Favorite Kind of Panfish?

What are your favorite kinds of panfish and why?

Crappie
White Bass
Yellow Perch
Rock Bass
Bluegills
Redear Sunfish
Pumpkinseeds
Redbreast Sunfish
Warmouth
Green Sunfish
Longear Sunfish
Other

Youg guy’s are going to spoil us. I have had some real good luck in the early spring high water for crappies. Some up to 13-14 inches long, nice slabs in the fryer. So I would have to say the crappies. That and walleye’s is about the only fish I eat. Hope to hear about some good areas to get some good size crappies.

Life’s to short to fish with dead minnows! Jim

Thanks guys; it is great having a panfish board. Sunfish are my favorite. There firm and great eating. As an aside the sunfishing was great last year. I generally fish pool 5A and it seemed they were all over the river. This year hgas been a bit slow, especially with the heat and risi ng water of the past few weeks.

I would have to say I have 3 favorites. Love catching nice size crappies and the river does produce some big crappies. I also love to cast spinners for white bass. They hit your lure so hard and put up a great fight. My third favorite would be slip bobbering for bluegills . My oldest grandaughter just loves the non stop action that the bluegill can deliver. It is a great little fish to turn kids on to fishing with. And do they ever fight on ultra light tackle. Panfish seem to bring out the “little kid” in each of us. After all, who doesn’t like non stop fishing action with a fish who will fight his best.

I’d have to side up with the white bass for the action but for eating…………..I think the perch is being overlooked! Those buggers are some of the tastiest critters you’ll ever lock a jaw on! Not knockin’ crappies or gills, but if you’re havin’ a fry, you’ve got to have them on the list!

Any panfish on ultralight equipment is a blast but even more so when the surprise bass, walleye, or pike come along! Had that happen just a couple of weeks ago………………surrrrrre makes things interesting when you know it’s pretty much fish vs. drag setting!!!

Whities are the biggest fighters though.

And I thought you would say Sheepie. I’ll go with perch for eating but those Red Lake Crappies were mighty fun to catch and darn good in the fry pan.

Crappies make me drool. Can’t beat the flavor and they can get pretty big, too. And the river is full of them. Bluegills are a blast to catch but I have problems finding size anymore. I know they’re in the river somewhere, though.

Nahh………..I save the sheepie influence for the walleye forums! LOL! Juggs, I tend to agree that finding decent size gills seems to be a challenge. If I come across anything, I’ll be sure to look you up and share the info!

Any fish in the pan is great to me ! But jumbo (yellow) perch has to be my favorite ! Dipped in egg white, rolled in corn meal, fried in butter flavor Crisco, in a cast iron frying pan, over an open fire. Good God man, it dosen’t get any better than that !!!! Gotta Go———-> I’m hungry !

Ruchard (Smitty)

Keep a tight line !!!

Favorite for eating?Perch,with sunfish a close second.Favorite for catching?Big ‘gills through the ice hands down.Mike

It’s hard to beat the mental picture of a 12″ crappie coming over the side of the boat.

For eating, Pearch…with Gills / Sunnies a close second.I find their flesh much firmer than a large Crappie.For catching…Jumbo river crappies,with Jumbo river pearch a close second..Unless I have the kids with me then its sunnies and gills…just for the sheer numbers they can catch!!!!

The first couple years that we fished pool 4 we fished mostly for crappies, with most folks fishing walleyes it wasn’t too crowded in our spots. As far as favorites go, river crappies are my favorite panfish till hard water season then it’s bluegills all winter. YUM YUM!!!…………..B

I like big Bluegills, but are hard to find. my biggest was 17 ounces measured at a grocery store many years ago, very difficult to bring in on ultralt. the best numbers consistently was in an Indiana pond I used to take my young dauther to before we moved up here. the average there was 10 oz to 14 oz. awefully fun. Jack.

I love icing anyone of the Gills in the Gill family…

But what I’d love to see is a good perch population down around my neck of the woods.

I have lots of good memories of icing perch on Leech Lake and Mille Lacs…

Tasty !!!

ec

Hey EC, you stirred a memory in me!! I remember catching perch just above the dam(#9), on the IA. side. I think we called it maple something or other, can’t rember the name of the spot for sure but it was a narrow ice and snow covered road to get there. Ring any bells with any of the pool 9 and 10 guys?

Okay, my head is clearing a little now, I think the name of the spot for perch on the ice was Red Oak something, not maple. Foggy head see wrong tree!!!!!LOL

Hey big B. I thought that place was called shady maples, but maybe red oak is right. Last year Lawrence Lake above browns was producing a few perch. Last fall I also caught some perch up in mud hen, & a couple in duck lake. I’ve been letting them go for future seed. { John }

Shady Maple is on pool 8 just off Hwy 35 about a mile south of Goose Island and a short distance north of Stoddard and it is a very popular panfish spot in the ice season and open water season. Ive caught alot of nice fish there over the years but I have no idea what kind of shape it is in now as it seemed to change alot from year to year. One year it was so over run with weeds all you could do was slop fish in the summer but the northerns were so big in their it was a riot. The blue gills always used used to spawn in their really thick. You could walk right up to them and see them on the beds from shore. I caught a 15 inch crappie in there one spring.