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BRoth82
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Panfish

Unread postby BRoth82 » Tue May 25, 2021 12:12 am

I took my son out fishing on Saturday looking for sunnies and crappies. The water temp was 72 degs so I went shallow, the vast majority of the fish were not spawning but a few were fanning out beds. They were fairly lethargic and it took going through 8 different lure combinations to figure out what they wanted to eat, after that though it was lights out.

We fished for just under 3 hours and I boated over 150 sunfish (I was using a clicker counter and stopped at 150) and 34 crappies, the crappies were mostly in that 9.5" - 11.5" range, the sunfish had a decent average as well. With lots of fish over 8".

The highlight was being able to sight fish for all of these and catch a tie for my PB sunfish it was 10.5" long and weighted 1# 3oz.

All in all it was a great morning on the water, and we came home with a few meals of fish.
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Re: Panfish

Unread postby Moose » Tue May 25, 2021 1:08 am

That sounds like a blast catching that many fish! What lure combo did you settle on? Congrats on tieing your PB!
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Re: Panfish

Unread postby Sailfish_WC » Tue May 25, 2021 1:14 am

Goodness!

What a day!!
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BRoth82
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Re: Panfish

Unread postby BRoth82 » Tue May 25, 2021 1:39 am

Moose wrote:That sounds like a blast catching that many fish! What lure combo did you settle on? Congrats on tieing your PB!


I never use live bait, so I ended up settling on a 1/32oz. pink ratzzo lure with a 1" smelt gulp minnow. with the 1/32 it was just the right fall rate that they wanted, I tired a size 10 plain hook and it wasn't falling fast enough.
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Re: Panfish

Unread postby Moose » Tue May 25, 2021 10:48 am

BRoth82 wrote:
Moose wrote:That sounds like a blast catching that many fish! What lure combo did you settle on? Congrats on tieing your PB!


I never use live bait, so I ended up settling on a 1/32oz. pink ratzzo lure with a 1" smelt gulp minnow. with the 1/32 it was just the right fall rate that they wanted, I tired a size 10 plain hook and it wasn't falling fast enough.

I love those 1” smelt gulp minnows. Always seem to do best with them. I've caught a couple channel cats while using them for gills. Fun fight with 2lb test!
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Re: Panfish

Unread postby KRONIIK » Thu May 27, 2021 3:09 pm

Any of you panfish guys have any very general advice for a (non-fisherman, for the most part), who has a chance next week to get my kids out on pontoon boat on a 100 acre lake in Northern Wisconsin next week?

It's supposed to have decent crappies and bluegills; maybe some bass.
Cabin owner says he expects the bluegill fishing to be starting up pretty decent; not sure but maybe they're staging to spawn?

The lake is 14 feet deep with a sandy/rocky bottom, if that means anything.
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Re: Panfish

Unread postby BRoth82 » Fri May 28, 2021 4:42 am

KRONIIK wrote:Any of you panfish guys have any very general advice for a (non-fisherman, for the most part), who has a chance next week to get my kids out on pontoon boat on a 100 acre lake in Northern Wisconsin next week?

It's supposed to have decent crappies and bluegills; maybe some bass.
Cabin owner says he expects the bluegill fishing to be starting up pretty decent; not sure but maybe they're staging to spawn?

The lake is 14 feet deep with a sandy/rocky bottom, if that means anything.


For me this time of year they will be spawning, so a simple bobber (I like the weighted clip on ones) that just stays afloat with the weight of your jig/hook. As far as lures, I like to start with a Fluflu jig in that 1/16 - 1/32oz size, you can tip it with any live bait, or I like to use Gulp minnows 1" or the extruded worms and just break a little piece off. If that doesn't work I would switch over to a 1/32 oz or 1/64 oz pink or black jig head, tipped with the same bait. I se the gulp with the kids because it stays on the hook much better.

For depth look for any branches, logs , wood or weeds the crappies love to hang around brush. All of the fish I caught were in water from 2'- 6", with a pontoon I would look for a calm area and just anchor up and give it a try, fish this time of year if they're spawning you can get right on top of them without spooking them.
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Re: Panfish

Unread postby KRONIIK » Fri May 28, 2021 10:20 am

BRoth82 wrote:
KRONIIK wrote:Any of you panfish guys have any very general advice for a (non-fisherman, for the most part), who has a chance next week to get my kids out on pontoon boat on a 100 acre lake in Northern Wisconsin next week?

It's supposed to have decent crappies and bluegills; maybe some bass.
Cabin owner says he expects the bluegill fishing to be starting up pretty decent; not sure but maybe they're staging to spawn?

The lake is 14 feet deep with a sandy/rocky bottom, if that means anything.


For me this time of year they will be spawning, so a simple bobber (I like the weighted clip on ones) that just stays afloat with the weight of your jig/hook. As far as lures, I like to start with a Fluflu jig in that 1/16 - 1/32oz size, you can tip it with any live bait, or I like to use Gulp minnows 1" or the extruded worms and just break a little piece off. If that doesn't work I would switch over to a 1/32 oz or 1/64 oz pink or black jig head, tipped with the same bait. I se the gulp with the kids because it stays on the hook much better.

For depth look for any branches, logs , wood or weeds the crappies love to hang around brush. All of the fish I caught were in water from 2'- 6", with a pontoon I would look for a calm area and just anchor up and give it a try, fish this time of year if they're spawning you can get right on top of them without spooking them.


Awesome; thanks for the tips!
I'm thinking if we don't get any action in -what-20 minutes or so (?) to pull anchor and move on to the next spot to try?
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Re: Panfish

Unread postby clandestine.misfit » Fri May 28, 2021 10:46 am

Weighted bobber over a rat finkee or any ice fishing jig with 2 spikes on it. Get your spikes from the mke area if you’re able too because they won’t have any up there. Cast it out. Hesitate a second. And litterally wiggle the tip of your rod up and down as you’re reeling in and just watch the bobber.
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Re: Panfish

Unread postby BRoth82 » Fri May 28, 2021 11:16 am

KRONIIK wrote:
BRoth82 wrote:
KRONIIK wrote:Any of you panfish guys have any very general advice for a (non-fisherman, for the most part), who has a chance next week to get my kids out on pontoon boat on a 100 acre lake in Northern Wisconsin next week?

It's supposed to have decent crappies and bluegills; maybe some bass.
Cabin owner says he expects the bluegill fishing to be starting up pretty decent; not sure but maybe they're staging to spawn?

The lake is 14 feet deep with a sandy/rocky bottom, if that means anything.


For me this time of year they will be spawning, so a simple bobber (I like the weighted clip on ones) that just stays afloat with the weight of your jig/hook. As far as lures, I like to start with a Fluflu jig in that 1/16 - 1/32oz size, you can tip it with any live bait, or I like to use Gulp minnows 1" or the extruded worms and just break a little piece off. If that doesn't work I would switch over to a 1/32 oz or 1/64 oz pink or black jig head, tipped with the same bait. I se the gulp with the kids because it stays on the hook much better.

For depth look for any branches, logs , wood or weeds the crappies love to hang around brush. All of the fish I caught were in water from 2'- 6", with a pontoon I would look for a calm area and just anchor up and give it a try, fish this time of year if they're spawning you can get right on top of them without spooking them.


Awesome; thanks for the tips!
I'm thinking if we don't get any action in -what-20 minutes or so (?) to pull anchor and move on to the next spot to try?


That would be a good idea to give a spot half an hour. This time of year if we don't get a big cold front the night before they should have the feed bag on.
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Re: Panfish

Unread postby KRONIIK » Fri May 28, 2021 11:21 am

clandestine.misfit wrote:Weighted bobber over a rat finkee or any ice fishing jig with 2 spikes on it. Get your spikes from the mke area if you’re able too because they won’t have any up there. Cast it out. Hesitate a second. And litterally wiggle the tip of your rod up and down as you’re reeling in and just watch the bobber.

Thanks!
I'll try to find some around home before we head up there, and we'll give it a shot.

Any advice on how to determine the distance to rig the bobber from the bait?
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Re: Panfish

Unread postby KRONIIK » Fri May 28, 2021 11:23 am

BRoth82 wrote:
KRONIIK wrote:
BRoth82 wrote:
KRONIIK wrote:Any of you panfish guys have any very general advice for a (non-fisherman, for the most part), who has a chance next week to get my kids out on pontoon boat on a 100 acre lake in Northern Wisconsin next week?

It's supposed to have decent crappies and bluegills; maybe some bass.
Cabin owner says he expects the bluegill fishing to be starting up pretty decent; not sure but maybe they're staging to spawn?

The lake is 14 feet deep with a sandy/rocky bottom, if that means anything.


For me this time of year they will be spawning, so a simple bobber (I like the weighted clip on ones) that just stays afloat with the weight of your jig/hook. As far as lures, I like to start with a Fluflu jig in that 1/16 - 1/32oz size, you can tip it with any live bait, or I like to use Gulp minnows 1" or the extruded worms and just break a little piece off. If that doesn't work I would switch over to a 1/32 oz or 1/64 oz pink or black jig head, tipped with the same bait. I se the gulp with the kids because it stays on the hook much better.

For depth look for any branches, logs , wood or weeds the crappies love to hang around brush. All of the fish I caught were in water from 2'- 6", with a pontoon I would look for a calm area and just anchor up and give it a try, fish this time of year if they're spawning you can get right on top of them without spooking them.


Awesome; thanks for the tips!
I'm thinking if we don't get any action in -what-20 minutes or so (?) to pull anchor and move on to the next spot to try?


That would be a good idea to give a spot half an hour. This time of year if we don't get a big cold front the night before they should have the feed bag on.


Yeah I would think that if we aren't getting any hits after half an hour, we're probably either rigged all wrong or just as likely fishing in a spot that has few or no fish.
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BRoth82
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Re: Panfish

Unread postby BRoth82 » Fri May 28, 2021 12:34 pm

KRONIIK wrote:
clandestine.misfit wrote:Weighted bobber over a rat finkee or any ice fishing jig with 2 spikes on it. Get your spikes from the mke area if you’re able too because they won’t have any up there. Cast it out. Hesitate a second. And litterally wiggle the tip of your rod up and down as you’re reeling in and just watch the bobber.

Thanks!
I'll try to find some around home before we head up there, and we'll give it a shot.

Any advice on how to determine the distance to rig the bobber from the bait?


Depends on water depth, but I like to have the bait 6" off the bottom.
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Re: Panfish

Unread postby clandestine.misfit » Fri May 28, 2021 3:06 pm

BRoth82 wrote:
KRONIIK wrote:
clandestine.misfit wrote:Weighted bobber over a rat finkee or any ice fishing jig with 2 spikes on it. Get your spikes from the mke area if you’re able too because they won’t have any up there. Cast it out. Hesitate a second. And litterally wiggle the tip of your rod up and down as you’re reeling in and just watch the bobber.

Thanks!
I'll try to find some around home before we head up there, and we'll give it a shot.

Any advice on how to determine the distance to rig the bobber from the bait?


Depends on water depth, but I like to have the bait 6" off the bottom.

I usually start at about 2’ -3’ from the jig. And go from there. You’ll be able to tell if it’s dragging on the bottom.
Make sure if you use a rat finnke that it sista perpendicular to your line. I just check it after catching one or catching a log or a dock lol
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Re: Panfish

Unread postby clandestine.misfit » Fri May 28, 2021 3:34 pm

KRONIIK wrote:Any of you panfish guys have any very general advice for a (non-fisherman, for the most part), who has a chance next week to get my kids out on pontoon boat on a 100 acre lake in Northern Wisconsin next week?

It's supposed to have decent crappies and bluegills; maybe some bass.
Cabin owner says he expects the bluegill fishing to be starting up pretty decent; not sure but maybe they're staging to spawn?

The lake is 14 feet deep with a sandy/rocky bottom, if that means anything.

Where are you headed to?


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