so walking past a pond with my kids today, heading towards some soccer fields. my son notices 3 guys fishing and freaks when he sees them catching sunfish. after convincing him we were going to buy some rods this afternoon, the guys start putting the sunfish in plastic bags. at least 6 or 8 of them over the course of 30 minutes.

what do you do here? EP phone call or walk away?

Its illegal to keep sunfish?

Sunfish are like pigeons - they're everywhere and they reproduce like rabbits. Whatever was going on, I wouldn't worry about it. In fact, they naturally crowd ponds, which stunts the growth of all of them, so for good fishing the best thing you could do would be to clear out 3/4 of all sunfish in every pond and grind them into fertilizer. The rest would have a chance to grow bigger.

...........probably a 10-to-30 or unlimited bag limit.....probably gona fry 'em up:fishin:

no limit

Liveline them or they are using them for food for a big Oscar

they are called PAN fish

Maybe the guy read this thread. :rotf2:

http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripertalk/stripertalk/70705-fact-fiction.html

as a kid, we'd catch em, smash em with our shoe, tie twine on the them and toss them back out. In 15 mins we'd be battling huge snapping turtles and dragging em up on shore.

No size or bag limit. They are about the best tasting fish in freshwater next to perch and walleye.

Cat food :fishin:

I use them as bait for bass and pick's
When I mention that it's legal to do this (in MA), most people have that "really?" look on their faces.

I wonder how many anglers actually read the Abstracts?

I would concerned more if they were fishing for more than sunfish!
:fight: :bshake: or :lm:

m-80 wrapped with worms and an egg sinker is how we use to fish for then as kids.
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Maybe the guy read this thread. :rotf2:

http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripertalk/stripertalk/70705-fact-fiction.html
starting a new bait revolution..Trying it tommorrow
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Some people like to eat them...nothing wrong with keeping them.

You need a solid dozen to get a meal though...not a lot of meat on them.

nothing shady about it, no size or bag limit on sunfish in MA.

you by the prison?

nothing shady about it, no size or bag limit on sunfish in MA.

you by the prison?

yeah, kids love to run on those soccer fields and kick the ball around. i just assumed there are regulations to everything you catch in massachusetts. i'm not well read on freshwater laws.

Some people like to eat them...nothing wrong with keeping them.

You need a solid dozen to get a meal though...not a lot of meat on them.

When I was a kid we caught like 30 of them and had a big fish fry, delish...

sunfish taste like chicken ... People are starving

Because someone keeps some fish you assume it's Illegal......??:confused:

Let me know next time your up there and ill meet up with you.2 minutes from my house.
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Because someone keeps some fish you assume it's Illegal......??:confused:

yup. my first reaction to most things is negative, then if i think about it long enough it changes to positive.

As a kid I used to catch sunnies chop them up and let them sit on the bottom for big cats and sometimes big snapping turtles.Never ate one.

I use small sunnies as bait, like a shiner.
I figure that since they are the normal forage for big predators, why not utilize that to my advantage?
They stay alive on the hook longer than shiners, and can be readily available in the pond I am fishing!

I've had my "sunny-bait" jump out of the water, followed closely by a 2.5-3 lb bass. I once watched as 3 juvenile bass circled my sunny just like the cartoon sharks (circling the bait in unison) until the one that wanted it most "took the prize"!

The best part is that you don't even need bait to catch the sunnies, just a shiny hook or a hook tipped with anything that LOOKS like bait.

As I have said before: "It never ceases to amaze me , the number of people that never read the fishing abstracts to know what is or isn't legal!"