Author Topic: Whats a keeper?  (Read 22786 times)

Offline ryno

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #30 on: Jan 08, 2011, 04:52 PM »
i prefer 8"+ for filleting.  With that said one needs to take into consideration the size of lake you are on...smaller ponds/lakes that i fish i stick to a 10 fish limit and am selective on how many if any over 9" i keep.  just the other day i threw back the larger ones over 9 and made my buddy follow my same conservation practice...only keep 10 and any over 10" (sometimes even over 9") has to go back. the only exception is if you are going to mount it.  bull gills take a long time to get that size and also incourages competion when nesting, the more bulls there are the faster the lil'guys will get to be bulls.  the larger bulls are also better at defending their nests from preditor fish thus allowing better survival of the fry.  our state regs just changed this year to only 15 panfish/day...i wish it was 10 with only 1 MA. i have seen to many of our lakes get hammered and the quantity and quality of the bull gills decreases and takes years for them to recover.  needless to say when i find the bulls i am very selective for who i share it with cause with the internet and cell phones the next day there will be dozenes of people fishing there and most keeping only the bulls and trying to fill their limit with them as well.  i honestly dont see the need to keep more than one MA.  It does give ya a good felling when ya watch that 10+ bull swim off.
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Offline SoftSpot_716

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #31 on: Jan 10, 2011, 10:32 PM »
really depends on the body of water and each individual fish. Yesterday we were fishing and we were keeping 7 and 8s but the 7s we were keeping were really thick shouldered and tall bodied get nice fillets out of them.

Offline amcmullen

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #32 on: Jan 12, 2011, 11:46 PM »
why? 3" gills can breed

Good point. 
 I believe (and it is my belief, whether or not it is true is up to debate) it has more to do with the fact that larger fish have three main advantages. First they are better able to defend their eggs from predators.  Second, larger fish are older fish, older fish are the few that survived.  The fish that couldn't find enough food or weren't wary enough were picked off long ago.  Third, the amount of eggs a fish produces is proportional to it's size, bigger fish more eggs. 

To add it all up More eggs + more survivors + smart offspring = those 10"ers you let go to reproduce, synergy in nature.

Again, just my belief, I really don't mind when people keep small fish or large fish.  As long as they enjoy their catch and meal.  Gills are very prolific breeders, you'll never catch them all, not even close.

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Offline Jigging Nomad

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #33 on: Jan 13, 2011, 06:51 PM »
Most days everything is released.  All gills over 9" are released, no matter what.  I want to catch 10" plus gills and think catch and release on the big ones helps. 
Looking for JUMBO Perch, Crappie, and Bluegill

Offline yesjacker

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #34 on: Jan 13, 2011, 08:17 PM »
8''   I find smaller gets me aggravated when filleting.

Offline Rat-Man

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #35 on: Jan 14, 2011, 07:25 PM »
8"+ for me but if you want to keep them smaller go ahead, most States don't have a size limit, my father in law used to keep all the small ones and he loved to eat them and I helped. Pan fish are very prolific so i doubt if you could hurt the population by keeping small ones.
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Offline jugghead

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #36 on: Jan 16, 2011, 09:23 AM »
Let me say it like this 7'' or bigger , would be happy if they were all 7'' , but when you fish all day and are being selective and you have 9 fish that are 7'' plus then I will keep a few 6's , just to make a meal , 12-15 fish is usually enough for us , but 6's are the absolute minimum size we'll keep , I use a 6'' auger so if they don't stretch past the hole they go back , thats my measuring stick lol.PEACE

Offline jasond37

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #37 on: Jan 16, 2011, 09:40 AM »
Around 7"-8" for me.  I love to catch the larger guys but I throw them back, as with any other species of fish I catch.  I also don't believe in catching my limit, just because I can.  I'll keep a few for my wife and I to eat and that's it.

Offline Blitz

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #38 on: Jan 16, 2011, 09:55 AM »
6-8" depending on how I plan to eat them; fillet, whole, ect. Toss the larger fish back to make more large fish.

Offline fin-n-feather

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #39 on: Jan 18, 2011, 11:37 PM »
The standard for me I would have to say is 8".  Sometimes I'll go maybe a 1/4" shorter if the fish is nice and thick.  Fin

Offline icefishman

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #40 on: Jan 22, 2011, 02:07 PM »
The size of my hand!
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Offline slabgill

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #41 on: Jan 22, 2011, 05:50 PM »
8 inches!!!....sometimes 7.5....thats the smallest!!!! :tipup:

Offline Hooligan

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #42 on: Jan 25, 2011, 06:37 PM »
I only keep fish from 7-9 inches.  Usually trying to keep only 8"-8.5" fish.  I refuse to keep anything over 9" because with gills that's where prime genetics lie. 

Offline ufflmaster

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #43 on: Jan 16, 2018, 02:48 PM »
old topic but I will chime in. I keep them from about 8"- 8 3/4'. Under 8" is a pain to clean and 9"+ should be released unless your lake has a large amount of them. Releasing the larger gills and "keeping the next size class down" helps in 2 ways. First the big bulls are good for the gene pool. Secondly, fish grow much faster before reaching sexual maturity. These big bulls keep the 7" fish growing rapidly to try to compete for spawning grounds. Of course if your "big" gills are 10" then keeping some 9" fish isn't that big a deal.

Offline rivereddy

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #44 on: Jan 19, 2018, 12:59 PM »
I'd guess where one lives might have some influence.  In Indiana, where I live I want bluegills  larger than 7 inches and anything 9 or over goes back in the hole.  I really don't want blocks of frozen fish in the freezer so I only keep 5 each time I am out.  I usually pinch the barbs down and try to pop them as soon as they commit.  The only exception is on a couple of private holdings where I have permission to fish and the owner wants the bluegill population cropped. I will then keep more and smaller fish.  I hate throwing them on the ice so we have, on occasion, eaten "see through" fillets.  For crappies I go 8" to about 11.  Anything bigger goes back. Mind you this is for Indiana. Hit a run of 14" crappies in Alabama or on Ky Lake and a few will come home with us.

fish on,

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Offline icemann13

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #45 on: Jan 19, 2018, 09:17 PM »
I fish for the sport. I make enough money to buy food at the grocery store.

I have been lucky enough to find a nice gill spot that produces a fair amount of 9" plus fish during a days worth of jigging. Those have been going home with my son to enjoy during the week. The spot is on the Mississippi and seems abundant. Other smaller lakes I fish do not have the population nor the size for me to keep any. All depends on where you are in life and where you are on the water as to what fish you might keep or not.


Offline Agronomist_at_IA

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #46 on: Jan 19, 2018, 09:25 PM »
8in + anything smaller then Richard goes back.

Offline RyanW

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #47 on: Jan 19, 2018, 10:37 PM »
I usually go by girth rather than length but I keep gills  between 7”-9”. Some smaller ones have nice shoulders on them. However, there all keeping size if you feel like cleaning them. Larger panfish fillet better though.
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Offline panfishman13

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #48 on: Jan 20, 2018, 10:27 PM »
it honestly depends on the body of water i'm fishing. most places a keeper bluegill is 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 inches, some places i don't keep fish over 8 inches. i will not keep a fish over 9 inches. they take too long to get that big around here, and i want those genetics in the system for years to come. there's enough other people keeping more than their fair share of big bluegills (there's no limit on bluegills in Idaho), i don't need to add to all that

i also never keep more than 10 at a time anymore. i don't like standing at the cleaning table for 2 hours or more, and i can get 10 fish filleted and packaged in under an hour. plus, 10 fish make 20 fillets, which is more than enough to make a meal for me and my roommate.

Offline jiignut

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #49 on: Jan 24, 2018, 10:25 PM »
What grocery store sells same day fresh Bluegills?

Offline UFCreel

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #50 on: Jan 29, 2018, 07:29 AM »
7 to 9 inch and mostly female. Seems there is more meat on them than the males.
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Offline Ice_Fly_Guy

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #51 on: Sep 24, 2018, 05:51 AM »
7.5" to 8.5".  It is absolutely imperative to the health of the fishery to throw back 9"+ fish.  Especially for smaller, pressured bodies of water.  These kind of places can get ruined in one or two seasons when people keep limits of big males.  Gotta keep those big gills in the lake for healthy genetics.

Offline Seamonkey84

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #52 on: Sep 24, 2018, 09:26 AM »
7.5" to 8.5".  It is absolutely imperative to the health of the fishery to throw back 9"+ fish.  Especially for smaller, pressured bodies of water.  These kind of places can get ruined in one or two seasons when people keep limits of big males.  Gotta keep those big gills in the lake for healthy genetics.
Absolutely! With sunfish in general, It’s the big males that keep the population healthy and passing on good genetics. Although bluegills are an invasive species in my state, I still enjoy catching them. We mostly have pumpkin seeds here, they are absolutely beautiful fish. Though they don’t get as big as bluegills on average, so everything over 8” will be released for sure.

Offline HardIce32

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #53 on: Nov 26, 2018, 10:57 PM »
7.5-9 depending on the lake.   There are some thick 7.5 gills out there on certain bodies of water.

Offline Iceassin

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #54 on: Nov 27, 2018, 03:42 AM »
7.5-9 depending on the lake.   There are some thick 7.5 gills out there on certain bodies of water.

X2

Most of the lakes I fish are moderate to high pressure and low in predator fish so the 6-7" come home...I like my freezer full.
A couple of private/low pressure lakes with a fair amount of predators I frequent, the gills tend to run big...8"+

So nothing under 6"... and there is no "too big".
"Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice."
 


Offline fishinator

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #55 on: Nov 27, 2018, 05:47 AM »
8in + anything smaller then Richard goes back.
If i did that I would never keep a gill  ;D
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Offline Iceassin

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #56 on: Nov 27, 2018, 06:40 AM »
If i did that I would never keep a gill  ;D

 :roflmao: :thumbsup:
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Offline Bo Beaver

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #57 on: Dec 16, 2018, 10:18 AM »
I grew up cleaning 6"+ gills. They're not that bad.

Offline 3300

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #58 on: Dec 16, 2018, 12:25 PM »
any thing you want to clean is a keeper.

Offline clintonstick

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Re: Whats a keeper?
« Reply #59 on: Dec 16, 2018, 12:54 PM »
i keep a meal or 2 ,My wife scales bluegills fries them whole serves on rice with sweet and sour sauce.MMM i need some gills,i think they are the finest eating fish.

 



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