Spring and spring time panfish fishing is in full swing here in the Midwest. Being that most gamefish are closed this time of year and everyone is anxious to get in their boats, it’s a perfect time of year to chase after some nice panfish. I have been on multiple lakes in the past week, the water temperature is ranging from 48-52 degrees. Last night (4/19/17) my girlfriend and I decided to go on a panfish adventure. The lake that we were on was 52 degrees.
This time of year, I like to start deep and work my way shallow when searching. I go to where I last caught them ice fishing and search in that general area. On the lake I was fishing, the deep basin is roughly 30 feet. There is a nice sharp break up to 4 feet of water. The crappies and bluegills were in 6-9 feet. They are beginning to stage on steep breaks, getting ready to jump up into the shallows to begin searching for a place to spawn.
Being that they were spread out along 6-9 feet of water, I decided to use the Impulse Live Rigged Paddle Minnow. This worked great as a search bait for the crappies, it covered a lot of water and allowed me to find where the schools of crappies were staging. This bait has a great kicking action, even at slower speeds. Good luck out there for spring time panfish.
Austin Williams
Northland Fishing Tackle Pro-Staff
Lakes Area Outdoors