Bluegill Mortality Rate.

Fishing Panfish & Warm Water
1

This AM I caught the tail end of a fishing show and the host was discussing the mortality rate of bluegills. I was not able to put down the exact numbers he stated but I believe these are fairly close:

  1. A group of gills that were caught on bait and immediately placed in a holding pen had a mortality rate of 6.2 percent.

  2. A group of gills caught on artificials and placed in a like holding pen had a mortality rate of zero.

  3. Fish kept in a live well suffered an increase in mortality rate the longer they were kept in the live well.

  4. Fish kept in a wire bucket suffered a mortality rate of 32%.

The host recommened that anglers take these figures into consideration if they are considering holding caught fish for later release (culling).

Tim

2

So it looks as if number 2 would be the ideal way to cull. I guess it has to do a lot with how deep the fish takes the hook and then how much stress he suffers after the hook is taken out. Good post

3

Certainly I an speak only for the SE, but down here mortality rate for bluegill is not usually a problem; a more common problem is over population and a stunt population with lot of small fish. B.A.S.S. has done such a good job of selling C&R in lakes with sunfish, particularly bluegills and more so crappie, not enough fish are taken to maintain a healthy population.

Fish placed in wire baskets are usually released into hot oil.

4

I smash all the barbs down as many get nicked in the gills region and suffers plus it easier to get it out when they get deep.

5

Very funny! :smiley:

6

That’s why he has a quote from a guy whose nickname was “Vinegar”.

Ed

7

I can tell you for a fact that the mortality rate of these was 100%! Caught saturday, table fare sunday.

8

I am with quivira kid, it they are placed in a bucket, basket or cooler future isn’t too good for them. But all my gill flies are barbless.

9

Exactly but in keeping with that fine tradition we oft times decimate the populations of “desired,” Bluegills :(and in turn this upsets natures balance. Research shows that the big fish across their range (i.e. from north to south) can be fished out easily, as with any fishery, and this, in turn, causes problems and the result is stunting and overpopulation of these tiddlers, especially in smaller ponds and lakes. With these fish, keep the small and medium ones, and leave a good bunch of the bigger ones for breeding stock. Should you have too many tiddlers already in your pond, add a Flathead catfish of respectable size (12 lbs or so) and this will help a lot as they love those small fish…:cool:

10

In 45 years of fishing, I have never seen, or even heard of any population of bluegills being decimated from fishing (except maybe small, closed stock ponds). Bluegills could teach rabbits how to breed more efficiently. The problem with gills is usually over-population.

Any ‘gils’ I catch will have a 100% mortality rate, because they will be released into my skillet, deep-fryer, or freezer. I do my best to keep them from over-populating.

I am surprised the subject even came up on a fishing show. I mean, we’re talking about bluegills, not brown trout, or salmon. Most of the fishing shows I’ve ever seen were more interested in trying to sell you a bunch of ridiculously over-priced Bass Tournament gear.

One of the nice things about ‘gils’ (besides being delicious) is that you really don’t have to worry about limits. Most places I have fished have very generous creel limits…usually way more than you want to fillet at one time.

Vive le sunfish!

11

I wonder what the water temperature as when they did this testing.
I would guess that cold water and real warm water would effect the fish more.

Rick

12

I did not include all the info I got in the short time I was able to watch the show as my fishing partner had arrived and was anxious to get moving on our ice fishing trip.

One thing he did mention was that different water temperatures didn’t seem to be a factor.

My main reason for making this post was the metal fish basket. Even though I don’t think too many fly guys use them for other than fish and eat the rate of mortality seemed so excessive that I decided to post. While he did not say remember that the gill is a member of the sun fish family as are bass and crappie. While he did not mention them I think that should be taken into consideration.

Tim

13

The research shows that big Bluegills and further south the bigger Redear Sunfish are prone to over fishing. Here’s just a few references for the disbelievers:

Minnesota ODNR on Overfishing"Many fish managers are beginning to believe that overfishing – not stunting – is the reason some lakes do not produce the big bluegill they once did. In such cases, growth rates are normal and food is plentiful, but anglers simply catch and remove all the good-sized fish, leaving behind the smaller bluegill, which multiply without the controlling influence of the large fish.
If this is true, the solution seems to be more straightforward: more big sunfish must be left in the lake if people are going to continue to enjoy catching them. Again, a diverse approach seems most promising. A few “trophy bluegill” lakes could be managed with a restricted harvest of big sunfish – perhaps even a catch-and-release requirement. Most lakes would continue to be managed with a liberal bag limit to provide panfish for the pan."

http://people.bethel.edu/~kisrob/bio321/articles/cobleBluegill.pdf Michigan, Wisconsin and others say about the same thing.

“While anglers in my study did not target large
bluegills accurately, catch and harvest estimates indicated that anglers locate bluegills
with sufficient precision to maintain relatively high harvest rates. If the angling effort on
Enemy Swim Lake remains high, managers should monitor this population closely to
safeguard against decreasing size structure. Additional information, specifically
exploitation rates of bluegills >200 mm should be collected to aid in managing this
bluegill population.” Master’s Thesis, South Dakota

Then this one: "studies have already been done by multiple DNRs, dating back to 2001, that have found that larger bluegill can be fished nearly completely out in a public lake within a matter of weeks; these studies have also found that minimum length limits increased the number of larger-size bluegill caught by anglers. So it’s not a matter of whether it would work - it’s already been proven to. "
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ end of references

In short, I recall reading a study done back in the 90s where a lake was opened for fishing in Minnesota but prior to opening it they did a seine study on the fish there. It had a super abundant population of large Bluegills but when they repeated that seine study a year later the big bluegills were almost gone entirely.

14

Bluegills and sunfish can spwan up to 3 times a year. I like targeting them when they do bu have never kept any due to not wanting to take time away from other things I rather do. :slight_smile:

15

In the ponds that I fish ,the gills that are over 10" long go back in. I also do not keep bass. The good size gills are there every year.

Rick

16

Couple things… Iowa passed a “no cull” law a couple years ago. Once it goes in livewell, basket or stringer it belongs to you. Bass are exempted in tournaments.

I agree very much with the “overharvesting” study. We’ve been using the same tactics as Rick for about 15 years now (actually we put back all the big bulls - probably 9" and up) and we have seen a decided increase in quality. I’ve watched several lakes be “raped” over the years. You just can’t pound those big bulls on the beds, day after day, and not expect problems. DNR has passed a daily 25 limit which may help some. I have my doubts.

17

I think there is a lot of “art” to the “science” of managing fisheries. While a lot of what will work in Iowa or Minnesota will work in Mississippi and Georgia, there is a lot that probably does not. Warmer climes around the globe have been shown to be fabulous for warm water species. The panfish part of the Sunfish family reproduce several times a year down here, I have had many knowledge people tell me to never return a bluegill to a farm pond, especially a small fish or pond.

18

Bluegill can spawn 5-7 times a year in Tennessee, according to articles published before. We have a user or two or two who can speak with genuine authority and I am willing to defer to any correction made. The best sections of streams that I know for big bluegills also have gar to control the populations of smaller sunnies. Taking the bigger fish means removing animals that have been there for 3-4 years. There is a real limit to how many 'gills of that size any piece of water can replace. Some simplistic math would sugggest something like 2-3 dozen/acre/year.

Ed

19

and there lies the rub… Here a 10" bluegill may be 7 - 10 years old, or more.

Good thread…

20

The report sounds more to me like a bunch of educated morons with political aspirations, trying to use trout management schemes (which have gotten people appointed and elected before, even when not needed) on a totally different fish that has never been in any danger of being fished out, and in fact, can become a nuisance ('gils are very accomplished bait-stealers, as any bait-fisherman can tell you…).

There are so many flaws in the report, I don’t even know where to begin. I guess the first place to start is with the most obvious; the idea that big fish spawn big fish. Any biology student should be able to tell you that big fish are big for two reasons-good habitat, and age. The big fish are bigger because they are older females, and the very biggest are most likely near the end of their natural lives anyway. Leaving big fish in the water does not make the little ones get bigger, and in fact, the very opposite could be true, larger fish use up more resources, and even eat the smaller ones (yes, bluegills are vicious cannibals, given the opportunity). The only way to make the species bigger would be to increase the lifespan of the fish, maybe with genetic engineering, but then people would be griping about GMO ‘Frankenfish’. As it is, a bluegills maximum lifespan in the wild is not much more than 6 years, or so. There are some specimens that have lived to 11 years, but they were in captivity, and well cared for. By the time a bluegill approaches the 2 pound mark, she is most likely at the end of her life, and has layed more than a million eggs. Sure, 3, 4, and even 5-pounders are sometimes caught, but these are rare specimens, much like 8-foot+ humans. And they do not sire unusually large children, and in fact, are often sterile. Abnormally large bluegills happen, but they are not the norm, and very rare. And no amount of ‘management’ will increase the numbers of these size fish.

The ‘Trophy’ streams and catch-and-release ideas for bluegills are insane. I can’t even believe anyone suggested them. A catch and release bluegill stream or lake would quickly become overpopulated, with stunted, unhealthy, stressed bluegills. Bluegills are not trout. They are rabbits with fins. They exist to control smaller species, and mainly to provide food for larger animals. That is their place in the food chain. They are not an apex predator, like bass, trout, and salmon. And they reproduce accordingly.

I would challenge these people involved in this’study’ to name one lake, river, or reservoir down south here where bluegills have been ‘fished-out’. Just one…

Next thing you know, they will be advocated something even more silly, like catch-and-release on carp, or gar.