Invasion Of The Dink Bluegills

[Scheu]

Seems like every lake that I have fished in NE Indiana in the 10 days has been loaded with dink bluegills. I have been hearing the same from a couple of friends. I have tried a few changes in my usual jigs, but I have not had much success. Has anyone else been experiencing this frustration?

[pearcheyes]

This is just my opinion,but with most everyone on the ice having some kind of flasher,and a lot of lakes are on the small side ,a lot of fisherman including myself walk off the ice with 25 fish limits.yes there are still catchable fish around but the nicer ones are definitely being depleted.A good example is mud lake in chain of lakes state park.The size has finately shrunk over the years and when 20 to 30 fisherman walk off on a daily basis with over 25 .i don’t think a lake like that can come back or at least not for a few years.Im definitely in favor of a panfish limit

[walleyeboater]

Thank goodness, that there are some yrs there is no fish able ice, so these lakes can recover a little bit.

[Hexagenia51]

I don't think I've ever seen a year around Noble County where we couldn't get on to ice fish, at least for a few weeks. I've been dealing with this addiction for 50+ years, that being said, I agree about the number of quality gills getting hauled off our lakes. Crooked Lake, Whitley Co. is another example of over fishing. Heck walk 30 yards out and you're fishing! About 30 years ago that lake had 10" gills as the norm. I'm sure other factors are in play here too, i.e. (Bed fishing, etc.). But I've seen the decline, it's still worth the effort but not like it was, like alot of our public lakes. Agree with the need for a limit! Hex

[wsj_outdoorsman]

Agree with a limit on the gills for sure.  It's hard but even in the boat I let a lot of the big ones swim especially at the spawn, never fish the beds either.  I have seen a few lakes wiped out of good fish and don't want my go to lakes to end up like that.  Maybe I am selfish but I want my grandkids to be able to catch them as well.

[river_scum]

 i agree that some of our smaller lakes can get "fished down". yet there are other lakes that just keep on pumping out buckets of nice fish.  i find that more lakes than not, in NE Indiana, hold 9-11" gills. most of them i catch come from deeper water though.  no, i don't catch buckets of 10"ers but 2-3 dozen fish (in the 8-11 range) trips are normal.  there are also lakes that don't seem to breach the 7"mark.  roam in summer and find the lakes that produce for you.

[riverrat]

Recent article from Louie Stout. Pretty interesting read.
https://michianaoutdoorsnews.com/columnists/louie-s-column?start=2

[Scheu]

So the consensus is that there are more fish being taken than ever before. The increased population of people equals more people fishing. The lakes can't increase in size, like the population of humans has, so it makes sense that the amount of fish taken from them needs to be limited to balance things out.

[river_scum]

interesting article.  comments starting off entertaining.   lol

[catskills]

fry up the dinks whole

[spencerville]

I don't believe we are over fishing our lakes in the winter or bed fishing. We fish a handful of places on a given lake. There are a shot ton of fish that we don't even target. As far as bed fishing, I read an article a few years back about the effects of bed fishing by a state biologist. It went on to say that the amount of beds we see doesn't compare to the amount of bedding fish you cant see. Go back to that lake this spring and Im sure you will see plenty of big gills. Not to say a 25 limit would bother me because I don't care either way. I seldom keep more than 35 gills on an outing anyway.

[RoeBoat]

Yeah, I'm not so sure any of are lakes are being over fished either.  Someone on another forum the other day proposed Wawasee is fished out!  Com'on man!  Largest natural lake in the state fished out.  Are you kidding me?  Especially with the limited access.

I think when you look at it state wide it's much more complicated than most of us can get our heads around.  I don't think I'm qualified even to give an opinion on the few lakes I fish.  I'm not sure a limit would help but not opposed to trying it.  I've taken well over 25 several times this year.  Mostly gills with the majority of them being between 7 snd 8".  Nearly every hole I've drilled on one lake has fish in it, drilled well over 100 holes.  I don't think the hundreds of panfish that have been taken off this lake in this one location represent even a small percentage of the total number of fish in the lake.

I think that's one of the main problems the DNR is up against,  every lake is different.

It's always eye opening to me to read s in depth studies that have been done with actual data taken from the fishery.

Last year I listened to an interview with the head Ohio lake Erie biologist.  I've fished the spring run in Maumee almost all of my life.  Always cringed, especially in the 80's when there were stringers of 10lb females (10 of them) drug through the mud along the bank of the river.  Thankfully,  not something you see nowadays.  So what did the biologist say about the females taken during the spring run according to the actual data?  Has absolutely no effect on the fishery!!!  The percent of total harvest is so small it has little to no effect.  After being there for decades and watching the fish come out first hand I would never have guessed it.  Most of the time our opinions are based on a small sliver of information.

I don't know any of the answers but I'm for trying a limit and would also be for a closed spawning season.  Not sure that either would create the desired effects on many lakes let alone state wide.

Time to catch a fish while we can still walk on water!

[High Tide]

The only thing I’m surprised about is this (dink’s) didn’t happen sooner. Technology and the lack of knowledge when it comes to fish conservation is killing our fisheries. For biologists that say we can’t see ALL the beds we come across, needs to take a ride in my boat. Anybody ice fish with a LiveScope, it makes an FL 28 look like a Lowarance Greenbox. Nobody should wait for the government to move to a 25 fish limit if you want quality outings for years to come... do it now. The depletion of genes due to past overharvest of hogs and water quality only compound the issue.

[geewillikers]

I have had my share of dinks this year, but I have also had one of the best years for keepers too.  There are still plenty of fish in the lakes and I have seen guys keeping over there bag on redear.  One guy fishing next to me was bragging that he took off over 60 redear and he said that he didnt realize that there is a bag limit on them.  I am in favor of the 25 limit too for gills.

[river_scum]

I don't know why they couldn't do a handful of lakes as a test project.  use a couple of the fertile lakes/reservoirs with heavy harvest.  a few years would be all that was needed to see a difference.  but even with positive results, I don't think all lakes would benefit equally like said.

[mrfrost]

I always thought an over abundance of dinks was too many fish competing for space and food.  That was why the DNR stocked some lakes with Muskie...to thin out the dinks.  But that hasn't seemed to help.

[Unclegillhunter]

How many gills crappies can y’all keep? Here the limit is 15 fish in combination. Don’t matter to me as I only keep around 30 fish in a year.
Keep it safe! JDL

[river_scum]

How many gills crappies can y’all keep? Here the limit is 15 fish in combination. Don’t matter to me as I only keep around 30 fish in a year.
Keep it safe! JDL

25 crappie 25 redear and no gill limit.

[abishop]

25 crappie 25 redear and no gill limit.

Unless fishing at the slough. There is a 25 fish limit there, crappie or gills combined.

[wlatrout]

 I fish Stone lake, no. of 120. A number of years ago we had a couple of years where we only had a week or so of good ice. The next spring the gills seemed to run bigger. Conclusive, no but maybe. I believe lack of pressure gave them time for more growth.
  Read an article some time back by a biolgist that by taking the larger fish we are removing that gene pool and allowing the smaller fish to do the breeding. Makes sense but not conclusive.
  Case in point, I have fished a lake in Wisconsin for 50 years. Back then it was not uncommon to take pound gills. Did it almost daly. Fast forward to today and we still get nice fish no pounders for 20 years. Again not conclusive but food foe though.
 I too would be in favor of a 25 limit.

[Spooled85]

To me if taking the larger fish is making our gene pool on the negative side . Wouldn't putting a 25 fish limit on them make most guys keep only the 25 slabs and tossing back the little ones ? Either way it's a loose loose imo .

[hounds]

Watching a video on In Fisherman and they claim that genes for size come from the large red bellied males and those are the fish we should be throwing back.  Keep the large females they do not affect the gene pool.

[PikeKing23]

You guys need a slot length, lol.  Keep 20 fish under 5" and 5 fish over 7".  Just like a bass management lake.

[river_scum]

i don't keep 5" gills as it is now.  I know a few that will keep them that small but most people wont.

shouldn't the fish already passed their genes on a couple times before they get "big" ?

[Scheu]

I am not saying that the bigger gills are not out there. I have had days on the ice where I caught 6's, 7's and 8's all afternoon, while a couple of guys 25 feet away are catching 8's, 9's and 10's. They were using some jig, ice rod and/or bait or technique that I was not using. However, the reality is that compared to 30 + years ago, there are not as many bigger fish now. Ask any of us older fisherman that got to enjoy the fishing prior to 1980. Were too many big gills taken, back in the good old days, who really knows. I do think that a limit on gills over 9" would help to create more big gills, but I'm no expert and it's all experimental. And the challenge to figure it all out is what makes fishing the greatest sport on earth.

[bigr]

Water quality will always be my reasoning not fishing pressure. Before most of us where even born fish harvesting for food was a big part of all hoosiers. There is not near the number of people keeping fish along with not near as many fishermen as in those days. If you check out the yearly ststs on purchases fishing like hunting is something young folks don't do anymore. Lake management and farming practice is the biggest culprit. As far as size of fish for me it seems we have bigger fish now than ever before that requires a whole lot more effort to find. Again something the younger folks with the latest gear are not willing or know very little about. 

[hounds]

i don't keep 5" gills as it is now.  I know a few that will keep them that small but most people wont.

shouldn't the fish already passed their genes on a couple times before they get "big" ?

I agree, but you want them to keep passing them on through out their lifetime, and hopefully half those big fish will be females for the taking.  The more genes they pass on as Large fish, the better the fishery I'd think.  I give BigR's opinions on water quality as a big factor also.

[kevs]

 Years past (70s & 80s) the size of panfish we caught was more consistent in quality and quantity. The past couple years I have been catching less fish of consistent large size, 8" plus in the waters I fish than in previous. I've also seen people taking large quantities of pannies while out on the ice from these BOWs. Seeing people post pic's on social media of their harvest of 120 to 175 panfish while ice fishing, and doing so several times a week. It is no wonder that there are more dinks being caught, the size of fish is dramatically reduced, and it is harder on some lakes to locate fish.

[Jigmup]

Sometimes I feel left out. I dont have any flies or bugs. LOL!

Seriously though...It's your craft. You know whats up! It's only a matter of time and the mother load of magnums will be under you!

[Gills-only]

I fish Stone lake, no. of 120. A number of years ago we had a couple of years where we only had a week or so of good ice. The next spring the gills seemed to run bigger. Conclusive, no but maybe. I believe lack of pressure gave them time for more growth.
  Read an article some time back by a biolgist that by taking the larger fish we are removing that gene pool and allowing the smaller fish to do the breeding. Makes sense but not conclusive.
  Case in point, I have fished a lake in Wisconsin for 50 years. Back then it was not uncommon to take pound gills. Did it almost daly. Fast forward to today and we still get nice fish no pounders for 20 years. Again not conclusive but food foe though.
 I too would be in favor of a 25 limit.

.      How big is a pound gill ? All the years I fished don’t think I caught one