I keep fish there's fewer chances for them or that it somehow makes them "better" than the fish keepers. Too bad. Learn how to catch fish, ain't that hard. And berating me for being within the letter of the law does not make you better than me. It just makes you a jerk.

[Owesome_Otter]

Fishgut has the right mentality. There are many studies that prove this as well. By removing all of the largest panfish out of the lake you are paving the way for smaller panfish to dominate the lake. Here are only three articles of many that help explain the phenomenon. I have several city ponds minutes from my home where this has already occurred. The overharvest of bluegills in these ponds has eliminated any bluegill larger than 4" and they are now full of thousands of these miniature bluegills.

https://www.gameandfishmag.com/editorial/where-have-all-the-big-bluegills-gone/380547

https://www.in-fisherman.com/editorial/managing-for-big-bluegills/382986

https://anglingbuzz.com/big-bluegills/

I understand your right to keep whatever you want, but if you want to be able to catch large panfish in the future, you have to preserve your ability to keep catching them now.

[taxi1]

I don't keep crappie over 12 inches, I don't keep male bluegills. Why? Because it takes a long time to grow a large speck, and 11 inch fish eat just as well as a 14. Large male bluegills keep predators off the beds

There's plenty of science behind the notion of releasing the largest fish of any species, keeping the genetics going. There's also lots and lots of evidence saying that populations of panfish are the most susceptible to fishing pressure, especially during the winter. Blaming social media for information you don't want to hear isn't the way to learn and grow.

There's also scientific evidence that says the largest fish aren't the best breeders (common knowledge on fish farms), and not only is that huge fish close to the end of it's lifespan, it's already contributed hundreds of thousands of zygotes to the gene pool. I know really huge old bass are more often than not sterile. As far as panfish in farmponds under harvest can be a problem and create stunting. Even under harvest of bass in ponds can make the pond "bass heavy" with lots of small bass. Like everything else in life there one size does not fit all.

To be clear I wasn't advocating keeping everything, and I too don't keep the larger male bluegills or go overboard on harvest, it's just I get a little honked when people whine about someone keeping the rare outsize fish. l think a good number of them are jealous, and one actually admitted he wished the angler would have put that big bass bass back he could catch it in a tournament.

I had two fellows bring me a musky to mount one day. They said as they brought it into the boat, a local musky guide appeared and begged them to release it as it was his "bread and butter." When he was out of eyesight they put it into their livewell and brought it to me. When they told me about it I told them if they see him again to tell him keeping it was my bread and butter. 

I'm pretty much retired now as a taxidermist getting my backlog finished so I no longer have a dog in the hunt. But I've always had so much work I don't need the fish, but it still irks me when anglers dictate to other anglers.

[taxi1]

BTW I don't have any issues on Facebook. I just block any idiot that appears on my page. I think I've blocked about 70 so far. Now it's just friends and realtives.   

It's a great way to keep in touch with friends and relatives as far away as Alaska.

[Owesome_Otter]

I can agree with that.

There is definitely more to conservation than just letting all of the big fish go and I don't have any problem with people keeping big fish every now and then but the people who go out every weekend to harvest their limit of all of the largest fish irk me. But I would never berate someone about it, just shake my head and go on my way. That is how the limits are set and they are within their right to do it that way. Just like they have the right to keep the fish, I have the right to my opinion on the matter, and people who can't have a civilized discussion on the matter are jerks and should screw off.

[Rebelss]

I'm still trying to figger out why anyone would want to BE on FB. To me, it's kindergarten Show'n Tell all over again.     Iceshanty is my FB if I must have one.  And I'd be happy to catch a whopper, but most of mine are the average size joes. I love seeing others get the huge ones, just glad someone does!

[jethro]

Stupidbook is so toxic right now it's not even funny. You can say something like "look at this cute puppy dog" and people will write back stuff about "you probably got that from a puppy mill you loser" or "if you feed the dog anything but fresh cooked chicken and basmati rice you deserve to die". It's pathetic how horrible it is.

[Gamalot]

About 20 years ago we always fished a great pond that always gave up large pickerel 24-28" through the ice and big LM Bass 5-7 pounds in open water. The owners closed the pond to ALL Fishing for about 10 years and blocked off all the access points. New owners came along and started allowing me and a few others to fish again. It was still a very productive fishing pond but we noticed a major difference. Every LM Bass we caught was around the same size, 12" long and every pickerel we catch through the ice is about the same size 17" and we have not caught a bigger fish since the pond reopened. We do catch many more fish but all are stunted in size and none seem to grow any larger. We can only assume this pond is now overrun with too many smaller fish eating all the forage base food so none can now grow larger. In just one day ice fishing with 2 buddies we caught 30 pickerel and every one of them was between 12-17 inches long and none bigger and every one went back into the holes. Years back the pickerel were all well over 22" and lots were larger. I think the pond is starving for food with too many smaller fish.

[DR.SPECKLER]

Yeah no facebook here altho i browse  on my oladys profile once in awhile .guys don't realize that when you post a pic of a pile of fish or a big one they dont really care about your personal success,they want to know where,when,depth,bait without putting in any effort to find fish..

[zcm_82]

BTW I don't have any issues on Facebook. I just block any idiot that appears on my page. I think I've blocked about 70 so far. Now it's just friends and realtives.   

It's a great way to keep in touch with friends and relatives as far away as Alaska.

Same. I never really have any issues, but my friends list has always been very small, just relatives and friends from states I used to live in. I also keep my settings tight, so basically nobody except those on the friends list can see anything I post or contact me.

The only ones on my blocked list are relatives I have no use or patience for anymore.

[sparksNfishing]

Stupidbook is so toxic right now

All I keep hearing is "Zoolander is so hot right now".

[Icemole]

 It doesn't only happen on small waters either I have a larger lake near me that has been overharvested(pannies + bass) since the 80's..... "keeper" size has gone down as the bigger fish were removed. Smaller fish that used to be run off the major spawning areas are now doing the bulk of the spawn. This lake also was invaded by white perch in the late 90's early 00's. Went from zero to a couple of million in about 3 years.  Not only did they "boom" but they out competed the few panfish left in the lake for food. Of course with that many white perch they became stunted most in the 6" range. They have since "crashed" and surprisingly the state did restock some bass and crappie(not something my state does much of). Add in several poor ice years and there has been an uptick in size.... BUT we all know what will happen if we get a good ice year.

 Selective harvest is the new future as more and more states loose funding to stock as they once did.  "Slot limits" on size protecting larger fish while still allowing harvest of smaller plentiful sizes is a win for everyone. I would not be opposed to allowing the harvest of 1 "trophy" per outing.  Using crappie for an example allow the harvest of any fish up to 9" anything between 9-12" must be released. And allow 1 fish over 12" to be included in the daily bag. Most lakes in my state have a daily limit of 50 panfish(combined species) so guys could take home 49  8-9" crappie for a fish fry and still hold out for a "trophy"(whether you take a 12 or hold out hope for a 15).

 I live in Pa and we have a very limited number of public lakes that we can fish. For the past 4-5 years much of the southern portion of the state has had very poor ice seasons. Lot's of guys traveling N. and locals are none too happy with the added pressure .... can't really blame them either!

[Rebelss]

People need to get out to socialize like it's has been done for hundreds of years. Notwithstanding the COVID mask thing, it's too easy to tippy-tap on yer iPhone or 'puter with someone than a face to face talk or interaction. Comes down to making it as easy as possible with as little effort expended. Everyone's got an expert opinion on everything, and I'll bet that at least half of them have never seen or done what they post to others about. Experience, common sense, and respect for others seems to now be a thing of the past.