Panfish regulations showing promise
An outsized rendition of a bluegill graces the highway shoulder along the Mississippi River in Onalaska.
If Paul Bunyan had a panfish sidekick, this would be it.
The 15-foot-tall statue is accompanied by the slogan “Sunfish Capital of the World.”
I’ve always admired the public sculpture of the humungous ‘gill. I think it represents both the exaggerated fish of our dreams and the magnitude of our actual feelings for panfish.
And love them we do. Data show bluegills, crappies, perch and their close relatives are the most caught and most kept fish in Wisconsin, according to a statewide mail survey conducted by the Department of Natural Resources.
Of the 88 million fish anglers reported catching in Wisconsin in the 2006-07 license year, two-thirds (57.7 million) were panfish. And anglers reported keeping 25.7 million (45%) of the panfish they caught.
Creel surveys show anglers statewide keep most bluegills 6 inches or longer and many crappies 8 inches or longer, according to the DNR.
As we should all know by now, that comes with a downside: the high harvest of larger fish has resulted in a reduced panfish size structure.
This angler behavior is reflected in long-term Wisconsin fyke net data. In records from 1940 to 2000 on 100 consistently sampled Badger State lakes, the panfish sizes showed a steady decline.
Daniel Coble of the Wisconsin Cooperative Fishery Research Center at UWStevens Point published a paper titled “Effects of Angling on Bluegill Populations: Management Implications” in 1988 in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management.
Coble combed the scientific literature for panfish studies and stated unequivocally that “angling commonly affects populations of bluegills.”
So the trend is well documented and none of this happened overnight.
But to its great credit, the DNR fisheries staff in 2016 began a 10-year experiment on 94 Wisconsin lakes to study the effects of several restrictive regulations on panfish size structure.
The hypothesis goes like this: If the small size structure is caused by angler harvest, and a more protective regulation is implemented and effective, the average panfish size will increase.
And here’s something new and promising: preliminary results show one of the regulations is working very well.
At about the half-way point of the study, the 15/5 (15 total panfish with no more than five of a species) has resulted in mean increases of 1 inch in bluegill length and 2 inches in crappie length.
Those are eye-opening and very positive numbers.
The data were posted by the DNR to help inform decisions on local fisheries management questions at the annual DNR and Wisconsin Conservation Congress spring hearings.
“People want big panfish,” said Alex Latzka, DNR panfish team leader. “They are not loving the dominant small panfish we’re seeing across the state and they are supportive of regulations if they can be effective.”
Lakes in the study were given one of three experimental regulations: a total of 25 panfish but no more than 10 of any one species (25/10); a total of 15 panfish but no more than five of any one species during May and June, with 25 panfish in total for the rest of the year (seasonal 15/5); and a total of 15 panfish but no more than 5 of any one species (15/5).
The objective was to determine if a regulation would improve the mean length of bluegill and black crappie populations by 0.5 to 1 inch, and be socially acceptable.
To get a preliminary assessment with how things were going, the DNR evaluated the panfish populations in experimental and reference lakes, including measuring more than 17,000 bluegill in 96 lakes and 11,000 black crappie in 40 lakes.
Bluegill mean length increased by more than 1 inch in the 15/5 lakes, but not in 25/10 or seasonal 15/5.
Similarly, black crappie mean length increased in 15/5 lakes only, with a mean increase of over 2 inches.
Thus at the half-way mark in the study, the 15/5 regulation is the only one to meet the goal of improving mean length by 0.5 to 1 inch.
There is hope the regulation will be more widely implemented in the years to come to enhance panfish size structures and improve the fishing experience.
The DNR issued this summary in its review of the preliminary data: “Given that anglers are generally receptive to restrictive regulations and that biological data indicates the 15/5 is most effective in achieving desired panfish size structures, we find strong evidence supporting the decision to allow lakes to shift to the 15/5 regulation at this time.”
Like most anglers, I prefer to catch larger panfish. And if I were to practice selective harvest and bring home five bluegills, five perch and five crappies, for example, I would be more than happy. That’s several meals in my household.
The general statewide daily panfish bag limit is 25.
Our neighbors to the northwest are following in our footsteps. The Minnesota DNR launched a Quality Sunfish Initiative a couple years ago to “use proven daily limits of five or 10 sunfish to protect and improve sunfish quality on select lakes with both biological potential to produce large sunfish and strong public support.”
In Minnesota, the number of lakes with reduced bag panfish bag limits increased from 60 in 2020 to 225 this year, according to the MDNR. The agency plans to monitor the lakes over the next decade.
Latzka said no two lakes are the same and reduced bag limits aren’t the prescription for every water.
Some have stunted panfish populations, for example, because there are too many panfish and not enough food.
But in lakes with small panfish that feature decent growth rates and good habitat and high angling harvest, the 15/5 regulation is looking like a very promising tool to produce larger size structure.
Latzka said the DNR is committed to doing the full, 10-year study and a thorough analysis of the data, including angler surveys.
Local angling groups, lake associations or conservation clubs could push for changes on their “home” waters before the study has been completed, of course.
“All lakes are different and growth rates are all over the place,” Latzka said. “We know not every lake would be perfect for this and we’re working to figure out which lakes are best. But at this preliminary point, it’s encouraging to have a regulation that appears like it could meet the objective of increasing panfish size structure.”
I know I’ll never hook a bluegill as big as the roadside attraction in Onalaska. But this work by the DNR has me excited about a fishing future that features more big panfish in more Wisconsin lakes.