The share of big bluegill in Minnesota DNR survey nets is now twice what it was in the 1990s. From 2016 to 2025 the DNR's standard surveys measured 574,584 bluegill on 1,417 lakes, with 5.7% reaching 8 inches. The 1990s share was 2.7% of 303,022 bluegill on 938 lakes. The share stayed at 2.7% in the 2000s, putting the increase after 2010.
IBigger Fish
The 8-Inch Share Doubled With Gains After 2010
Those shares combine every gear the DNR used. Where trap nets caught 90% or more of the bluegill, the 8-inch share climbed from 3.4% across 452 surveys in the 1990s to 5.6% across 875 in 2016 to 2025. For 496 lakes with at least 30 bluegill measured in each period, the median lake share climbed from 1.2% at 8 inches or longer in the 1990s to 3.3% in 2016 to 2025. The share still dropped on 170 of those lakes, or about 34%.
We pulled the counts from survey records in LakeFinder. The inch bins round down, which puts the start of the 8-inch bin at 8.0 inches.
IIFish Per Net
More Big Fish Mattered More Than Fewer Small Fish
A larger share can have two causes. Nets can catch more big bluegill, or they can catch fewer small ones. To see which happened we used each survey's length sample to split its trap-net catch into size groups.
Surveys averaged 29.2 bluegill per standard trap net in the 1990s and 22.2 from 2016 to 2025. Bluegill at 8 inches or longer climbed from 0.75 to 1.20 per net, up 60%. Smaller bluegill dropped from 28.4 to 21.0 per net, down 26%. With small fish held at their 1990s level, the added big fish alone would have raised the share from 2.6% to 4.1% using these per-net figures. With big fish held steady, the drop in small fish alone would have raised it to 3.4%.
Swipe table to see every column
| Period | Lakes | Bluegill measured | Share 8 inches or longer | Bluegill per trap net | 8-inch fish per trap net | Smaller fish per trap net | Catch in trap nets | Share 8 inches, trap-net surveys only |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 938 | 303,022 | 2.7% | 29.2 | 0.75 | 28.4 | 66% | 3.4% |
| 2000s | 1,462 | 657,012 | 2.7% | 30.3 | 0.83 | 29.5 | 73% | 3.1% |
| 2010 to 2015 | 1,192 | 351,885 | 4.5% | 24.4 | 1.10 | 23.3 | 64% | 5.9% |
| 2016 to 2025 | 1,417 | 574,584 | 5.7% | 22.2 | 1.20 | 21.0 | 71% | 5.6% |
IIISunfish Rules
Shares Also Rose on Lakes Under the Statewide Limit
On its sunfish management page the DNR said that "an increasing number of anglers have been concerned about catching so many small sunfish." The Quality Sunfish Initiative is the obvious place to look. That page also says "The initiative increased the number of lakes with reduced bag limits from 60 (as of 2020) to 225 (as of 2022)." The initiative picked "select lakes with both biological potential to produce large sunfish and strong public support."
We marked the 252 lakes whose current LakeFinder rules set a daily sunfish limit of five or 10. Those lakes stood apart even in the 1990s, with 7.0% of their bluegill reaching 8 inches against 2.3% everywhere else. Their share reached 12.4% from 2016 to 2025. Lakes still under the statewide limit climbed from 2.3% to 4.5%. Among those statewide-limit lakes the share reached 3.9% in 2016 to 2020 surveys and 5.0% in 2021 to 2025.
Swipe table to see every column
| Lakes | Period | Lakes surveyed | Bluegill measured | Share 8 inches or longer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statewide sunfish limit | 1990s | 852 | 280,104 | 2.3% |
| Reduced sunfish limit today | 1990s | 86 | 22,918 | 7.0% |
| Statewide sunfish limit | 2016 to 2025 | 1,216 | 488,381 | 4.5% |
| Reduced sunfish limit today | 2016 to 2025 | 201 | 86,203 | 12.4% |
| Statewide sunfish limit | 2016 to 2020 | 847 | 233,063 | 3.9% |
| Statewide sunfish limit | 2021 to 2025 | 824 | 255,318 | 5.0% |
It remains an open question whether the limits add to the trend. The DNR writes "These regulations will be monitored during the next decade to determine their impact and effectiveness."
IVLakes to Try
Stowe and Round Reached Half or More in Large 2025 Samples
Among 877 lakes with at least 150 bluegill measured from 2016 to 2025, the median lake share was 3.0% at 8 inches or longer. At nine lakes half or more of the measured bluegill were 8 inches or longer. Little Turtle in Beltrami County topped the list with 122 of 178. Stowe in Douglas County reached 173 of 261 and Whiteface Reservoir in St. Louis County had 107 of 162. Black Duck in St. Louis County reached 117 of 186, Blueberry in Wadena County had 114 of 186 and Round in Aitkin County had 172 of 306. Turtle in Becker County, Pimushe in Beltrami County and One Pine in St. Louis County round out the nine. Five of the nine have a reduced sunfish limit now.
Swipe table to see every column
| Lake | County | Acres | Bluegill measured | 8 inches or longer | Share | Bluegill per trap net | Sunfish rule | Latest survey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Turtle | Beltrami | 468 | 178 | 122 | 69% | 8.5 | daily limit five | 2021 |
| Stowe | Douglas | 377 | 261 | 173 | 66% | 11.9 | statewide | 2025 |
| Whiteface Reservoir | St. Louis | 4,567 | 162 | 107 | 66% | 4.2 | daily limit five | 2022 |
| Black Duck | St. Louis | 1,250 | 186 | 117 | 63% | 2.3 | daily limit 10 | 2022 |
| Blueberry | Wadena | 533 | 186 | 114 | 61% | 9.5 | statewide | 2022 |
| Round | Aitkin | 185 | 306 | 172 | 56% | 16.9 | statewide | 2025 |
| Turtle | Becker | 196 | 156 | 85 | 54% | 9.6 | daily limit 10 | 2020 |
| Pimushe | Beltrami | 1,230 | 287 | 156 | 54% | 10.7 | daily limit five | 2022 |
| One Pine | St. Louis | 354 | 164 | 83 | 51% | 8.7 | statewide | 2023 |
| Ash | St. Louis | 690 | 247 | 118 | 48% | 8.6 | statewide | 2023 |
| Portage | Aitkin | 372 | 184 | 84 | 46% | 15.0 | statewide | 2022 |
| Wild Rice | St. Louis | 2,372 | 464 | 210 | 45% | 11.1 | daily limit five | 2024 |
With 2016 to 2025 pooled, Round averaged 16.9 bluegill per trap net against 11.9 for Stowe and 10.7 for Pimushe. The most recent surveys of the nine span 2020 to 2025. Only three measured at least 150 bluegill, the minimum used for the ranking. In Stowe's 2025 survey 93.5% of 170 bluegill reached 8 inches and the catch ran 18.6 per trap net. In Round's 2025 survey 61.9% of 231 reached that size at 25.6 per net. The third latest survey with at least 150 bluegill is Turtle's 2020 survey, its only one from 2016 to 2025. The other six most recent surveys measured 67 to 148 bluegill, too few to judge on their own. In Pimushe's 2022 survey 46.1% of 115 reached that size at 7.5 per net, falling below half in that small sample.
Both Stowe and Round rely on one strong recent survey. In Stowe's 2019 survey 15.4% of 91 reached 8 inches, while Round's 2021 survey had 38.7% of 75 at that size.
Eight of the nine listed lakes had at least 150 bluegill measured between 2000 and 2015. Little Turtle alone reached half or more at 8 inches or longer then, with 75.6% of 250. Writing about Little Turtle's bluegill and crappie the DNR said that "The shallow, productive lake basin produces fast growth rates for these species and provides excellent habitat." For One Pine the DNR said that "Bluegill also tended to be large, with an average length of 8.1 inches."
VGear and Rules
Survey Nets Varied While the Sunfish Rulebook Changed
These fish came from DNR surveys and tell us nothing directly about what anglers catch. Standard trap nets caught 66% of bluegill in the 1990s surveys and 71% from 2016 to 2025, while the gill-net share rose from 6% to 19%. The per-net split treats each survey's length sample as a match for its trap-net catch, an assumption that fails where gill nets or other gear caught many bluegill. The DNR measured 78% of its bluegill catch in the 1990s and 99% in the recent period, leaving the older shares partly based on subsamples. The limit flag comes from rules read in October 2026, marking lakes where the DNR later set limits. It does not tell us which rule applied at each survey. The DNR chose those lakes partly for their potential to grow big sunfish, so they cannot tell us what the limits alone did.
VIPicking a Lake
Round and Stowe Had Big Fish and Strong Net Catches
Our read is that the rise in 8-inch bluegill in DNR nets is a statewide pattern, so you do not need a special sunfish limit to pick a lake. Our rule for choosing a trip is to begin with lakes where half the measured bluegill reached 8 inches or longer and the catch still ran ten or more per trap net. Round and Stowe met that rule in their 2025 surveys. Pimushe met it in the pooled surveys but fell below half on 115 fish in 2022, so check for a newer LakeFinder survey before heading out.
NOTES AND SOURCES
- Source: Minnesota DNR LakeFinder, lake survey reports (fish catch by gear and length counts).
- Also: Minnesota DNR, Fisheries Lake Surveys glossary.
- Also: Minnesota DNR, Quality sunfish initiative (lakes and adoption years).
- Scope: Minnesota DNR standard lake surveys, 1990 to 2025. bluegill length counts by whole inch from all gears in a survey and bluegill catch by gear. grain is the survey for the statewide shares and the lake for rankings.
- Method: Share = bluegill in the 8-inch bin or higher / all bluegill measured (LakeFinder bins round down, so the 8-inch bin starts at 8.0 inches). Per-net figures multiply a survey's bluegill per standard trap net by the share of its measured bluegill above or below 8 inches, then average across surveys (DERIVED). Paired lakes compare each lake's 1990s share with its own 2016 to 2025 share. Reduced-limit lakes are flagged from today's LakeFinder rules, so the flag shows where the DNR later put limits, not the rule in force at each survey.
- Limits: These are DNR sample fish, not angler catch. Lengths combine all gears used in a survey.
- Limits: In the 1990s the DNR measured fewer of the bluegill it caught than it does now, so the older shares rest on subsamples.
- Limits: The reduced-limit flag uses rules as fetched in October 2026. Most of those limits began in 2021 or 2022, after many of the surveys counted here.
- Limits: Per-net figures assume each survey's length sample matches its trap-net catch, which is not true where gill nets or other gear caught many bluegill.
- Limits: The DNR picked reduced-limit lakes partly for their potential to grow big sunfish, so those lakes cannot show what the limits themselves did.
Fully Drawn Research is an independent data analysis desk, not affiliated with any state wildlife agency, transportation agency, mapping provider or outfitter. Fully Drawn Research is an independent data and analysis desk. This paper reports FDR's own analysis of public agency and survey data. Harvest, catch and survey figures describe what hunters and anglers reported or what agencies counted or estimated, not how many animals or fish are present, and they reflect regulations and hunter or angler choices as well as wildlife numbers.
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