New Draft sunfish and crappie regs from DEC

[Jake1]

Just reading the DEC press release (News and Learning) tab and they are proposing reducing the take from 50 to 25 and statewide 10" size for crappie. Saratoga Lake proposing 12" crappie and 10 as a limit with 15 sunfish limit.  I would love to catch 10 12" crappies that seems a bit overkill. Just a draft though. I do throw many 9" back on my local lake but I would think folks will have major issues with this?? any thoughts? Link is below

https://www.dec.ny.gov/press/122166.html

[Mike Oxlon]

It’s called “the big panfish initiative” but I’m willing to bet it does the opposite. Bear lake the size requirement would go to 12”. It’s 9” on bear now and you can’t even catch a legal one. Tons of stunted crappie. Raising the size limits will just make it worse for lakes like that.

[conesusguysouth]

Glad to see this, it is a great start, they need to change things up theres been alot of pressure having a limit will force people to toss the shorts back. they need tighter restrictions all around since there has been such an increase in pressure.

[reggie1610]

Seems like it would just be smarter to just protect them when they are on the spawning beds. That is when they get crushed on Saratoga lake.

[Mike Oxlon]

Slot sizes would be so much better. This proposal encourages you to keep big breeders over anything else.

[bonotch]

Hope it goes through. Especially a limit of 25.

[NOT ME]

My opinion would be to lower the daily catch limit on smaller bodies of water.  If they decide to change the size requirements it should be for a fixed number of years with an evaluation at the end of that time to see if it actually worked.  I would be happy with 10 or 15 nice crappies per day or 20 to 25 bluegills.

[pmaloney86]

Slot sizes would be so much better. This proposal encourages you to keep big breeders over anything else.

This!!!! Along with a reduction in the limit would be ideal.

[Pequod1]

Considering the fact that in the past 10 yrs, I have caught 10 Crappie over 12”, I will be 82 before I catch my limit of 10 fish over 12”.  So, I guess I’ll target perch like everyone else and reduce their numbers. Exactly what we asked the DEC to protect and they make no note of it.  I wish I was at the meeting where they decided this plan was a good one.  I can’t fathom what statistics they used to come up with this.

[rdhammah]

decreasing the daily catch limit is the key. on those lakes with stunted growth, consider a maximum size limit. This way, the big fish genes are passed on. I fish a small pond where a hundred crappie per day was possible. There are a couple of guys that fish this pond regularly and take whatever they get. Now, 25 crappie in a day is tough to get. I may keep 10 for a friend here and there

[hot tuna]

Its called " special interests groups "
If you notice,  it's happening to a lot of our outdoors resources

[antelope76]

I agree with a 25 fish daily limit on smaller bodies of water.  It doesn't take long for a small pond to get fished out with a 50 fish daily limit.

I don't feel they should have a size limit on panfish though.

Just my 2 cents from someone who catches and releases everything that comes thru my holes.

[pmaloney86]

Its called " special interests groups "
If you notice,  it's happening to a lot of our outdoors resources

They sure are special.  Glad the wackos on Nantucket didn't get their no-fishing from the beach proposal passed.  Their argument was that the fisherman were drawing the sharks into the beaches and then people get bit.  Here is an idea, don't go in the water where sharks are known to feed or understand the risks that you take when you do.

[TeamDragScreamers]

I also would like this change to the limits, the size increase I think would be a good thing even though it may be 3 or 4 years till anyone sees a difference in quality of there catch but I think most places this would help populations.

[Oldtimer]

Great discussion.  However, the DEC will do whatever they want regardless of survey results. 
My thoughts..  25 perch, bluegill and crappie limit is enough... 

Now I’ll rattle some cages...    pass a law forbidding the sale of any fish caught in NYState.  Whoa ...... before we get into a big discussion just consider where the walleye population in Oneida Lake would be had they not forbidden the sale of them years ago..   

With all the electronics and new gear coming out it is easier than ever to catch fish in great numbers. 

If anyone thinks the conservation law enforcement budget isnt going to be cut didn’t read Cuomo’s budget.  How much easier is it for the DEC to check on a few fish markets than trying to find the pirates on the ice ?

Be nice to an old man and don’t bash me to pieces...   

[reeleyz]

Great discussion.  However, the DEC will do whatever they want regardless of survey results. 
My thoughts..  25 perch, bluegill and crappie limit is enough... 

Now I’ll rattle some cages...    pass a law forbidding the sale of any fish caught in NYState.  Whoa ...... before we get into a big discussion just consider where the walleye population in Oneida Lake would be had they not forbidden the sale of them years ago..   

With all the electronics and new gear coming out it is easier than ever to catch fish in great numbers. 

If anyone thinks the conservation law enforcement budget isnt going to be cut didn’t read Cuomo’s budget.  How much easier is it for the DEC to check on a few fish markets than trying to find the pirates on the ice ?

Be nice to an old man and don’t bash me to pieces...

I agree with all of this. By putting a size and amount limit on a fish it does end their sale. Maybe their round about way of doing it.

It is curious that there was no mention of perch. I am sure that is coming though.

Here is the entire draft plan.

https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/panfishplan.pdf

[PerchEyes]

Great discussion.  However, the DEC will do whatever they want regardless of survey results. 
My thoughts..  25 perch, bluegill and crappie limit is enough... 

Now I’ll rattle some cages...    pass a law forbidding the sale of any fish caught in NYState.  Whoa ...... before we get into a big discussion just consider where the walleye population in Oneida Lake would be had they not forbidden the sale of them years ago..   

With all the electronics and new gear coming out it is easier than ever to catch fish in great numbers. 

If anyone thinks the conservation law enforcement budget isnt going to be cut didn’t read Cuomo’s budget.  How much easier is it for the DEC to check on a few fish markets than trying to find the pirates on the ice ?

Be nice to an old man and don’t bash me to pieces...

I'm with you OldTimer.
I would suspect that the ones that sell their fish are the pirates that don't care about limits.

[outfisherman1]

I would be happy with one legal size any fish.  My question is what will it do to the health of the fish? By increasing the size limit and quantity decreased will the fish be more prone to disease? I'm not a scientist, just a drunk fisherman, lol, but I know there is the threat on deer with overpopulation. I'm not going to lie, I have a hard time catching any legal size fish now in the lakes I fish. I just hope whatever the decision it doesn't backfire for us fisherman and future fisherman.

[Pequod1]

Ok, I agree with the reduced limit of crappie and the 10" size limit. Definitely the size limit on sunfish is a roundabout way of stopping the sale of them. How do you explain 12" on Honeoye and a couple other lakes in NY? Is this the beginning of a "trophy" lake plan that some dreamer in Albany came up with?  And my suspicion about doing nothing about perch has to be money. The sale of perch for fish fries in the St. Lawrence region is business that they don't want to stop. Old-timer, your right. Their mind has been made up. Forget the input. As I recall, there was nothing on the initial survey that asked questions that would lead us to this plan.
Wow, I really am turning into a miserable old fart.

[Oldtimer]

In Fl the size for crappies (specks there) is 10 inches. They took Lake Monroe and raised it to 12 inches for 5 or 6 years. After 2 or 3 years  they were catching more and more 12+ inch crappies.  Now 12 inch plus crappies are A lot more common but the size is back to 10 inch minimum.  Maybe they just needed to catch up

[BeenPerchin315]

I don’t agree with most of what OT is sayin but to say the perch limit is to high I feel is nonsense yes some smaller bodies of water that had tons of perch got fished out. But it my be that they have no natural spawn in the water or it got seriously stocked by someone local years and years. I can go down to honeyoye and catch nothing but 8-9” sunnies and 7-8” crappie and it’s not cuz that lake is over fished or the limit was messed up and it’s a hard basin style lake. They over populated themselves in there when they stopped the walleye program cuz the natural eye reproduction wasn’t keeping up with crappie and bass already dominating the lake. The limits need to be raised for eyes on Oneida in the next few years or the population will suffer over time. They already dominate that lake. Size should go 16” and limit should go to 5. Need to thin the lake selectively so a small size change would help.
That’s my thoughts.
Be safe and find some ice.
Tight lines.
Perchin

[oneida1]

i still would be intrested in some sort of slot for eyes in oneida,,,,,15 to 18 4 fish limit and 1 over say 24.... for total of 5

[reddog11]

I think the state should lower the crappie length to 8", keep it 25 per person a day. Keep gills 50 per day. Not saying anyone is wrong. I put back a lot of 8 inch crappies I`d like to take home for the deep fryer...

[Oldtimer]

i still would be intrested in some sort of slot for eyes in oneida,,,,,15 to 18 4 fish limit and 1 over say 24.... for total of 5

How many eyes over 24 inches have you caught in the past 4 years. Or forever for all that matters from Oneida Lake..?   I still fish oneida(in the soft water) quite a bit. Catch a reasonable number of eyes and have caught none, zero, over 24 in past 5 year. Several in the 21 to 22 inch range. Most are 16 to 19 inches. We release anything  over 20 inches.

[oneida1]

a few maybe 6  to 10 all during fall shore bite or ice but the goal would be to increase the chance while still getting some eaters, the lake can produce them but most are taken out, and all but 1 were released , biggest was 27 that was well over 4 yrs ago tho

[oneida1]

go to state hatchery in the spring you will see the lake has them

[Jigger nut]

Usually when the DEC makes changes they are in affect for three years !

[skinny4]

I know where there is a small pond on posted property that nobody but me has permission to fish. All I ever catch there is 3-4 inch perch and 5-7 inch crappie. I've cought 100 crappie in a day and not one over 9. What a lot of you are saying is that there is no Giants in there cause somebody must have come here and fished them all out?  Understand that every body of water is different. It will help some and help to destroy others. If you took all the predators out the water would that not help the panfish? I understand that this might help your lake......but please understand that this might destroy mine. It's not a all of Ny issue and should not be a blanket law over the whole state. If you got a lake you truly cared about you should join the lakes club or start one and lobby your local law makers to change the regs on a certain lake. Raise money for the surveys and scientists to study the population and growth rates. Just saying that changing the regs for every inch of water in this state is worth it cause you think that it would help your catch rate at your lake is nonsense. Even if it could help your lake, and everyone has there own feelings about that, but show me where a study was done that says this will help EVERY body of water in the state. I'm sure I could find a study that proves more harvesting = bigger fish, and I could also find a study that less harvesting = bigger fish. Doesn't mean every lake has the same factors and would react the same. Wish it was that easy. I personally would like to have slot limits on most fish. That's how I do it anyway. If I catch a trophy or one that I feel has a chance at being a trophy it goes back. That's just how I do it. I don't keep pike over 30 or walleye over 25 from my spot and I catch a lot are over that. I've honestly done my worst during spawning. I used to rip big gills off there beds and fill the bucket. Now I leave them to protect the nests and chase them in the winter. But I don't always keep fish. If I'm fishing I'll throw some water in a bucket and toss a few fish in and if it looks like I could get a limit I fill it up. If I just catch a few and it slows down I'll release those fish and not keep any that day. I'm just not going to make a mess for 6-12 fish. Everyone is different and so is every body of water. We might need a change in the regs. But there is absolutely no chance you could help every lake and not hurt others so I'd be all for individual lake rule changes and maybe county wide changes but statewide changes are the same as when ny city decides guns are bad and decide the whole state needs to change there ways. It's a lot more complicated than that and a blanket law might help some, but it WILL hurt others. Just my .02

[mcdonata]

There’s a few other lakes that should be added to the new initiative I won’t mention. DEC has been incorporating lake specific rules in the special regulations for some time, it’s encouraging  to see them address panfish as the resource becomes more pressured. Frankly most bluegills I catch worth filleting are infested with black dots/grubs and get tossed back. It would have been nice to see perch included but maybe DEC is working something up on that

[BeenPerchin315]

There’s a few other lakes that should be added to the new initiative I won’t mention. DEC has been incorporating lake specific rules in the special regulations for some time, it’s encouraging  to see them address panfish as the resource becomes more pressured. Frankly most bluegills I catch worth filleting are infested with black dots/grubs and get tossed back. It would have been nice to see perch included but maybe DEC is working something up on that

I’m no scientist but my belief with these black or yellow grubs in the pan fish I doubt has any issue with the size issue. And as I’ve said a lot of the issue is not harvesting enough fish causing over population and stunted growth. I’m not saying that no lakes need changes. Finger lakes and Ontario are fine. I mean it would be nice if more eyes were in Sodus but they are showing back up. Naturally.  O yea tell me how the no limit perch in jerrerson county is hurting the perch in chaumont? I really do want to hear this.
Tight lines
Perchin