Family Fishing - where are the panfish?

Today while transporting the family around I asked who wanted to go fishing sometime this weekend - THREE little voices in great harmony sang out "Me" - so I guess I get to take everyone out. It gets a little crowded on the boat, but the kids usually have a fun time.

The only thing that keeps their interest is catching panfish. So what should I look for to catch a few panfish these days? I'm in southern Wisconsin, and the water last weekend at one lake was 73 degrees, 80 in the shallow bays. I was thinking of starting in about 10 feet of water off main points in the weeds - but I'm not sure The weed harvesters have been all over in the shallow bays lately - even took out my "honey hole" last weekend. We'll probably just soak some crawlers, but if leeches or minnows are better, I can get some of those too.

So I ask the guys who have been fishing longer than me - what's the winning combination to keep the kiddos interested and catching some fish?

Thanks for any help,

Will

I have still been catching gills on beds as of yesterday (All females were full of eggs)... I would start there first and then hit deeper water just out from the beds. If no takers I would hit docks, structure, and deeper water. I really like using small jigs - 1/80 or 1/100 of an ounce and maybe tip w/waxworms. You can just use waxworms, I just like the fact that fish do not swallow the jigs like they do small hooks sometimes when kids are fishing. Waxworms are less messy than about any other bait and I like the fact that my 5 year old daughter has no problem baiting hooks herself when using them.

1 word - Crickets!!!!!! Get some of them and the panfish will come to you!!

I have been having a lot of luck this year using a modified drop shot rig.

1/4 oz. bell sinker on the bottom and tying a loop about 18" up with a "bluegill bug" (sponge spider type jig) attached to the loop.

Easy to fish in deep water and the constant casting / retrieving beats the monotony of waiting for a bobber to go under.

Our eating sized panfish are on the deep ledges right now. There are always a ton of small ones around the shallow riprap and chunk rock here.

whj812 said:

1 word - Crickets!!!!!! Get some of them and the panfish will come to you!!

Click to expand...

Agreed... however w/ 3 kids fishing the gills can swipe crickets so fast it may become rather frustrating in a hurry.

You guys may think that I am kidding but the rig that I mentioned has been outcatching live bait for us this year at least 4 to 1.

Quackrstackr said:

I have been having a lot of luck this year using a modified drop shot rig.

1/4 oz. bell sinker on the bottom and tying a loop about 18" up with a "bluegill bug" (sponge spider type jig) attached to the loop.

Easy to fish in deep water and the constant casting / retrieving beats the monotony of waiting for a bobber to go under.

Our eating sized panfish are on the deep ledges right now. There are always a ton of small ones around the shallow riprap and chunk rock here.

Click to expand...

never thought about putting that lure on the end... we fish the same setup you do (well, when I was younger) for shell crackers, but we put cut night crawlers on or crickets... that would outfish the bobbers

we also put them on a carolina rig for them and that worked well too as long as it was on the bottom

The shellcrackers definitely prefer that setup but the big bluegill have been wearing it out as well.

So Friday night I purchases some waxworms, crawlers, crickets and some beetle larva. Saturday we tried them on various methods. A few bluegill obliged, but fishing was really slow. The best bait was a yellow head and pink body tiny jig under a bobber. Sometimes tipped with a wax worm, sometimes not. It caught perch and gills. We only found them in 6 feet of water/weeds. Nothing on the main points and nothing on beds. Talked to a few other fishermen and they didn't have many fish either.

So the weather looked too good, so after dropping the family off I tried fishing for bass in the afternoon till dark. Caught a few small ones, more perch, and a pike. Most bass were found in the thick pads in 2 feet of water. I didn't catch any there, but saw two other boats take a couple out. I pulled some from the edges and lost two nice ones right after hookup. Can't beleive I got skunked on a keeper size bass here.

On a good note, I ordered a bait from Build Your Own Baits. It arived a couple days ago and I had to try it out. It was a real fish catcher! I watched two fish go 15-20 feet to take a bite. Unfortunately, I lost the bait :x Now I have to order more.

Thanks for the help,

Will