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By Louie Stout

The bluegill bag limit, along with other Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) proposals outlined here last Sunday, remain in limbo.

The DFW presented several fishing and hunting proposals to the Natural Resources Commission (NRC) Advisory Council last week. The council hears the DNR presentation then decides which ones will go before the NRC. The NRC then decides whether which proposals it deems worthy enough to go through a public hearing process.

Ah, state bureaucracy. Gotta love it.


By Louie Stout

Indiana DNR Revives Bluegill Bag Limit DiscussionIndiana DNR Revives Bluegill Bag Limit Discussion

The Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife is floating the bluegill bag limit proposal again.

That proposal, among others, goes before the Natural Resources Advisory Council for preliminary adoption April 30 at 10 a.m. at the Fort Harrison State Park Inn. Proposals that are approved will go before the Natural Resources Commission for preliminary adoption.

If the NRC agrees, the proposals will enter the public comment phase before the NRC gives final approval, which wouldn’t occur until later this year.

The bluegill proposal went before the NRC a few years ago but it was nixed when it was learned the possession section of the proposal handicapped tourists who fished Indiana waters.

There currently is no bag limit on bluegill. The new proposal calls for a statewide daily bag limit of 25 per person while the possession limit would be amended to allow up to three times the daily bag limit per person. However, the possession limit would not apply to individuals who have processed and stored bluegills in the permanent residence.

The move comes as somewhat of a surprise given that biologists have previously indicated they wanted to study the biological effects before proposing a bag limit.

In August, 2017, Northern Fisheries Supervisor said “The bag limit idea is always going to be on the table, but we haven’t positioned ourselves well to make a biological case for a bluegill bag limit, so, from that standpoint, a move today toward a bag limit would be based strictly on social reasons and there is some uneasiness among our biologists about doing that.”

Several nearby states, including Michigan, have bluegill bag limits. Many Hoosier anglers support the call for a bag limit to avoid overharvest of the larger bluegills when they are most vulnerable, such as during the spawning season that will commence in the coming weeks.

“Public surveys have shown that two-thirds of Hoosier anglers want it, so that tells us the fishing community is supportive,” Price said Thursday.

The fisheries supervisor said that, based upon studies done by other states and work by Hoosier biologists, he doesn’t expect a bag limit to improve bluegill fishing much, if at all.

“There’s a strong case for adding a bag limit for social reasons, but a week case biologically,” Price said. “In the northern natural lake region, we have more bluegill now than we had years ago, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t have more.”

Other DFW proposals of interest to northern Indiana sportsmen include:

  • Allow air rifles and air bows to be used for deer hunting during the deer firearms season. The DNR says it’s received interest from hunters about those firearms which it says are capable of humanely harvesting deer. The equipment would have the same requirements specified by the administrative code.
  • Increase largemouth bass minimum size limit on Bixler, Henderson, Little Long and Round lakes in Noble County to 18 inches and reduce daily bag limit to two. Those lakes have a lot of carp and biologists believe that increasing the number of bigger bass will help control carp populations and ultimately help bluegill populations.
  • Add ruffed grouse to the endangered species of birds. Grouse used to exist throughout the state but populations have declined dramatically. Biologists say without protection, they could become extinct in Indiana.
  • Add cottontail rabbits to the list of mammals a landowner can take without a permit when the animal is causing or threatening to cause damage. The DNR says rabbits can damage trees and or plants near homes and in commercial nurseries. Removing the permit would reduce time and expense and allow individuals to handle the problem.
  • Eliminate hunter orange requirement for deer hunting ground blinds. There is no requirement for elevated blinds but there are for ground blinds. The DNR says removing the requirement is not expected to create additional safety concerns.

To see the complete list of fish and wildlife proposals, visit www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/2362.htm.


By Louie Stout

Indiana’s Webster Lake Produces Record Number of Muskies, EggsIndiana’s Webster Lake Produces Record Number of Muskies, EggsIf last week’s annual collection of Webster Lake muskie eggs is any indication, the future is bright.

I mean, really bright.

“It’s the best year of capturing adult muskies we’ve ever had,” said a jubilant Jed Pearson, Indiana DNR fisheries biologist who manages Webster. “We have a lot of muskies out there.”

In one week’s work of setting and checking traps, fish managers collected 305 muskies that produced 890,000 eggs.

The fish were stripped of eggs and fertilized by hand on shore then immediately released back in the lake. The eggs were taken to Fawn River Hatchery and later will be transported to the East Fork Hatchery in southern Indiana.

The eggs will hatch and the young moved to outdoor ponds before shipped back to Webster to be stocked this fall as 8 to 10 inchers and some again next spring as 12 to 13 inchers.

Indeed, the bulk of the fish Pearson and the Fawn River Hatchery team handled were sub-legal; most ranged in size from 30 to 35 inches (3- to 4-year old fish). Pearson said 18 were 40 inches or more and only two were legal-size (44 inches at Webster; 36 at other lakes).

While the lack of trophy fish may seem disappointing, the number of adult fish is definitely good news for a muskie lake that was once the Midwest’s crown jewel before collapsing a few year ago.

For example, in 2016, the DNR managed to collect only 42 adult muskie for brood stock and had to work hard for those.

The crash was due largely to the lake association’s overzealous chemical treatment of aquatic vegetation, which has since been rectified, and a change in stocking practices, which also has been altered to provide bigger fish for better survival.

In 2017 biologists gathered 88 fish and that number jumped to 126 last year before more than doubling this year.

“I really believe our efforts of planting bigger fish in the spring are paying off,” said Pearson. “A big percentage of the fish we caught this year had tags we planted on them. We know this stocking effort is being more successful than what we were doing several years ago.”

Pearson said Webster was down to about 500 fish a few years ago and his rough estimate today is between 1,500-2,000 adult muskies.

Could that be too many?

Quite possibly, said Pearson. He has concerns that there may be too many in the lake and may require some stocking number cutbacks. As of right now, specific changes aren’t being discussed.

“We don’t want to get in a situation where we have so many muskies that we get slower growth or the adults start cannibalizing the young ones we stock each year,” he said. “It’s something we have to look at.”

Last week’s netting turned up at least two muskies netted that were used for egg taking in previous years and again this year.

“We had one muskie we’ve caught seven times since 2011 and one female we caught in 2005,” said Pearson. “The largest fish we caught this year (45 inches) we netted in 2005 in the backwaters when she was 31 inches. We never saw her for until this year (14 years later). She grew 14 inches longer and I suspect that makes her about 17 to 18 years old. This year, we caught her along the north shore of the main lake.”

Pearson said the trap nets at the lake also captured several nice crappie, bluegill and legal bass, all of which were released.


By Louie Stout

Anglers are reminded that the 2018-19 fishing license expires March 31 in Indiana and Michigan so you will need a new one beginning April 1.

In Indiana, annual resident licenses are $17 and non-resident $35. Senior licenses (residents only) are $3. Trout and salmon anglers also will need an $11 trout stamp.

In Michigan, residents will pay $26, seniors $11 and non-residents $76. Those licenses include all species.