Most of us who fish began our fishing years as a youngster angling for bluegills or other panfish. It was exciting because you could catch lost of fish, you didn’t need a boat, and when they were biting, the action was hot! Bluegills’ size have been goion down in recent years. Peter Jacobson, a DNR fisheries researcher in Detroit Lakes, thinks he knows why.

“Our theory is that two reasons lead to the trend toward smaller fish,” says Jacobson. “Anglers are taking the larger sunfish. At the same time, there are fewer predators to feed on the sunfish, leaving the sunfish that remain to compete for a limited food supply and ending up smaller in size.

To test these theories, the DNR si proposing experimental fishing regulations for nine lakes in the Fergus Falls, Walker and St. Cloud areas. The experimental regulations would reduce bag limits from 30 to 10 sunfish, and/or allow no harvest of northern pike or largemouth bass (only catch-and-release fishing) on the lakes being studies. At the end of five years, the results would be analyzed to see if the sunfish size structure had improved. A similar study is taking place in the Twin Cities metro area, where researchers are looking at making changes in the bluegill population by not allowing harvest of largemouth bass.