Panfish size limits!

I was just wondering what everybody's thoughts are on panfish size limits were. I've been on a select few lakes this winter in the west central part of the state and have been noticing people keeping Crappies that were around 7 1/2- 8 inches long, bluegills around 6, and perch around 7-8 inches long. I don't get why people would even bother with fish that small but they do. In my eyes we need a size limit on panfish. I talked to one guy on Otter lake about keeping 8 inch Crappies and he said "that's all the bigger they get in here." I've caught my fair share of 13 plus Crappies in Otter that are usually all released and I had to laugh at the guy. It just gets frustrating that people are keeping these small a$$ fish.

If you have problems catching keeper fish go to a different lake. Most lakes have so many fish they don't get big. Too many fish, not enough food. 7" is a keeper gill in these stunted lakes. The limit should be 50 fish on many lakes. Stocking lakes is the problem in many cases. Musky,pike,walleye,trout get stocked and what do you think they eat? Panfish. So a lake gets stocked because of poor reproduction and poor ecosystem, adding more and more predators year after year.

i have no problem with people keeping fish that size, they all taste the same out of the frying pan

Just use common sense when it comes to size! I like to keep the panfish that are between the sizes of 7.5-13 inches. Taste the best at that size and you have a reasonable portion size, I agree with hogbuster too. If you actually eat those said species.

I can agree that panfish size is way down on many lakes in SE WI. I think I am actually a part of the problem. I used to eat bass, pike,catfish, trout from Lake Michigan and also some eyes and inland trout. The last several years, I have eaten almost entirely panfish, except for maybe a few eyes and inland trout. I think its time for me to start eating a variety of fish again instead of just pannies. Four of the lakes I fish regularly have good populations of pike and bass, but the panfish size, and in a couple of instances, even the numbers, have gone way down.

I love to eat bluegills & perch, but also think they should enforce lower bag limits and a size limit! Fishing is not like it used be! Just hope something happens so our future fishermen/women can enjoy it like we all have! I havbe a private pond that has monster gills, perch, and crappie but its all catch & release so my son to enjoy catching monsters!!!!

I also think that we need a lower bag limit and possibly a size limit as well. I grew up in Waukesha county and it's amazing how panfishing has gone downhill here throught the past 20 years. It's difficult to even find a perch in many of our lakes down here, where they used to be in good numbers. I say lowering the limit to 10 fish per day (at least in the southern half of the state) wouldn't be a bad thing.

I believe a major decline in panfish size is due to the fact that more people target them. They go to the lake to get a meal of fish so they target panfish.....Does it really pay to target walleyes when you can only keep one on alot of lakes. Panfish will continue to decline on many lakes until some laws change with the walleyes. We all know what I am talking about. I dont want to be one to sit and complain, but something needs to change in the state of Wisconsin.

I think we should start keeping a few musky,bass and northerns, they eat way more than the average weekend fisherman. Fishing is getting way out of hand,kind of like QDM for deer hunting. 25 panfish is fine

I would love to see smaller limits and size limits on panfish. Most guys realize you should let large walleyes, pike, muskies, etc go to breed. For some reason people do not get this concept for panfish. I can not believe all the pictures in the 2013 fish pics thread of monster pannies being kept to eat. Really sad and they are shooting themselves in the foot for the future. Do some research on some of the studies done by the MNDNR on panfish genetics and size structure and you will see why it is important to let the large fish go and eat the smaller ones. Too much info to explain here. My personal size limit is only keep crappies less than 12, gills less than 9.5, perch less than 12. Of course this will vary slightly depending on the size of the lake and size structure of the fish. I would also like to see the season close during the spawn or at least C&R only. Pannies get fished 12 months out of the year and it has ruined some great panfish lakes due to irresponsible harvesting over time.

If the DNR took all the money wasted yearly on CWD Research, and put it towards panfish habitat and reproduction, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Wisconsin Panfishing would be just as good as Minnesota Panfishing.

Leave the limits alone. They are fine where they are. It's not that common to catch a limit of crappies or gills, so Ithink the issue is being overblown. How many of the same guys wanting to lower the limits don't think twice about letting a musky go? If you were to add up what one musky eats in a year, you'd be surprised. If you want to lower them, make it south of 29 like they did for the pike.

I disagree that size limits will never work, at least for crappie. Crappie are very cylcic in nature and there is a reason that many bodies of water the fishing is great for a year and then pouned and not good for another 5 years. Many bigger bodies of water where crappies are capable of 12-13" + would benefit greatly from having a 10-inch size limit. When they are that big there is not reason for someone to keep more than 10 of them, you're just being greedy beyond that. There are many other factors that go into having small panfish in a lake than just predators such as fertility of the lake, food sources, FISHING PRESSURE, cover, etc... If we want to have quality fisheries in Wisconsin limits need to become stricter and people need to adapt to it.

My BAD with the wrong forum!! No wonder why I never post here and go to IDO! I guess you're better then me 1up!!

Wrong forum, but size limit is the opposite of what you want. Small panfish is typically from not enough predators (ie not enough panfish getting culled, either through fishing or predators). Panfish reproduce like mad, so they stunt easily when enough are not getting culled. Want big panfish? Let big northerns and big bass go.

Size limits will NEVER work. Too many small gut hooked fish will be wasted. If a 5' bluegill swallows the hook and dies, he goes in the cooler. Unfortunately I see many small dead panfish floating and it was obvious the angler did not want the small fish as part of the limit. I do think 25 crappies is ridiculous. 15 or less would be better. Maybe 20 for gills and perch?