Keeper Size?

Just had a question about the size of the gills you keep. I dont usually target them specifically, so I only keep them if they are really nice size. I figure they will clean with the rest of what I am catching. And most places I fish dont have size limit, so I was wondering, when you go out to catch a basket of gills, do you use any kind of measurement as your keeper guide. I have seen some guys keep about any size, thinking more along the lines of quantity rather than size. Anyway, would appreciate your insight.

Any size you can get a good fillet off of. If they get to small there isnt much meat. A basket full of those would be more work than 5 or 10 nice ones, or another view is fun verses food.

I like to keep a medium sized bluegill.Say at least 5 inches.If I get all big ones,I'll take a few but I like the big ones doing the breeding duties.

I like Shellcrackers. If they are big enough to gulp down a 1/32 then they are big enough for the fry pan. I usually keep those 8 inches or more.

I dont usually fillet them so they aint gotta be too big for me to keep. Fish on the bone taste better to me.

We don`t fillet them either, really no size limit but we don`t keep the "dinks", most keepers 6,7,8 ............. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm good eaten !

Personally, I won't clean anything under 8". If I can't get them consistently above 9", I generally fish for something else. I eat a lot of fish, and these of certainly tasty, but I just don't get enough meat out of 25, 6-7" fish.

for me its anything over 5" those are the bast for eating

I say if you feel like cleaning it, keep it!

Some folks say "If it has a pair of eyes and a butthole, it's a keeper!"

.. I have higher standards, 9" is a minimum for me. I do like my panfish fried up whole... but I won't rob the cradle!

If you know a fishes anatomy, you shouldn't have any problems eating them fried up whole!

... but some folks like to gulp it down whole... like a dog!:rolleyes:

if its the size of a grown mans hand, keep em. you dont have to fillet them. scale em, gut em, and cut the head off. soak in milk, dip in cornmeal, throw em in the grease and mmm mmm good.

I keep hand size and up.

I got spoiled livin in FL and gettin a bunch that you couldn't get your hand around every trip, so I like fillet's. Never been much for pickin bones, but to each his own.

... on a old man I knew, when I was a kid. He didn't fish, but he'd take any size sunfish (as long as it had eyes & a tail, it was big enough for him :eek: )

He'd clean them itty bitty fish ... then put them in a grinder :p ... guess he made Panfish Patties out of them :confused: All I know is ... he'd never turn down a bucket full of finger length sunfish ;)


I think the smallest sunfish I've ever cleaned & eaten .... I caught out of my Great Uncle's farm pond. Four to five inch Bluegills were "hogs" out of that pond :D ... and I did him a double favor by fishing for them, & catching and eating them --- I picked Potato Bugs out of his garden for bait, and helped thin out the overpopulated pond. I thought I was "some kinda fisherman" :D ... well, I thought so - until one day we walked a couple of miles to a neighbors pond (small lake). My uncle caught a Bluegill that was "humongus" :p ... seriously !! When it was cleaned (head off) and cooked ... it still covered a full size dinner plate :eek: Biggest Bluegill I'd ever seen ... heck, I didn't even know a Bluegill GOT that big :D


... cp :cool:

It's all personnal preference, I only keep what I will cook and clean. I usually will not keep anything smaller than 6". But to each his own.

I fillet all my fish and gills need to be bigger than my hand,about 8" or bigger.

I prefer them to be as big or bigger than my hand if I'm going to mess with cleanin them..

10 " Min. for me !

I prefer 8+ but will keep some smaller to fill the bucket

I prefer to keep 8 inches and above but I have kept smaller and I filet all of them my wife loves the little filets.

hand size for me. i will fillet anything before pickin bones, nothing like fish popers

I reckon for myself it's 7". In my first boat I fished quite a bit with my father-in-law. He had a heck of a time remembering what a keeper looked like so I painted on a little ruler on the gunnel for him. It went up to 18", but all it said below the 6" mark was, "NO WAY!" I ain't too selective, but I hate cleanin' a mess of little ones.

I've always wondered about other folks, but I dislike cleaning big bluegill, say those above 9". Just not slick at it the way I am for 7" & 8" fish. If theyr'e hittin' good sometimes I"ll just target the 7-8" for keeping and slide the bulls back into the water.

I'll throw back bluegills less than five inches. On my last trip my dad caught a few 4 and 3 inch bluegills and kept them. I caught several of those size and released them. The biggest bluegill I've caught was the size of my hand (6 inches.)

Anything you can get a fillet off of probably 6 or better. If it will make a fish sammich it's OK with me.

If its a bluegill I keep just about all sizes. The way I see it is there are so many bluegills and not enough people fishing them around here, so I might as well eat the small ones and hope next year there will be space for bigger ones.

Crappie, well if it isn't a baby I will keep it. I like to eat fish.

It kind of depends on the water I'm fishing. Small ponds can exceed carring capacity and stunt quickly,so I keep a lot of smalls there especially.
I'd say 5"-8", I fillet everything. Started doing that when my kids were small.
When in practice I can fillet one in 30-45 seconds and those fillets battered and deep fried can be eaten like popcorn.
As was stated above I prefer to release the big ones to strengthen the gene pool.
Iowa has a 25 fish limit on both Bluegill and Crappie per species on State Water. No limit on private property. 50 fish is plenty for one period at the cleaning station and I often take less.