Bigger Fish?

[Swedish Pimp]

Bigger Fish? With last years short season and no season on some waters do you think there will be a higher number of good fish? A good share of lakes I fish get hammered on the hardwater but see little action during the soft period.

[CBGale2]

QFM - Let em go let em grow.

[GillMaster]

I didn't think about that, but I sure hope so. Means I could get some consistent 10-12" gill instead of 7-9" on one small lake I know

[Icefisher40]

The growing season for the fish in michigan is just too darn short. I don't think you will see any dramatic size increase in the fish you catch this year.

[GillMaster]

The growing season for the fish in michigan is just too darn short. I don't think you will see any dramatic size increase in the fish you catch this year.

C'mon man, don't be a killjoy lol. We can always hope. At this point, I'll just be excited when I'm actually pulling a fish through a hole.

[Icefisher40]

There will be TONS of 13"+ gills for ALL of us this winter! 

[swampbuckster]

I can guarantee there will be NO noticeable difference!

[Michigan1]

I like the 13+ idea I always wanted a mess of bluegills mounted in an ice fishing way.

[Quantumn]

There is an update coming forth from the DNR about size limit changes for Northern Pike for alot of the lakes up in the U.P.. Some waters will be downsizing legal size limits and uping bag limits while others will be increasing the sizes as well. Not sure if they will be changing for the 2013 season or 2014, but it is on the horizon.

[RLWagner]

Bigger Fish? With last years short season and no season on some waters do you think there will be a higher number of good fish? A good share of lakes I fish get hammered on the hardwater but see little action during the soft period.

Not sure one can viably argue against the fact that allowing a few 1000 mature gills to go an additional year without being thinned out would allow more to reach hog size. Simple math. But at a certain point, too many years with reduced culling could stunt a population.

[fishybill]

It really depends on whether or not the lake has the nutrients to support big fish.  The best practice I feel, is don't keep more than you'll eat.

Or fill your freezer, then go exploring.  Doesn't matter if you strike out on new lakes if you already have a few meals packed away.

[Icefisher40]

Not sure one can viably argue against the fact that allowing a few 1000 mature gills to go an additional year without being thinned out would allow more to reach hog size. Simple math. But at a certain point, too many years with reduced culling could stunt a population.

An 8" gill isn't going to turn into a 10"+ just after one year with little pressure. He is talking about the lack of pressure from last year, making the gills hogs this year. At least this is how I interpreted it.

[Swift]

A big fish for any body of water is still a big fish and still there. 95% of the fisherman, whether on hard or soft water, don't really know how to find them, and more importantly catch them. First ice, people may stumble on to  some of the wanderers for a slightly longer period of time but see no real difference overall. A well balanced lake is a well balanced lake and very little will change year to year, regardless of normal fishing pressure. All year classes are there, but can you find the ones you're really after?

[CBGale2]

The clear results of QFM.

[Icefisher40]

The clear results of QFM.

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Awesome! I love it!

[swampbuckster]

Hahahahaha

[Quantumn]

The clear results of QFM.

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Is that the span of a "crappie-lope" evolutioin?

[tree digger]

Ok so I got curious and did some checking to see if we didnt harvest any gills last year how much bigger they would get in a year. Now keep in mind this is an average for michigan lakes, some lakes im sure have much better and some worse growth rates, and im sure southern LP is much better than Yopper-land
DNR study

In mi a 4 year old blugill is 6 and 11/16"
a 5 year old is 7 and 1/4"
I did not find a study that went above 5 years of age, but looking at the 4 yo it is obvious it averaged over 1.5" each of the 4 years, but between the 4th and 5th it only gained slightly over 1/2 inch. If you maintain a half inch per year growth which I doubt would happen as fish get wider their lenght slows down, it would still put a 9 1/4" gill at 9 years old.
I have to keep finding the above average lakes thats for sure.....Just sharing something I always wondered about, and thought interesting. In all fairness I think the growth rate in the southern part of the state would be much better than the UP for example. If anyone has age to inches in our part of the state im interested.

[Higgins]

"So ur saying theirs a chance"

"O so nice just to be on ice"

[fishybill]

Ok so I got curious and did some checking to see if we didnt harvest any gills last year how much bigger they would get in a year. Now keep in mind this is an average for michigan lakes, some lakes im sure have much better and some worse growth rates, and im sure southern LP is much better than Yopper-land
DNR study

In mi a 4 year old blugill is 6 and 11/16"
a 5 year old is 7 and 1/4"
I did not find a study that went above 5 years of age, but looking at the 4 yo it is obvious it averaged over 1.5" each of the 4 years, but between the 4th and 5th it only gained slightly over 1/2 inch. If you maintain a half inch per year growth which I doubt would happen as fish get wider their lenght slows down, it would still put a 9 1/4" gill at 9 years old.
I have to keep finding the above average lakes thats for sure.....Just sharing something I always wondered about, and thought interesting. In all fairness I think the growth rate in the southern part of the state would be much better than the UP for example. If anyone has age to inches in our part of the state im interested.

Thats cool info for sure.

[RLWagner]

The potential for a larger population of keepers is encoraging. Nic eto have something to be optimistic about given tje pestimistic conditions for ic eformation.

[Swedish Pimp]

 More than likely you will not be able to notice a change on most waters. However lakes that have high pressure a differnce should be noticed. Muskegon lake perch would be a great example. That lake gets hammered and so dose any year class. A perch from lake michigan can put on 2 inches in one year. Some weekends there are 500 plus people out there pulling fish out of 50 plus feet of water. How many of fish are removed from the system is hard to say. They may have 50 fish in there bucket most in the 6" to 8" inch range. How many were tossed back with there air blader coming out of there mouth. Some days there may be as many as 150 fish removed from the system per angler in one day. Your looking at 75,000 fish in one day. I would think these numbers are on the high side but not unrealistic. I have been fishing Muskegon lake for perch on the open water and the hard water in good times and bad.  Angler hours do have a direct impact on quality of fishing. That being said I will be spending more time on Muskegon this year.

[The Splash]

   More importantly, where does one go to catch fish with antlers?     Where does one get an auger that will drill holes big enough for the antlers to fit through?    Do they bite on spikes or sugar beets?  Where does one get the fish estrous urine to attract them?  Can they be rattled in?


   In all seriousness, the topic of this thread made me wonder if birds starved since there were no dink gills thrown on the ice last year by the idiots that do that

[threewack]

So then the 13 inch bluegills should be 15 inch bluegills this season. Awesome!