My case for pursing panfish over others

[Johnny]

I spent yesterday afternoon fishing a small lake for panfish with just a rowboat, some worms and an ultra light combo. I had a great time.

To each his own, but I have more fun catching small-ish bluegills than salmon or steelhead in the nearby river - a lot more fun. I've done both. While it's a lot of fun to land a big-ass fish, I don't have the patience (or skill) to pursue the big ones. And more often than not, I get skunked when going after anything larger than a bluegill.

With panfish, they're always hungry. They don't care about you making noise. They're very forgiving of bad technique, poor bait placement, time of day or sloppy casting. When you fish for panfish on a hot summer day it's literally non-stop action.

The other nice thing about panfish (at least around here) is that other anglers turn their noses up at them, opting to pursue trout, bass, pike and salmon. As a result, you are left with entire lakes and ponds choked with bluegills and perch. Nobody wants them and nobody wants to fish a lake that has nothing to offer but small stuff.

[4thIDvet]

Frigging A panfish are excellent eating.
Hell panfishing is huge here in Fla.. People come from all over to fish for them. It goes from Crappie season right to panfish. Bass 'when I can catch em' and catfish.
I have hundreds of panfish off my dock I have been feeding for years. Neighborhood kids come over and catch them but I can't kill them I just feed them.
Then I go to the store and buy fish.

[Johnny]

Originally Posted by 4thIDvet

Frigging A panfish are excellent eating.
Hell panfishing is huge here in Fla.. People come from all over to fish for them. It goes from Crappie season right to panfish. Bass 'when I can catch em' and catfish.
I have hundreds of panfish off my dock I have been feeding for years. Neighborhood kids come over and catch them but I can't kill them I just feed them.
Then I go to the store and buy fish.

Great to hear I'm not the only one!

That's very nice of you to let kids fish off your dock.

Most of the time I either throw the fish back or take them home and put them in our pond. Blue herons and kingfisher birds have pretty much decimated our pond's fish population. I don't often clean and eat panfish, but when I do, they're very good.

[baboon]

The local fishing report were I live
Aug 16, 2023
GOOD. Water clear; 89-94 degrees; 2.17 feet below pool. Crappie are suspended on offshore brush, standing timber, power lines in 10-16 feet of water using minnows. White bass are in 7-15 feet of water using silver jigging spoons, or at night on docks in 7 feet or less using in-line spinners and crankbaits. Catfish are good on points and humps in 10-18 feet of water using cutbait and minnows. Largemouth bass are good in 4-14 feet of water on docks and offshore brush and standing timber with crankbaits, Carolina rigs, spinnerbaits and Texas rigs.

[MrKalashnikov]

I used to fish for bluegills in the creek that ran by my parents house when I was a kid. Sunfish and crappies, too. I also would catch crayfish using one of my mom's kitchen strainers.

Never tried eating any of them though, it was all catch & release.

[Sanders]

When I was a kid, there was a stock pond on a spring in the desert that was stocked with bluegill. None of them were much bigger than a silver dollar, but they were fun to catch. You didn't even have to bait your hook. A shiny brass hook was all it took for them to bite. We'd just catch them then release. They were too small to eat.

Then some mexicans found out about it and fished it out in a matter of a couple weeks.

[GARANDNUT]

Originally Posted by Johnny

I spent yesterday afternoon fishing a small lake for panfish with just a rowboat, some worms and an ultra light combo. I had a great time.

To each his own, but I have more fun catching small-ish bluegills than salmon or steelhead in the nearby river - a lot more fun. I've done both. While it's a lot of fun to land a big-ass fish, I don't have the patience (or skill) to pursue the big ones. And more often than not, I get skunked when going after anything larger than a bluegill.

With panfish, they're always hungry. They don't care about you making noise. They're very forgiving of bad technique, poor bait placement, time of day or sloppy casting. When you fish for panfish on a hot summer day it's literally non-stop action.

The other nice thing about panfish (at least around here) is that other anglers turn their noses up at them, opting to pursue trout, bass, pike and salmon. As a result, you are left with entire lakes and ponds choked with bluegills and perch. Nobody wants them and nobody wants to fish a lake that has nothing to offer but small stuff.

I love catching panfish. I agree with you that targeting monster fish is boring and frustrating 99% of the time.

Panfish are really fun to catch on a 5wt fly rod. When they will not bite anything else they will take a small surface popper, dry fly, or best of all a red wiggly worm with a gold bead. You do not even need to cast just overhand flip under brush or near the bank in the rip rap. The best thing is even a small fish feels huge on a light fly rod. I also prefer small fish when surf fishing. Me and the boys went deep sea fish last spring a caught a huge number of fish. We also caught a 300lb bull shark--that was no fun. Three hours of passing the rod off fight that monster was just too much work for the reward. My sons had a blast though.

[JD Miller]

We used to fish in the rock quarry pit lakes long the river at the concrete sand and gravel pits.... lots of bluegill and bass... Bluegill are easy and fun to catch

[Johnny]

Originally Posted by GARANDNUT

I love catching panfish. I agree with you that targeting monster fish is boring and frustrating 99% of the time.

Panfish are really fun to catch on a 5wt fly rod. When they will not bite anything else they will take a small surface popper, dry fly, or best of all a red wiggly worm with a gold bead. You do not even need to cast just overhand flip under brush or near the bank in the rip rap. The best thing is even a small fish feels huge on a light fly rod. I also prefer small fish when surf fishing. Me and the boys went deep sea fish last spring a caught a huge number of fish. We also caught a 300lb bull shark--that was no fun. Three hours of passing the rod off fight that monster was just too much work for the reward. My sons had a blast though.

Agreed. I ain't gonna lie. I do LOVE catching a big-ass channel cat or smallmouth bass. But... That takes lots of time. Time I don't have. I have just as much fun landing bluegills and perch.