NEW PANFISH LIMITS START 1/22/09

[Kevin23]

I just wanted to take the time to remind everyone that the Iowa statewide crappie and bluegill limits are now 25 each.

You may take 25 Crappie, 25 Bluegill, and 25 Perch a day starting 1/22/09.


~BBK


And yes I know that its past 1/22 but some people might not know.

[bn2hunt]

Is this for private ponds or just public waters?

[Ice_Ninja]

Just Public Waters....and there is no possession limit on how many you can have in your freezer!

[Woody61]

Just Public Waters....and there is no possession limit on how many you can have in your freezer!

This rule has a few holes in it. The no limit possession part doesn't make much sense. In water where you catch both gills and crappies it's(daily limit) not going to make much of a difference.

[Ice_Ninja]

This rule has a few holes in it. The no limit possession part doesn't make much sense. In water where you catch both gills and crappies it's(daily limit) not going to make much of a difference.

I guess I dont understand what your saying.  On public water you can only have in your possession when you leave the lake or on the lake, if checked by an officeer....is 25 gill & 25 crappie. You can have has many as you want in your freezer at home.  But whos to say you cant go home and clean them, put them in your freezer, go back out and catch 25 more. But you must be a serious fisherman. That is a lot of fish, especially if your in a group. 

[Woody61]

I guess I dont understand what your saying.  On public water you can only have in your possession when you leave the lake or on the lake, if checked by an officeer....is 25 gill & 25 crappie. You can have has many as you want in your freezer at home.  But whos to say you cant go home and clean them, put them in your freezer, go back out and catch 25 more. But you must be a serious fisherman. That is a lot of fish, especially if your in a group. 

Thats what I meant, you can still bring a lot of fish home then go right back out and do it again. I would have thought the law would have been something like a total of XXX any combo of panfish and a possession of xxx. Most will abide by it but some will end up with a freezer full fillets regardlesss. Not saying i'm for or against the new rule because no matter how you slice it you can still end up taing a lot of fish out of any given lake.

[Kevin23]

Its daily possesion. If the game warden sees you leave with a limit and come back and keep 1 more fish your going to get a BIG ticket. A few guys got busted for that last year at west lake fishing for trout. They would catch their 5, go home and come back and catch another 5. They caught them 

[IceMANCooketh]

I was out there when they caught them at West Lake taking more than their 5 trout.

Needless to say, their extra fish were not worth the tickets they received.

[therealjt]

i see this hurting some lakes... i am going to use ahquabi since i practically live there.

ahquabi is so overpopulated with crappie and gils, i can catch gils 9"+ all day in the spring until about august. you can catch blue gil all day no problem. i have talked with a few dnr and hatchery people and out there at ahquabi the panfish (especially crappie) have taken over. they said there was a few great hatches and just kept going and going and going.

ahquabi has an 18" length limit on bass. i have fished there for 3 years solid and haven't seen but 2 of the mythological creatures (one i caught on my 5wt fly rod on and itty bitty fly) you can go out there and catch bass all day at 12-16" with their lips halfway or all the way torn off.

we will have to see what happens. just becasue its good for one doesn't make it good for all.

jt

[Kevin23]

i see this hurting some lakes... i am going to use ahquabi since i practically live there.

ahquabi is so overpopulated with crappie and gils, i can catch gils 9"+ all day in the spring until about august. you can catch blue gil all day no problem. i have talked with a few dnr and hatchery people and out there at ahquabi the panfish (especially crappie) have taken over. they said there was a few great hatches and just kept going and going and going.

ahquabi has an 18" length limit on bass. i have fished there for 3 years solid and haven't seen but 2 of the mythological creatures (one i caught on my 5wt fly rod on and itty bitty fly) you can go out there and catch bass all day at 12-16" with their lips halfway or all the way torn off.

we will have to see what happens. just becasue its good for one doesn't make it good for all.

jt

This should help your bass problem. People will take the big gills and the bass will feed on the smaller ones.

[esox_magnum]

In a way this will help my home waters no more non residents coming in and harvesting 3-5000 gills in a weeks time to take back home and sell. As for the limit I don't keep that many at a time anyway.

[Ice_Ninja]

In a way this will help my home waters no more non residents coming in and harvesting 3-5000 gills in a weeks time to take back home and sell. As for the limit I don't keep that many at a time anyway.

I agree with you! I dont want to bash Wisconsin people, cause most of them are nice people! But where I am from they come down in groves and fish, fish, fish,...not even for the enjoyment to say...but like you said for the quantities. They take anything and everything and fill coolers full of fish. They will even bring small deep freezes with them and freeze pans full of fish to take back and sell is what I heard. It can really put a hurt on some of the waters that they fish in a weeks times. 

[TRCrappie]

Have fished at ahquabi also and you would not say you can catch as many 9" bluegills as you want.  They are in there though.  The bass in that lake are the problem if you ask me.  Too many fish with not enough to feed on.   Have ice fished there about 5 times this winter also and have yet to catch a crappie.  The overabundance of the panfish should lead to bigger bass anyways.

[therealjt]

sorry, i made a typo after re-reading what i wrote. it should say 9"+ crappie not gil.

here is a picture from this spring of about 45 minutes in one spot with the fly rod. and it was a fairly slow day if i remember correctly. this last spring me and another guy were pretty much told to keep "all" the crappie but we only kept 9"+

mixed bag this day, was also just learning to fly fish



ps...that one gil makes everything look small too

jt

[TRCrappie]

Nice catch.  Have had some luck off and on with the gills.  Have only caught one crappie at the lake and it was around 12".  Seems like the blue gills will only bite at morning and evening even during the summer.

[crappie98]

This is the worst thing the DNR has done as of yet.  Mark my words many lakes in Iowa now will have many stunted fish now because we can only take 25 each.  For instance Volga lake in NE Iowa.  When we went there before we would keep tons of 6 to 8 inch crappie just to get them out of the lake because it is overpopulated but I guess we can't anymore. 

[Big_Ron]

I have not read the new rule but if its like some other states it may be 25 total. I know some states is you have 10 crappie and 15 gills that is limit, its combined all fish 25. Not sure if that is how it is I remember they use a word that most fisherman would not have a clue what it means. Probably to catch them and give a ticket. If Iowa has not done it that way yet I bet it will be like that soon..

[therealjt]

iowadnr.com says 25bluegill and 25 crappie

[Kevin23]

I have not read the new rule but if its like some other states it may be 25 total. I know some states is you have 10 crappie and 15 gills that is limit, its combined all fish 25. Not sure if that is how it is I remember they use a word that most fisherman would not have a clue what it means. Probably to catch them and give a ticket. If Iowa has not done it that way yet I bet it will be like that soon..

Iowa has way too many bluegills for that. Thats used in the northern states that dont have very many bluegill and crappies.

[iowaboy]

One thing to remember this is a daily limit 25 gills 25 crappie and 25 perch. There is NO possession limit just a daily limit. This means you can go back day after day after day and take your 25 gills 25 crappie and 25 perch.

I rarely keep more then 15 anyway so this new law doesn't bother me at all. 

[DougU]

I have not read the new rule but if its like some other states it may be 25 total. I know some states is you have 10 crappie and 15 gills that is limit, its combined all fish 25. Not sure if that is how it is I remember they use a word that most fisherman would not have a clue what it means. Probably to catch them and give a ticket. If Iowa has not done it that way yet I bet it will be like that soon..

My advice is to read a law before you comment on it. I agree that this is one of the DNR's worst ideas yet and i have been led to believe that it was due to pressure from anglers from the holy mecca of northwest Iowa. All of that aside, the only thing this will do is create a state full of Rock Creeks with tons of stunted fish. what ever happened to scientific reasoning?Speaking of Rock Creek, I hope you all come down because most of the locals have had it with the new park ranger and his type of nepotistic management. Maybe enough flags will be raised and he will run and hide vs. shaming his family name with all of the emails to the DNR headquarters and the calls to the county sheriff.

[c.r.rick]

hey dougu i cant agree more about rock creek and the new park ranger.  we use to be able to fish the lake all night long in the winter as long as we werent raisin hell and being loud.  it is a 24 hour fishing lake in the summer and the old ranger didnt mind us being there walleye and crappie fishing all night long.  the new guy runs you out at 10:30 and is a stickler on the laws.  he is trying to make a name for himself i think but hes getting a name i dont think he wants.  and as the fish size goes its pretty sad when the bluegills are larger then the crappies.  i can go and catch 9 inch gills regularly and if i catch a 9 inch crappie its almost rare anymore.  i know theres good ones in there but to many 6 and 7 inchers. 

[hotrod]

The Rock Creek Ranger has had only nice things to say to me the several times we have conversed.  He even lent a hand the other day at an ice fishing tournament.

Not to stir anything, but considering i fish that lake dozens of times a year, both ice and with a boat, i am curious...is the reason you are down on him justified or was he doing his job?

[DougU]

If you fish it dozens of times a year then you should know. You aren't related to ............never mind. Lets see, as for the reasons...........your going to have to wait and see but if you read my first post again you might get a clue

[nute7810]

I heard a rumor that he took the job @ Union Grove in Gladbrook, we can hope.  Hickory and Rock Creek USED to be able to be FISHED 24 hrs until we ended up with youth and inexperience in charge.  Couple dozen trips a year to fish green carp makes it easy to look down on us perch jerkers.  If you want to help the lake take the 5" crappies out and leave the carp alone !

[hotrod]

Related to, no.

I guess i will wait and see, as for now, with all your examples you have given, i will keep my opinion as a positive one. 

[Kevin23]

Watched 2 guys get ticked for having 100+ bluegills yesterday  They claimed that they were going to take them and put them in another lake. They got ticketed for that too! LMAO

[CrappieBuster]

Nice to see that Iowa is finnaly adopting panfish limits.  Some days on some lakes ive seen people take buckets full.

[FishRMan]

I heard a rumor that he took the job @ Union Grove in Gladbrook, we can hope.  Hickory and Rock Creek USED to be able to be FISHED 24 hrs until we ended up with youth and inexperience in charge.  Couple dozen trips a year to fish green carp makes it easy to look down on us perch jerkers.  If you want to help the lake take the 5" crappies out and leave the carp alone !

I talked with the local guy at Hickory Grove last winter and he said it was fine to fish the ice 24 hours.  I was thinking the year before they wanted you out of there by 10:30PM.  I fished crappie until 1 or 2AM over there quite a bit with no issues.