Fished St. Louis Ponds Thursday

[Skippers Toy]

Like it says I fished St. Louis Ponds last Thursday and did ok, not great. 16 bass largest 3 lb. 4 oz., 11 crappie, 23 bluegill. Put them all back in the water unharmed. Walking out I see a Mexican family fishing pond 3 with a few 5 gallon buckets with fish in them so I stop to take a look. Lot's of fish in the buckets, bass, bluegill and crappie. You might be thinking "good for them" well I would agree except for one thing........... There wasn't a fish in any of the buckets that was over 1 1/2" to 2" in length! Why would you want to keep ANY fish that small? I tried to explain it to them but I don't speak very good spanish and started to become a little agitated (I can cuss up a storm in spanish though) and they could not speak English at all. Now the fact they were Mexican is of no consequence here I just mentioned it so you would know why there was no communication. I really think I have fished my last day there. If everyone were to do what they were doing the ponds would be empty in no time at all. Yes, I realize (as far as I know) there is no size limit on these species of fish here. What a waste!

[veilside180sx]

I witnessed a similar situation at Hagg yesterday with a family keeping a bunch of 2-3" Yellow Perch and Bluegills. I'm stumped as to who would go through all that hassle for such a small fish.

[hunter9]

I keep little perch and bluegill but I use them to feed my peacock bass

[Super Fluke]

I keep little perch and bluegill but I use them to feed my peacock bass
Do you feed your peacock bass live perch and bluegill?

[happybrew]

There is a pond way down at the south end that has green ear sunfish. Those are pretty fun. Look on the bright side... the people keeping the little ones allow more food supply for the remaining fish, so they can grow faster! :twocents:

[07clackapramowner]

There is a pond way down at the south end that has green ear sunfish. Those are pretty fun. Look on the bright side... the people keeping the little ones allow more food supply for the remaining fish, so they can grow faster! :twocents:
:agree::yeahthat::cheers:

[Skippers Toy]

I guess that might be a bright side, but they are also prime food for the larger fish already in there as well!! Just rubbed me the wrong way is all, another way to look at it is the "minnows" they were keeping are tomorrows lunkers?

[arkansasbasser]

I guess that might be a bright side, but they are also prime food for the larger fish already in there as well!! Just rubbed me the wrong way is all, another way to look at it is the "minnows" they were keeping are tomorrows lunkers?

Man, you can't win around here. On another post someone reported that they had caught several bass out of their pond and kept a couple of the larger ones to eat. People immediatly started telling him that he should have kept the smaller ones and let the big ones go back. Now were mad because someone is keeping smaller ones?

[happybrew]

Man, you can't win around here. On another post someone reported that they had caught several bass out of their pond and kept a couple of the larger ones to eat. People immediatly started telling him that he should have kept the smaller ones and let the big ones go back. Now were mad because someone is keeping smaller ones?

Everyone's got an opinion. But fortunately we have rules which try to balance it all. The rules allow the harvest of only one bass at St. Louis Ponds. That's a good thing, because the population there really took a nose dive years ago, before they put that regulation in. That allowed the bluegill to overpopulate. From one year to the next the bluegill got smaller. I don't think it is possible to catch too many bluegill. At least we won't catch as many as the bass will eat. A good balance between the bass and the bluegill is necessary for good angling, hence the limit on the bass will enhance the bluegill fishing. They'll thin down the population to allow a good portion to get bigger.

As one who likes a good sized bluegill taken on a fly, I like a limit on the bass.

happybrew