Best Setup For Panfish

[Dbumb]

Any ideas on pan fish setups, and bait (artificial).

[itchmesir]

bobber.. split shot.. hook.. bait.. tried and true..

[highlife4me]

bobber.. split shot.. hook.. bait.. tried and true..

+1

[harvey lee]

I have caught many on plastics and simply worms or crawlers.

If I am on a new lake or one I do not know very well, then my searching ste up is this.

Crwler harness with a small piece of crawler. Many times, if I use a whole crawler to cover all 3 hooks on the harness, I will get larger gills it seems. Great way to also pick up eyes and about any other fish in the lake. I also use a small split shot to get the bait down a bit. If the fish are deepr towards the bottom, then I simply let more line out. I would say I catch 80% of my gills on the crawler harness from spring to fall almost every season.

I have had many days, maybe 25 this summer where we caught 30-60 fish in a few hours in the am on the harness's. NO, we do not keep all these gills, a meal now and then and the balance are still swimming.

When I hit a spot that the gills are smacking the harness well, then I will continue to troll under 8/10th mph or use a 1/16th oz jig with a piece of plastic tipped with a piece of crawler.

These past years my best bait for jigging has been a Exude pink minnow, very small in size tipped with a piece of crawler. I typically jig and move in a small area as the gills will move a bit.

I use to bobber fish but when I keep moving very slowly, it seems I stay on a better bite for the larger gills. If the gills are way shallow like less than 3fow, then I will bobber fish or cast for them as the boat will simply blow the fish out.

Seems this summer, does not matter what I use for a plastic as they have devoured about anything I have used. I have not found that one plastic brand is any better than the other for gills. Maybe the lakes I fish are that easy so it does not matter.

This past month, I have been doing best from 6-10fow just on the top of a breakline pretty close to shore.A week ago, I had to go off the break on the mud as there must have been a bug hatch and they moved from the shallows to 19-23 fow. Don't forget to check out weed lines along a break also.

Once u locate the gills, I do not know if it really matters what plastic one uses but the color could make the difference from day to day. I try to use brighter colored plastic in stained water as it seems they locate the bait much faster.

[Tom7227]

I'm not sure that the bait matters as much as the movement. It seems to me that if you're going to catch a panfish it is going to happen within about 10 seconds of your bait moving. Either from when you cast it out or when you move it.

[mainbutter]

Small flies. If you can find where the bluegills are and put a fly in front of their face, you will catch fish.

I love fly fishing for bluegills because it lets me downsize my lure, fish using exclusively artificials (no rebaiting!), and get way more distance with something tiny than using ultralight spinning gear, with comparable sized artificials.

[caseymcq]

1/32 or 1/16 oz jig with Berkley PowerBait Micro Nymph. The 1/32 seems to work the best. The bait falls very slowly an the "legs" on the bait flutter just right. It has been a killer combo for crappies and sunnies for me.

The 1/16 works a little better if you have to cast into the wind and also gives a little more distance. It falls a little faster though, which doesn't seem to trigger as many bites.

[silverbulletguy]

Ants from JB Lures.

[Jeremy airjer W]

1/16 or 1/32 oz. unpainted jig

Slip bobber

Split shot - just enough wait to get the bobber really low in the water.

Gulp alive white micro twister tails

[amateurfishing]

lightest styrofoam bobber available with built on weight on bottom

green little nipper

crawler or gulp 3 inch leach

[Jim Uran]

1/32 oz jigged tipped with some sort of plastic! I like the Impulse water bug or the minismelt from Northland Fishing Tackle.

It's an easy combo to fish, and is very productive. You can fish it under a float, or w/o one.

You can also put some meat on the hook, chunk of a worm, or a leech for bluegills. Or a minnow for crappies.

[Chad Peterson]

1/32 oz jigged tipped with some sort of plastic! I like the Impulse water bug or the minismelt from Northland Fishing Tackle.

It's an easy combo to fish, and is very productive. You can fish it under a float, or w/o one.

You can also put some meat on the hook, chunk of a worm, or a leech for bluegills. Or a minnow for crappies.

I will second that. Using the Northland Impulse Plastics have been very good during the summer months and now you want to use the same setup with a waxy or minnow. They will be active now that we are getting into the fall months.

Sniffer

[Eric_Kruger]

Slip bobber, sinker, hair jig/jighead plastic combo 90% of the time im throwing a hair jig

[pushbutton]

Going into fall, similar to Harvey, start putting on a pre made spinner/bead/snell set up made by Eagle Claw(#6) and load it up with meat....thread as much of a crawler you can all the way up the aberdeen hook. like someone else mentioned the movement is deadly and if on fish, the set up will rarely reach the bottom. Can also use it as a search lure on the fall feeding flats by making long casts and flipping it up off the bottom on a slow retrieve...

[KidMoe]

I completely agree with all the baits listed above, but i'd add a 1/64 jig and 1 inch twister tail, color depends on water color.

On a different front, i really prefer a light action rod versus an ultra light action. The extra back bone really helps to cast the light tackle and take up slack if you're bobber fishing.

[Chad Peterson]

I completely agree with all the baits listed above, but i'd add a 1/64 jig and 1 inch twister tail, color depends on water color.

On a different front, i really prefer a light action rod versus an ultra light action. The extra back bone really helps to cast the light tackle and take up slack if you're bobber fishing.

+1 on the light action.

Sniffer

[Jeremy airjer W]

Try this sometime.

1/8 to 1/4 ounce Chartruse jig

3" smelt gulp alive.

Pitch it and do a slow retrieve. I've pulled in some dandy gills, crappies, bass, and pike with this setup in mid and late summer.

[JPmunson]

Thats a prretty big presentation!

[Jeremy airjer W]

I've had 8” gills hit the same jig with a 4" minnow!

[pushbutton]

Not trying to take anything away from the finesse guys, but where I fish, catching small fish is not a problem....actually it kind of is...they will pick away at you all day... while you will decrease in numbers using a larger set up, you will also hook up with larger fish

[Chad Peterson]

Try this sometime.

1/8 to 1/4 ounce Chartruse jig

3" smelt gulp alive.

Pitch it and do a slow retrieve. I've pulled in some dandy gills, crappies, bass, and pike with this setup in mid and late summer.

It is amazing how those sunfish will go after a larger presentation. The other thing is that a larger presentation will keep the smaller fish away.

Sniffer

[Jim Uran]

I like an ultra light! What's funner than reeling in a rod bending 10" bluegill..

[Finlander]

Last week on Osakis the best thing was a 1" Mister Twister white with a Ratso horizontal jig and just hang over the side of the boat and drop it to the bottom and reel up a half foot and slightly jiggle it and they would slam it! Here is my friends 10 incher! Must have caught 200 sunfish with crappies too. Cleaned about 65!

[amateurfishing]

I like an ultra light! What's funner than reeling in a rod bending 10" bluegill..

completely agree...nothing like accidentally hooking a bass on an ultra light, feels like a whale

[OnAFly]

I've caught more big bluegills this summer than any other, and all on a fly rod. Nothing more fun that hot bluegills on a fly.