What would you consider keeper panfish as in length and weight?Ive seen people keep alot of small ones.Thanks
Printable View
What would you consider keeper panfish as in length and weight?Ive seen people keep alot of small ones.Thanks
the small ones are good to eat too. just takes more of them to fill me.
I rarely will keep any panfish under 9" as I filet all mine. Crappie I usually keep 10" or better and some lakes I will only keep 12" or better. Not saying there is anything wrong with the smaller ones especially in a stunted lake, but my family does not like to eat fish off the bones. But to each his own.
Im just not satisfied with the small ones.The last time i went fishing i caught an 8 inch blue gill with a piece of mackerel.I probably would of needed 3 more to be satisfied.
I think that 7 or 8 inches is good enough for me to keep them. They are in such abundance and they taste real good. Also, if you get rid of some, there will be bigger ones the next time around because they can grow.
Crappie only 12+, and Bluegills 8+. I never keep, limits only enough for 2 for a cpl meals.
Same here flyrod- I keep only crappie 11/12" and usually just 10-15 fish per day. If fishing with friends/relatives I will occasionally keep more if they want them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyrod Man
Unfortunately, I think that I may be greedy. I only get out fishing once or twice per month and when I do catch sunnies and crappies, I want enough to have a fry. I won't keep them under 7 or 8 inches though.......I have at least a little bit of moral fortitude.
Rules in the private lakes I fish are that you keep every crappie, I fish often and a lot of times I come home with 25-30 but I filet them and feed a lot of families. They love for me to go fishing.Thumbs Up
I wish that I knew how to fish well enough to do that but I grew up salt water fishing and I am new to the joys of fresh water fishing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackhawk19
One of my favorite places to fish is a public lake in town. Even though they have creel limits posted everywhere, there are a lot of people who keep everything they catch (the limit here is 15 panfish). It's not policed, so some guys go home with buckets and ruin it for the dad and kid who may show up later that day and catch nothing. So, I very rarely take anything home from that certain lake. The rest of the time, I'm in the 8-10 inch range, also.
i met an old lady once that said theres 2 filets on every fish no matter the size. personally ill keep smaller ones untill i start catching bigger ones then the smaller ones go back in the lake. on very rare occasions i end up with a livewell full of 6 to 7 inch giils but most of the time 8inches is the limit
Not certain why anyone would keep a gill less than 8" to filet or a crappie less than 10". I see guys with 7" crappie and all I can think is "Really?":confused:
Ill be going out to lake mojave next weekend so i guess ill be fishing for those 8" bluegills.My mom wants to make a soup out of them.
I have a stricter standard with crappies but the sunnies that I take, we eat. So, I take smaller ones but not the real small ones.
If i ever catcha 12 inch Crappie, I'm sure my defib will blast me! LOL
Well, come down to Central Florida next fall/winter and we will give your defib a workout.Thumbs UpQuote:
Originally Posted by totempole
That's what we do. I try to keep 7"+ and tonight we brought home 12, that's enough for 2 people. I haven't kept a limit (25) in Mich. for longer than I can remember..Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyrod Man
Quote:
Originally Posted by fishincrazy
I keep about 8 inchers plus, for gills and crappie....but then again I prefer to not filet them. I won't even consider fileting until about 10 inches.
hand spread out plus a inch or 2 would be the smallest crappie i'd keep unless the bite was slow, then hand size
Maybe they want fish for supper? If your willing to clean them? I'm willing to let you, no matter what size you keep.Quote:
Originally Posted by fishincrazy
I am not good yet with the fillet knife, so I only keep about 10-12'' and up Crappie. Once I get better, I will try my hand at smaller perch and bluegill.
Rarely, but sometimes i'll keep fish to eat off the bone. That being the case I'll keep 6 or 8 @ 9"-10" for me and my son but the wife and girl likes the fillets. I'll keep a few 11" fish (or better) for them and cull out the smaller fish. I fish ALOT as I am retired so generally it isnt hard to always have a fresh mess for the 4 of us in a pan of water in the fridge in the barn. I think I have 3 messes froze and that's enough for the freezer as we rarely set fish out to thaw to eat. I fish year
round.