Panfish

Summer brings long days and ample opportunity to fish 7 days a week, and one of the most popular species in the upper Midwest is bluegill. They are not tough to find and catch in numbers, but the big ones seem to disappear. Where do they go, and how does one catch them?

By Dan Johnson

Supple, scented soft plastics designed for ice-fishing catch fish all year long.

Many Northern panfish anglers fish supple plastic softbaits through the ice during winter.

Tip: Shop panfish lures at basspro.com

Early in the spring, anglers often catch perch in shallow water less than 10 feet deep.

However, as spring turns into summer, the shallow-water action for these little panfish tapers off. In order to continue enjoying the fun action and tasty meals perch offer, it’s time to change fishing locations.

When the water starts to warm up, perch will head for deeper water areas, in the 20 to 25 foot range. The best deeper-water areas include ledges, drop-offs and deep holes, especially those with muddy bottoms. Perch will also move to deep-water areas with rocky bottoms.

Worms, crickets, and other live bait will always catch bluegill, but if you want to catch more bluegill, switch to jigs.

For pure fishing fun, it’s hard to top scrappy bluegills. At a young age, many of us discovered the thrill of having them pull our bobber into the depths.  More experienced anglers may begin to curse the tell-tale tap of a ‘gill on a bass lure, but it’s only because we’ve forgotten just how much fun—and delicious—catching a stinger of these feisty panfish can be.

While there is a time and place for slow presentations for panfish, I'm here to tell you that fishing fast is a great way to catch more and bigger sunfish, crappie and yellow perch.

Every now and then I get the urge to catch a mess of panfish for a fish fry. Where I live that generally means rock bass, which are in abundance. In fact, they’re common enough to be considered a nuisance fish on most lakes around here.

Outdoor types consider bluegill fishing as American as apple pie and baseball. Many anglers had their passion fired by first catching the ubiquitous bluegill, the most striking member of the sunfish family. Bluegill are plentiful, fun to catch and amazing on the dinner plate. Follow these steps to start your passion for bluegill fishing.
 

No fish are more appealing to go after on a hot summer day than panfish. Unlike bass, trout and stripers, which can sometimes be difficult to catch, species like crappies, bluegills and white bass are almost always willing to nab a lure, bait or fly.

Right now the perch fishing is heating up in Idaho. They're a great eating fish, third only to walleye and crappie.