What's working now-Post what's working for you.

[Scott M]

This is always a fun thread everyone can turn to see how to attack the water; to share your experiences and see what's working. Exact locations aren't needed, but developing a pattern of presentation, fish mood given the season or weather, what the fish are relating to, etc. will help us all as we go out on the water for panfish.

Please share "what's working now."

[hector00]

I am just wondering what the best presentation is to use when you have fish always come up for your lure but they look at it and go away. If they took thetime to come up you would think something out there would get them crappies or sunnies to hit.

[OnAFly]

When I'm having difficulty getting fish to bite, I'll go small and more natural looking. Sometimes I'll use fly fishing flies to imitate the invertebrates the fish are feeding on. The bite will be very soft, but they will bite. Sometimes no movement at all is the only thing they will go for.

Also, I'll try changing up how my jig hangs (vertical/horizontal). This can make a difference.

[Nate McVey]

Went out today and gave the Lindy Flyin Rattl'n Flyer spoon a try (not my first choice, but I was forced since I forgot my other tackle boxes ) and was pleasantly surprised. The Silver Shiner pattern tipped with a waxie did the trick and kept me occupied for the few hours I was out. I was set up in 10ft. on the edge of a break and found that jigging it 5-10 times, moving it no more than an inch on each jig, then pausing the motion was the best technique.

Here's one of them:

[Bluegill1510]

Fly's work well as they are a slower presentation that kinda just float slowly down which can trigger fish to bite. But I haven't had much luck with fly's during the ice season and more so during spring in the open water through most of summer and fall. I like to use a small darter or Fiska lure from size 12 to 18 Or I've learned how to tye my own lures and have come up with some winter panfish lures that I created on my own. From about this time of year all the way through late ice and into spring (april,may,even june) I will use these tiny lures then start to work my way up getting bigger. Now I know that is tiny for fishing in deep depths of 20-40 feet, but you can always use a sinker to sink the lure faster or you can tie a small jigging spoon (swedish pimple, forage minnow, buckshot) as an added fish attractant and then tie a 8-12" leader to the spoon and then tie on your desired panfish lure. Just a few simple ideas hopefully it helps ya out. Good luck fishing eh!

[mmclain6101]

Are weed beds the best place to find sunnies this time of year? Is there a way to find weed beds using my vex? if there are weeds in a spot in the summer will there still be weeds there now?

[Fred_Bear]

Found bluegills on a 22' sand flat today. Caught them one after another all day but they were almost all 6". Moved up onto the 16' edge of an inside turn around 4:00 that was barren earlier in the day. The bigger fish started to feed and we picked up 20 eaters for 2 guys and had 4 over 9 1/2.

[mmclain6101]

Cool thanks, I guess we'll just have to search them out.

[magic_minnow]

I've been using the Berkley Power Wigglers. Those things are great! I know they look a little cheezy, but I got it free with a kit that I bought one year and finally got around to using them. I have them on a teardrop jig and a st croix legend setup with the spring bobber. Crappies go crazy for them! I can catch all the 6-8" crappies I want with a few 9+ mixed in. I've been fishing in waters ranging from 10fow to 25fow, weedlines and basins.

[mmclain6101]

magic minnow how do you go about finding weedlines? I have a vex, can I find it useing that?

[OnAFly]

Pop a bunch of hole over a transition from shallow water to deeper water. Look in each hole with the vex and you'll see where the weeds taper off/stop altogether.

Weeds on a vex just look like a bunch of signals above the bottom signal that don't move much if at all. You should be able to see your jig move through them if they are sparse enough.

[magic_minnow]

OnAFly got it. But I cheat and use an undy camera

[OnAFly]

That's not cheating...it more efficient!

[hector00]

What is the best size to use for panfish on the rattl'n spoons? 1/16 oz?

[Nate McVey]

What is the best size to use for panfish on the rattl'n spoons? 1/16 oz?

That's the size I was using last week and will be using this weekend.

[hamms-scooter]

Fat boys produce alot of fish for me. When i down size its to a genz bug the smallest one, and the #16 diamond jig that has a bead on it.With eurolarva i just slam them gills and crappie. Really like the fat boys though show up well on the vex and get down there fast.Plus glow option!

[carpmanjake]

ive been doing well with gulp alive 1" minnows rigged on a small jighead.

also been getting a few on flu flus either tipped with grups, or live minnows

[mainbutter]

Finally found some gills and crappies in shallow.

I probably stuck 50-75 fish in 4 hours, all on the fly. I used just some random nymph (no bead head) pattern for the first 2 hours and some dry flies the second 2 hours. The gills didn't care what I threw at them, the crappies only hit the nymph. Boy it was a blast.

Most fish were tiny, but I got a few that were in the 7-8'' range.

[popriveter]

Monday, I scooped some muck and leaves from the shallows and sorted through it to get some crappie minnows to fish with. All I could find were tiny minnows (maybe 3/4 inch.) I threaded them on a 1/32 oz and fished about a foot below bobber. I was fishing with my father who tried tube jigs, flu flus and waxworms. The threaded minnow outfished the jigs about 2 to 1. The fish weren't large, but we caught a lot of crappies and bluegills. We even caught 4 bass ranging from about 4-8 inches. Real Hogs. Spawners.

[Tator2k]

Ditto on carpmanjake.

1" white gulp alive minnows all day long.

[shizzy]

my lucky "disco jig" chartrusse jig with sparkly hair tipped with a wax worm has beena killer over the last week.

[itchmesir]

Poppers and Nymphs on the fly are producing extraordinarily well for me right meow.. the gills are crazy aggressive towards the poppers.. and so much fun

[Jim Uran]

After the fish have moved off the beds, the emerging weeds near the spawning grounds will be the go to spot with slip bobbers and tossing jigs.

[Jim Uran]

Caught 7 nice slabs mixed in with northerns and a couple walleyes last night just tossing 1/8 oz Lindy Max Gap jigs tipped with a 3" Gulp minnow. Just sling it out there and reel it back slow worked for me, keep the rod tip up high and hold on, they would just smack the jig. Just a little bay no more than 200 yards across absolutely loaded with healthy cabbage.

[ozzie]

leechbait- that has been my method for crappies, sunnies, and walleyes for the last 2.5 years......only I use the 2.5" Gulp Alive in black shad and emerald shiner and I use either 1/32 or 1/16 most of the time but occasionaly will step up to the 1/8 when needed......it is a great fun way to catch fish by letting the bait slowley fall and then have a slow consistant retrieval or just hop it across the bottom.......it is effective in the weeds also all you have to do is give the jig a little rip when you feel one......