Some basic panfish info. wanted

[Laker10]

In early season, look for new weed growth. Find new weeds you will find fish.

[Kdawg1966]

Thanks for all the replies fella's. Lots of good info. I'm going to peruse my DNR lake maps book and formulate a game plan.

Sounds like everyone already has nailed the spring bite techniques for starters. Once that is over look for crappies and larger bluegills on the weed edge particulary cabbage. To locate the schools of crappie and bluegills forward troll a 1/16 oz jig either rubber twister, grub or maribou, tip it with a small minnow or piece of worm. Let out enough line to get it from 50-100' behind the boat, put your electric in forward motion and work out to 24' and into 12' to 14'. I like my jig colors bright a favorite is yellow body bright pink head. If your wife has problems keeping the jig off bottom attach a small float about 8' above the jig. Troll move until you find the fish, once you find them stop and either drift back over them or cast to them. The advantage to finding mid-summer crappies is the weather is nicer and the action can be pretty awesome with both bluegills, bass and crappies providing plenty of rod bending action. If you error make it the jig is high on the water column, if the jig comes below the suspended fish you will miss them or they will miss your offerings. Morning and evenings will find the fish slightly outside while mid-day the fish will be slightly inside the weeds. Summer panfish are often overlooked on our Minnesota lakes and it has been my experience can be some of the best. Give this a try. Gary Korsgaden

[Juls]

Originally Posted by Kdawg1966

95% of my fishing is for walleye, but this year my wife declared that she'd like to give fishing a try ...

Why not teach her to fish for Walleye?

Juls

[S.Larson]

Originally Posted by Juls

Why not teach her to fish for Walleye?

Juls

I'll take a stab at this,.......

The average woman, Much like children get bored with fishing very quickly if nothing is going on,.............Therefore the fast action of panfishing can be used to keep their interest for longer periods of time,....

Once they have been sufficiently brainwashed, I mean "hooked" on fishing the Walleye fishing can start,............

[Kdawg1966]

Originally Posted by S.Larson

I'll take a stab at this,.......

The average woman, Much like children get bored with fishing very quickly if nothing is going on,.............Therefore the fast action of panfishing can be used to keep their interest for longer periods of time,....

Once they have been sufficiently brainwashed, I mean "hooked" on fishing the Walleye fishing can start,............

Bingo!

[REW]

You need about three things to catch lots and lots of sunfish and crappies in the twin cities area.

A 6-8 foot rod.
A rocket bobber
http://www.google.com/#q=rocket+bobb...w=1659&bih=849

Get the rocket bobbers in both sizes and in both colors.
Rocket bobbers are fished flat. When a fish bites, the bobbers tip up, and you can easily see the bite and set the hook.
You want both sizes because you sometimes want to fish close and sometimes far. The small bobbers are easier to use close, but the larger bobbers are easier to use for better visablity when used far from the boat.
You also want both colors. As I said, the bobbers fish flat and are seen when they tip up.
You want the yellow color for one sun/sky/ cloud condiiton.
You want the red color for the other sun/sky/cloud condition.

Bottom line, if you are having difficulty seeing the bobber, switch to the other color and see if it helps.

Since solid plastc rocket bobbers are fairly heavy the use of a medium action rod, really works better than using a light or an ultra light rod.
The bite is sensed by the rocket bobber, not the line or rod. So, no need for a light feeling sensitive rod. But to really fling out the bobber, the use of a heavier action medium - and longer rod will gain you casting distance.

Finally, for the bait.
I only use one thing;
Mini Mite - cubby jigs.

http://www.cubbylures.com/

In the twin cities, I use two colors.
I use chartruse with the clear sparkle tail that looks like a crappie minno.
I use the black head with a dark red body that sunnies use that looks like the worms, larve and snails that they like to use.

By the way, when I say cubby jig, I mean cubby jig. I don't use any other brand plastic jig. It is the combination of a very light jig head - 1/32 oz aluminum, and their patented tail that does the job.

For a negative bite, I will also pick up a box of waxies. I use a single waxie on the jig when fishing. But if the bite is hot and heavy, save the trouble to bait up and you will likely catch just as many.

For catching crappies in the spring that are shy - I like to either drift or to start casting to find the school. If in a bit deeper water, you will often be able to find the schools suspended.
Normally, in the spring of the year, I will fish with the bobber, and with the bait suspended no deeper than 2-4 feet. Even if fishing deeper water, it seems that the active fish are in the top part of the water.

If I am drifting and come across a school of crappies, I will anchor upwind, and then cast across the school of crappies. After working the school and or catching a crappie or sunnie, I will quikly reel back and cast again.
Often, if you anchor or drift too close to a school, you will spook the fish away. So, by casting past the school and working the school and then quickly reeling back, you can keep catching fish without spooking the crappies.

When fishing the cubby jig, do not use any split shot on the line to weigh down the jig. One of the chief fish catching attributes of the jig is the very light weight with its great action. So, when fishing the jig, do a slow reel, pause action. When you slowly reel, the jig will swing up a bit due to water resistance. Then you stop reeling, the jig will swing back down to be suspended from the bobber. Once in a while you need to keep reeling slowly to get the fish into a chase mode. But, if you do have a waxie on the jig, you will often get bites with the jig simply suspended and moving gently from wave action.


When the fish are active and or when you have found a school, it is not at unusual to easily limit out in an hour or so. That is the reason that when fishing with folks - of all ages - that want quick action, this is my fish and technique of choice.

p.s.
Especially in the spring of the year, the pan fish - sunnies and crappies are relatively close to shore. So, these techniques with the rocket bobber and cubby can work equally well, if the fish can be reached from shore.
With the long reach of the cubby jig, you can do it pretty well.

I also only use one reel when chasing long casting baits with the rocket bobber:
http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shop...05014/-1653247

These reels give 31 inches of retrieve per turn of the handle. Also the large spool results in fewer line loops off of the reel for a given casting distance. Hence longer casts.
Then, when working distant schools of fish, I can cast past the school, reel to the school, workhttp://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-Pro-Qualifier-Spinning-Reels/product/10205014/-1653247 the school and then with the large line retreive per turn of the crank, retreive the jig with minimum handle cranks.

The difference in using a 1000 sized sized ultra light small spool compared to using one of the large spool reel is many hundred of handle twists in a day of fishing using these distant casting techniques.

Good luck, be safe and catch a bunch.

REW

p.p.s
I NEVER use minnows to catch crappies - unless I am night fishing. I just find that waxies are much more productive. I will admit that if I am night fishing that often you do better on big crappies with minnows.

[Kdawg1966]

Wow! Thanks for the info. REW. If I'm not pointed in the right direction now, I never will be.