Panfish CPR ? Blue Gills, Crappie, Trout?

It really depends on the lake. I will keep Crappie and Whites throughout the year if needed and generally will keep the larger fish. Fish grow at different rates depending on their habitat and available forage. Crappie and White bass are like rats, they produce well in most of our local lakes and would have to really be pressured in my opinion to have any ill effects. I believe that releasing pan fish in many cases does more harm than good. Many of our lakes have smaller fish not because of anglers taking the big ones but rather over population. Year classes fight for the same forage so the better the spawn survival rate is in any given year, the more that years fish may struggle with growth rates during their lifespan. Removing some of the population will ultimately increase their available food and increase their growth rates. On the Chain, Crappie will normally grow to 12-14 inches. I've caught and seen some up to 16 over the years but, a 16 inch crappie on the chain has little chance of hitting 17 or 18 inches if it is released. This fish is at the end of it's natural lifespan and will be turtle food within a short time. It is also no longer at it's prime spawning age. I always like to compare it to humans. How many 70-80 year old men and women are still in their prime spawning age?? The answer is none. Fish are no different, they have a prime span in their lives when they spawn most efficiently and it isn't at the end of their lives. With that being said, if your fishing the chain and are lucky enough to get the very limited 15-16 inch "Grandpa Crappie", it's a perfect one to put on the wall. 2

The chain gets hammered throughout the year for Crappie and White bass and it never seems to put a dent in the population. As long as the spawns are successful, I don't think the fishing pressure is going to effect them and there are literally thousands of the bigger fish removed every year by anglers. Spring time spawn usually produces the larger females between 11-15 inches and ice fisherman also harvest some nice sizes. Actually, come to think of it, I may be wrong stating thousands are harvested, it might be ten's of thousands in any given year. :lol:

Anyway, my point is, this harvest pressure is most likely helping the size of Crappie and Whites on the chain by not allowing overpopulation. If nobody kept them, it wouldn't give us bigger fish, it would more then likely give us smaller ones. I know this won't set well with allot of C&R dudes but nature, (which we are part of) knows a balance and is still in charge. 8

Almost forgot about the gill's, I usually don't keep 'em but if I do, I fry them up crunchy.

All good points guys. Although Bass, Large and Smallmouth which were considered good table fair years ago have now become more of a protected C&R type fish among serious fisherman. It's a good idea in our area more for smallies than largemouth. Smallies grow slower and extra care should be given to these fish to ensure a good fishery. Largemouth on the other hand always get me scratching my head. Go to just about any small northern Illinois lake and you can catch a bunch of stunted largemouth. Our Reg's (in most places) allow you to keep 14 or 15 + inch fish which in my opinion is the exact size that you should be releasing!! I think the prime spawner's in this area are probably from 14 to 20 inches. (I'm guessing). So why would the state Reg's not protect that range or at least some of it. I would think keeping a 22 or 3-4 12 inchers would do less damage than taking the prime spawner's. No different for panfish, If you go to a pond or lake and the size for gill harvest is 8 inches and all you catch all day is 4-6 inchers then harvesting isn't the problem is it. The problem is over population and stunting which could be solved in a short time by allowing people to take the smaller fish. This would allow the remaining year classes to grow bigger. This theory also requires that good spawning from year to year exists.

So next time your out on any given lake. Take more into consideration than just the State Reg's as they are not always proper for every lake. The DNR who I think have done a great job on our northern lakes do not have the man power to continuously monitor every place we fish. C&R can be just as harmful on some lakes as over harvest is on others.