What size do you consider keeper size? Talking about blue gill,and crappie.
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What size do you consider keeper size? Talking about blue gill,and crappie.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app
For me- Bluegill- 8" Crappie 10".
I don't keep fish, but if I did, 8" would be my minimum for bluegills.
Some people just will not clean a small fish under any circumstances. But if you don't mind...then I would base it entirely on what's IN the body of water. If you're fishing a lake that the fisheries dept says has an "Excellent" or "Good" population of whatever species and that surveys show that 75 percent of the population is say for Crappie 9" or less and Bluegill "8" or less....then you should be keeping,eating , and enjoying those fish. AND limits of them.
If the body of water has "Excellent" or "Good" populations and they say the Crappie 11" or longer in say 55 percent of the population then I am going to chase them and throw the others back. Bluegill...high percentage of 9" fish I am going to chase them and throw the others back.
If the surveys say only "fair" or "poor" populations you should consider not keeping any. But of course they probably still have some regulations for keeping them...so let your conscience be your guide.
In some lakes that I have fished for forty plus even close to fifty years....and I know that there surveys are off...showing the populations are higher than I know they are...then I will self impose a limit.
My wife and I are older now...we aren't ravenous people. I go fishing and I keep 10 - 9" crappie...that's 20 fillets...that will make three or four meals for us.
I go to catch fish for a fish fry for 10 big old guys who are going to see how much they can eat in one sitting.....I am going to a lake with
11" fish or so and good numbers. But you'd be surprised...even in years when some of my prime spots are holding mostly 10" fish...you take 120 or 130 fillets...that will feed a lot of people.
Ever since I learned how to fillet gills with less waste and more product,I find myself keeping smaller fish.I personally don't mind keeping 6" gills under normal circumstances, though I haven't fillet any fish since I drilled through my ulnar nerve,right now I doubt I could fillet anything.
7 1/2" for gills and 9" crappie (ny law on crappie)
For me they (bluegills, shellcrackers) need to be filleting size, about 8", although if I already have a couple in the cooler and the bite slows, I'll keep smaller ones until I get at least 7 or 8 for a family meal.
For me it's about the shoulders. If I look down the back of a fish and it doesn't pooch out from the spine very far, he gets a pass. A skinny 12" fish would get a pass. Gills the same way. If it isn't a candidate for the fillet knife, he swims on. It's seldom that a small fish comes home, unless mortally wounded. Not using live bait that doesn't happen often.
Scaled and fillet by hand ,they all taste good . Attachment 280787
I have one rule. Its gotta have 2 eyes
I know most spots I hit pretty well , that said if I want to keep them I like fat ones and the minimum size is relative , I can fillet a cricket if I want to and want to eat ...so if they are legal and we want dinner I will keep 6 or so on gills around 6 inches or larger and 3 or 4 on crappie above 10 inches ....of course I have ample opportunity to keep fish so in most cases they get a pass from me anyway ...every once in a while I keep a bunch of eaters and fill my freezer and typically they are crappie , but I have been known to spoon a few sunfish and fillet them in numbers to ...
We are real picky about where the fish we keep come from ....Dfw has lots of sprawl and urban run off can be a hazard to the local waters ....lots of lakes have very low recommended consumption amounts ...
I can filet fish with the best of them, but I love eating smaller brim off the bone. If a pond is over populated with small pan fish I encourage ya'll to keep some small ones and fry them whole. Delicious and easy to eat off the bone when you learn how.
Pends on how hungry or how large the need is. But if they got shoulders its a candidate.
10 inch on crappie and I don't fish for gills much but if I did they would have to be hand size
Same here.Quote:
Originally Posted by trypman1
Blue gills 7-8, two of the lakes I like to fish crappies on have a 11" minimum so little over that as to not get pinched by the warden.