Numerous studies by fisheries biologists in the past twelve years have proven beyond a doubt that removing large numbers of bluegill from a water body, even a large lake, has a permanent negative effect on the genetics of that population of bluegill. And if this is true with a species that biologists once believed couldn't be fished out, imagine what removing large numbers of large shellcracker does. Kentucky and Barkley Lakes have just recently developed banner fisheries for large redear; and yet, according to two different sets of anglers who fished with me this year, those fisheries are already declining. Overharvest is the reason.

I hate to be the lone voice in the wilderness, but angler awareness, and responsibility to one's fellow anglers, among bluegill and redear anglers, is about forty years behind what it is with bass, walleye, or any other commonly-pursued species in this country now. Even most fishermen who target trophy blue and flathead catfish these days seem more dedicated to catch and release than the average bluegill angler.

I realize most states have very liberal limits, if any at all, on sunfish. There was a time when it was completely legal to shoot as many buffalo as you could, and that species was nearly wiped out.

It seems like two out of every three photos I see on this board, and other bluegill/sunfish forums as well, are of one-day hauls of enough fish to feed a small village. What would anyone on this board say if someone posted a photo of five dead eight-pound largemouth lying on a fish-cleaning table? In many places, the angler would be completely within the law; but I'd bet anything that same angler would be shunned or even vilified, and rightly so, were he to post proud photos of his pillage.

When you fish a public water, it's not just about you; there are other anglers who will fish that water body after you; what you do affects them. To act as though you have no regard for them is pretty selfish and near-sighted. Fishing for sunfish in just about any public water in the country is a pale shadow of what it was even thirty years ago when I was a teenager, and the bucket-filling mentality is the reason.