ive posted on this before and hopefully educated some folks. a lot of research has went into bluegill biology and used to be it was thought that bluegill was plentiful and couldnt be overharvested, especially the biggest males in the social structure. this was completely wrong especially in smaller impoundments. im just glad TWRA is taking notice.
from a growth perspective it only takes crappie and shell crackers 3-4 years to reach full reproductive size(harvest size). in contrast bluegill typically grow in the wild at a rate of 1" per year and do not reach reach reproductive size until their 7th year, UNLESS the largest dominant males are removed and the smaller males are allowed to reach reproductive age early. this is how you end up with a pond/lake full of stunted bluegill.
big bass lakes and big bluegill lakes go hand in hand. if you manage a lake for trophy bass you also are managing that lake for trophy bluegill.
so how does a lake not have overpopulated stunted bluegill since bluegill are prolific breeders? its the large mouth bass and the dominant males that keep it in check. the dominant bluegill males keep the smaller fish from breeding and the LMB eat the smaller bluegills as forage. a LMB will eat at least 5% of their weight in bluegill per week even if shad is present. a lot of tournament guys dont understand this and possibly never will.
so to sum it up, my philopopy is keep what you can eat for a meal or two and release the large males. maybe if everyone does this then everyone can get a TARP from their favorite lake. sorry to sound like a know it all.
anyhoo here is a discussion from a few years back with some good links to info on the subject:
I didn't want to hijack the crappie thread but in it you said, anytime a large amount of the 9-11 inch bluegill are removed you will pretty much destroy the bluegill fishery. Back a few years ago I posted a question on here about whether or not I (along with others of course) could damage...
www.tndeer.com