Fishing for Panfish

Almost all lakes, streams and ponds in the U.S. are densely populated by different species of Pan fish. Any water body that has good source of crustaceans, minnows, insects, worms etc. is frequented by Panfish. Panfishes are pretty easy to catch and being prolific spawners, the reproduce quickly. The only problem with pan fishes is they are under fished and hence the lakes and ponds are overpopulated by panfishes. This result in smaller size of the panfish as the food source becomes scarce.

Things to know about Pan fish

Fly fishing for pan fish is a excellent past time. They rise quite easily to catch the dry fly or take to most flies given to them at the depths of the water. Thus fishing for the pan fish can be a great opportunity for a beginner to learn fishing skills or for avid fishers to master the technique of fly fishing.

One of the most common types of pan fish commonly fished is the Bluegill and the other is the crappie. Bluegills are also referred to as yellow perch, red-breasted bream, sunfish, long-eared sunfish, red-spotted sunfish and even white bass (these are normally cross breeds). Bluegills normally flutter around in schools and gather around their natural food. These fishes can be found from the surface of the lake to a depth of 35 feet in the lake depending on weather and time of day. Bluegills normally spend their active time at depths of one to ten feet.

Equipment

A long rod of 6 feet with light action should be perfect. Many anglers do prefer rods with really fast action with most of the flex being in the first to third quarter of the rod. But these rods can be very sensitive and need to be handled carefully. .As for the reel, open-faced spinning type of 4 to 6 pound test would be a good choice. However the probabilities of catching other large fishes when fishing for pan fishes is quite high and hence your equipment should be ready for that too. Hence choose a rod and reel that can be used for bigger catches of 8 to 10 lbs.

Panfish normally take to any lures quite easily. For better fish catching potential, a three inch curly-tail grub on jighead made of soft plastic can replace the natural bait. These baits will attract the pan fish like crappie and sunfish and small channel catfish too. If you are aiming only for pan fish try the ultra-light crankbait - imitations of the small crawdad. A combination of natural colored and bright colored ones will be interesting. Natural colored lures can be used in clear water lakes and the bright colored ones can be used in stained and murky waters.

Places to fish

Fishing near woody structures can give you a good-sized catch. Pan fishes love wood and tend to accumulate in these areas. The other good areas would be shoreline "elbows" - which is created by the joining points of the shoreline. There is normally a good growth of weeds and brush pile in these areas where the pan fish will come to feed regularly.