What are the best ways to fish panfish in the summer?

I am going to Widow lake in Hackensack July 7-10 and I was just wondering what are some techniques to fish sunny and crappie in the summer? What are the best times to fish them?

I’m more into crappie than sunfish, so if I were targeting them on a lake new to me at that time of year. I would look for them suspended in fairly deep water. I’d start by looking for 18′-25′ of water within short distance of cover, ie weed edge.

I’d start by slow trolling a 2″ twister tail or a very small (panfish sized) rapala along that weed edge but stay out of the weeds into that deep water. Run a 100′ or so and if you get bit, mark it on your GPS. Then start throwing jigs and twister tails around that spot. Or other panfish jigs. My go to twister tails are pearl and chartreuse/fleck. I don’t even try others. If you don’t get bit in 100′, try another area or depth or lure.

To find out how deep you need to fish, drop the jig over the side of the boat and let it go until you can’t see it. Lift up the line to see how deep that is. That’s the minimum depth you’ll need to let your jig sink for crappies.

The people that showed me this technique have completely changed how I target crappies. This is a no structure, throw the lure out in any direction method. But there’s a little madness to it!

Have fun.

ET

That sounds interesting……..I may have to try that…….if I ever get out fishing again! Bummer of a summer!

When fishing this wide open structure less water I like to play a fish for a while after connecting. It seems that the activity of one sunfish will draw others from quite a distance to see what is happening…why the commotion. Its almost like a signal for the others to feed. Yes there are days this won’t happen but about 50% of the time this little ploy will pay off.

My recommendation for gills would be small leeches under a slip bobber fished on deep weed edges.

James Holst wrote:

My recommendation for gills would be small leeches under a slip bobber fished on deep weed edges.

I’ll second this. You pickup a lot bigger pan-fish this way. If you’re after numbers get some wax worms, a little hook, mono, and a 1/4oz weight near docks. The bluegill bite has been ridiculously good this year.. Been catching a few crappies on a 1/16 oz beetle jig, a 1/4oz splitshot, and a minnow on the wing dams/weed lines.

The best summer panfish action for me has usually been around reed beds and sunken island type structures that have those pencil-thin reeds.

It’s almost always slip-bobber territory and up to 20 feet down. Bait varies so it helps to have a couple of people fishing together to dial it in quicker. One time near Brainerd we fished for a few hours getting nice fish but only occasional bites until my dad changed to a crappie minnow and set his stop about 5-7 feet deeper to about 18-20 feet where most of us were in the 8-12 foot range.

It was lights out from there, we were just a few feet too shallow before that. It was wild, but maddening at the same time because it took so long to get the slip rig down to them even with split shot and then it still took a while for that minnow to swim around and catch a big boy’s attention. I think that was the best I’ve ever done as far as average size for panfish. Unfortunately the bite ended every night at dusk. They moved out and it was game over.

Grouse

My favorite way to fish panfish in summer is with a spinner rig. I use a spinner like you would use with walleyes, only use smaller # 6 hooks. Tip with a chunk of crawler for gills or crappie minnow for crappies. Works great for finding them and then once you are on them, you can bobber or pitch a jig.

If it were me I would recommend slow trolling beetle spins on the inside cuts of weed edges at about .7 miles per hour for crappies. I hug the weed edge and don’t really cast that far behind the boat. 1/16th oz this time of year. I used this in Nw Wisconsin for years and hit lakes by Brainerd, Grand Rapids, Rainy lake, and even Leech last year middle of the day. I hope this helps.

Lucas Lagoon wrote:

I am going to Widow lake in Hackensack July 7-10 and I was just wondering what are some techniques to fish sunny and crappie in the summer? What are the best times to fish them?

@lagoon

How did your trip go?