When can we expect the gills?

[deputy865]

When are they gonna start coming shallow..Somtime in May? Or what temp does the water have to be for them to come shallow? Any idea's on the depths there at now?

Shane

[fishinmachine2]

My son and nephew were out on a lake in Lapeer and caught a bunch of crappie and bluegill this weekend. They were in 4 fow. I would go out give it a try right now.

Scott

[RichP]

I caught a limit of gills myself this weekend in 4-5 FOW at a small Livingston co. lake.

[deputy865]

cool cool, might have to check out the lake...I'm fishing Lake Fenton!

Shane

[doughman]

Right now is the bast time, the males are up making beds and very aggresive, I have limited 10 out of 14 days, my worst day was Sunday 19 keepers. Fish the south side of a lake in the bayou's and you should find the nice gils and Crappie to boot.

I know have 18 lbs of blue gil filets in the freezer.:D

Dough

[just me]

Ohh Baby!!! My boat is ready (almost), got my license, now just gotta' get the time to get out this weekend.
Waiting to hear the lastest weekend weather report......:) :fish:

[fire-tiger]

According to my late grandfather, the gills are on the beds when the lilacs bloom.

[walleyechaser]

Sorry boys ! There's no gills making beds in April. Gills will start to bed in May when the water temps get to around 62 degrees.
From ice out until later this month the gills will be in dark bottom shallows and canals feeding heavily although they can be real spooky at times. Light line, 2-4 pound test, with tiny jigs and wax worms is the ticket and sunny days are best. Mid afternoon fishing is the best this time of the year when the water is at its warmest in the shallows.
Come the end of April to mid May, depending on temperatures, gills will be staging in 6-10 fow near their bedding areas with afternoon/evening fishing being the best. As bedding time nears, they'll come into the bedding areas every evening where you can hammer them with a fly rod or spinning rod with tiny jigs and wax worms.
BTW, when the Lilacs bloom is the time to be out chasing schooled up crappies which are staged in slightly deeper (8-10 fow) along weed edges. Crappies bed a couple of weeks before gills but in deeper water.
You can easily find gill beds in 1 to 6 fow depending on the lake whereas a rule of thumb with crappies is that they bed in water about 2 feet deeper than where you can see bottom.

[adam bomb]

ive been catchin gills in 2-4 fow for the last two weeks. get out after em.:D

[robin]

If you're going to quit keeping fish when you get your limit, that's great, but I wouldn't announce in a public forum that I have way over the possession limit in my freezer. That's just inviting trouble if anyone knows who you are and wants to get after you.

[RichP]

Robin's got a good point Dough. I think you should do the responsible thing and send some of those filets over my way. :evil:

Wish I had some in the freezer. I've had a couple limit catches in the past couple weeks but my fam never allows them to hit the freezer....straight from the lake, right into the deep fryer....yum...

[mparks]

If you're going to quit keeping fish when you get your limit, that's great, but I wouldn't announce in a public forum that I have way over the possession limit in my freezer. That's just inviting trouble if anyone knows who you are and wants to get after you.

Maybe they were just real big Blue Gills.:lol:

[doughman]

I now have 17 lbs, ate one pound today, I don't violate one bit and I talked to the local DNR and they said I can catch one limit a day and no problem storing them in the freezer. If your interested in calling the DNR yourself feel free, PM me and I'll give you my address.

I'll also call and talk to another officer just so I am doing the right thing, If I am wrong, I will eat like the dickens and get to the "RIGHT" limit.

Now for the "COCKY" response, stop being so jealous and get out there and catch some fish.

[Dedicated Sportsman]

I would say that the gills are just starting to bit well. Tonight i got my limit off a dock in a couple hours, but i had to work for it. I'll probably head out this weekend, i think it will be a lot better then.

[kumma]

doughman - page 18 of the fishin guide book read it.

Personally if I wanted frozen fish Id go to the grocery store.

[SalmonSlayer]

Page 8 of the guide only indicates a daily possession limit. This has no reference to storing fish caught on a previous day. There is no law against having fish in a freezer...if there was, and someone bought 5 king salmon from the store on sale and was caught with them in his/her freezer, they would be commiting a crime. This would never be put into a law, because it is totally un-enforceable...how would someone prove that you caught all those at one time? or for that matter, WHERE you caught them. We fish canada waters were there is NO LIMIT of bluegill...and there is no limit of bluegill transported across the border into MI. So I happen to have over 1000 fillets of bluegill in my freezer from there. Does this mean that I am in violation? I think not. I would be interested to hear the results of doughmans second call to a CO. If he doesn't post soon again, I will be calling my local CO and asking him the question. I wonder if Boehr has any input to this?

[fishinmachine2]

WOW!!! If that was the case I think there would be alot of fishermen that would be in alot of trouble. I have a freezer full of fish, perch and bluegill from this winter ice fishing and when i got home from walleye fishing this weekend my son had a pan of bluegill and crappie he had caught this weekend.:lol: What about all my canned salmon from last summer?? :yikes:

Scott

[RichP]

I wonder if Boehr has any input to this?

Yeah, he does

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=134864

Do you consider yourself a sportsmen? I assume you do so why would you want to purposely violate the law regardless if it is enforced or not. People that want hundreds of fish in their freeze are fish hogs and poachers.

[robin]

I just put in a call to the Bay City office. I left a message on a voice mail, so I'll see where that gets me. It always was that possession was twice the daily limit. I see now that possession and daily limits are the same. I know what most people think of Fred Trost, but he had a show on years ago that talked on this subject and the answer then was that possession meant just that- in your house, on your person, in your freezer, whatever. That was an answer from the DNR, not Fred. If this guy calls me back, I'll give his response.

[dtg]

I know in Canada, they count all fish, freezer, cooler and stringer. If it is in your freezer, than it is in your possession, however, if you have 4 people in your house or cabin and they all have fishing licenses, than you better not have more than the limit for 4 people. I've been going to Canada for the last 9 years and only twice have I brought any fihs back with me, one was a 24" Walleye, my biggest ever and one year was a few smallies that I wanted to share a new way to cook them with freinds and family. I don't max out and take home a lot of fish from there, because I want to keep the fishing as excellent as it's been to me for all those years. We usually only keep what we're going to eat while on vacation and throw the rest back.

Anyway, back to the original post. I'm dying to get some Crappie or gills in my freezer but haven't had any luck in the lake I've gone to the last two weeks. If the rain lets up, I'm going to give it another go tonight and tomorrow.

[robin]

I just heard back from the guy and I was wrong about one thing. The possession law was listed in 1929 and there haven't been any changes to it since. There was never a twice the daily limit for possession, the daily limit has always been the same as the possession limit. The exception was with for salmon/trout which was instituted years ago with the salmon program so that guys could go up to fish for the weekend and not have to worry about bringing home too many fish.
As far as possession goes, you are legally in the wrong if you have more than one daily limit in your freezer, your house, boat, etc. He said that this is not something that officers actively persue, but is enforced if the officer is in the process of dealing with other infractions and becomes aware of it.
Do what you want to do, but don't claim to be uninformed.

[Michihunter]

I think we need a clarification from Boehr. I didn't think that rule applied to fish in your freezer. I thought it applied to the number of fish taken in any given trip to and from your house.

[kbkrause]

I think we need a clarification from Boehr. I didn't think that rule applied to fish in your freezer. I thought it applied to the number of fish taken in any given trip to and from your house.

nope... http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123129

[CubanFisherman]

Wow. I can honestly say that I had no idea about that rule. I guess I just assumed that limits only applied to when an angler is on a body of water. Even though I don't like to eat fish, that is a good thing to keep in mind. Thanks for the information guys!

[deputy865]

WOW, what happened to my thread?:confused:

Now that i'm sort of interested....Whats goin' on? Like if i catch my limit of 50 gills, i can only have a total of 50 filets of gills in my freazer?

:confused: Shane:confused:

[dtg]

WOW, what happened to my thread?:confused:

Now that i'm sort of interested....Whats goin' on? Like if i catch my limit of 50 gills, i can only have a total of 50 filets of gills in my freazer?

:confused: Shane:confused:
50 gills only. Meaning if you have 25 in the freezer, than you may only catch and keep 25 more

[shorty27]

WOW, what happened to my thread?:confused:

Now that i'm sort of interested....Whats goin' on? Like if i catch my limit of 50 gills, i can only have a total of 50 filets of gills in my freazer?

:confused: Shane:confused:

Isnt the limit on gills 25?

[RichP]

Yes. As previously mentioned possession limit = daily limit = 25 in the case of sunfish.

So that means "legally" you may only possess a total of 25, including what's in your freezer.

I don't anyone that fishes regularly, aside from a couple of my C&R bass buddies, who follows this law to the letter. Most people I know have some fish in their freezer and because of this technically would be violating the law at some point. Chances are nothing will ever happen to them because as Boehr has mentioned, there would need to be probable cause/warrant (let alone a desire) for someone to search your house.

What about a fella who doesn't even a fishing license but buys a pound of perch from Meijer? Uh oh, better save that receipt. :)

[kumma]

Yes. As previously mentioned possession limit = daily limit = 25 in the case of sunfish.

So that means "legally" you may only possess a total of 25, including what's in your freezer.

I don't anyone that fishes regularly, aside from a couple of my C&R bass buddies, who follows this law to the letter. Most people I know have some fish in their freezer and because of this technically would be violating the law at some point. Chances are nothing will ever happen to them because as Boehr has mentioned, there would need to be probable cause/warrant (let alone a desire) for someone to search your house.

What about a fella who doesn't even a fishing license but buys a pound of perch from Meijer? Uh oh, better save that receipt. :)


Thats where the "Sportsman" in Michigan-Sportsman comes from. Doing the right thing when no one else is around or where there is no chance of getting caught. I know what I am & what I do, only you can answer for yourself.

[RichP]

You're right, I can answer for myself. This is a nonissue for me. As I already stated, I never have fish in the freezer, it goes straight from the lake, to the cutting board, to the deep fryer. :corkysm55

But that doesn't mean I get all high and mighty and look down on some people that want to tuck away a couple packages for a rainy day (I'd love to take a look at the freezers of a lot of the LSC forum regulars who target eyes all the time).

[Michihunter]

If that is indeed the proper interpretation, that also means that you cannot have a fish in your freezer out of season either!!:yikes: Would it be safe to assume that deer would also fit that interpretation? All those with venison in the freezer better get to cooking!!

[deputy865]

I better follow the rules on this one...I fish like pretty close to every day in the summer for gills and such...

michihunter,

I doubt that its the same. It would be hard to eat all that venison in a couple of months...

Shane

[doughman]

I am sorry that this caused so much stir and debate, I got angered when I am accused of violating or being less of a sportsmen then some.

I fish as much as I can and the only fish I take is what I am going to eat and I can't eat all my fish the same day I catch them so stock them away to last for a while.

Sorry if I affended anyone, I consider myself a true sportsman and I won't let someone on here change my opinion on that.

Marv