Metro Area Pannies

Spent some time chasing pannies lately and have been really enjoying this weather! Mid 20’s is tough to beat! The fish are cooperating a little as well, which makes things even better!

All of my fishing has been done in less than 15 feet of water. I prefer chasing the shallow water fish this time of year because they tend to be the more aggressive fish… and I can get away with using larger presentations and fishing faster. 1-inch Gulp! Alive minnows on a 1/32oz CrappieTom jig head have been working very well on both the crappies and gills. Those who want are slamming the bait! The beauty of an offerring like this is that it caters to both the positive and negative fish… finesse can be applied when needed because of the “quiver” tail as I like to call it…

I’ve also spent some time using the smaller realm of jigs… size 10 and 12 jigs saw quite the workout on Sunday. I tipped all of my jigs with Gulp! Waxies (I prefer to thread them on instead of slightly hooking them)… at this point I’m going to durability and smell… just looking to add a little spice to meal! Seems to work great on both crappies and gills when they’re more likely to just stare instead of devour…

Jigs that have produced well for me are Northland Tackle Gill Getters, JR’s Tackle Jalapeno Jigs, Custom Jigs and Spins Gill Pills, Little Atom Optic Stealth Jigs, Lindy Fatboys… just to name a few… all being tipped with artificials… can hostly say I haven’t even brought along live bait yet this winter…

I’ve also noticed that the pods of fish are not size-specific… meaning the “giants” of the lake are roaming (and actively feeding) amongst the “dinks.” Not uncommon to have the brute of the pod fly by the runts to slam the bait… I like this because there is nothing more frustrating than passing on a picture-fish because Mr. Tiny wants a shot at the title

So far I would have to say this winter is shaping up to be a fun one! Ice conditions in the Metro Area are decent and foot traffic is darn near available on every lake… even starting to see a lot of ATV and snowmobiles running around… and with the snow we’re going to get this week I think we’ll see even more!

Here’s a fun shot a gill I picked up this past Sunday…

Like mentioned, tough to beat fishing at 8am without fishing inside a house and not wearing any gloves!

Hopefully every is keeping things safe on the ice and having fun!

Happy Holidays to everyone and good luck out there!

Nice report Matt..

Is there ever a time you do use live bait? Or do you prefer to pick out the bigger fish with a little larger profile bait? I have just started to use more plastics this year. Less fish caught but size does make up for it.

Nice report Matt.

Happy Holidays to you and your family as well.

Thanks for the report, Matt. We could have used some of your tricks out on Pelican last night. Lots of lookers. Few takers.

Merry Christmas!

Nice report Matt. It will be interesting to see what all this snow and rain does to the metro lakes. It was tempting to give it a try today in those 35 degree temps.

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Nice report Matt. It will be interesting to see what all this snow and rain does to the metro lakes. It was tempting to give it a try today in those 35 degree temps.

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It just felt “fishy” all day, didn’t it?

The next week will be interesting as the ice reports start to roll in. Hopefully most lake will be in decent shape.

Dont know how many times I stopped and looked out the window yesterday wondering what it was like out there. Guess we will find out today.

That snow storm put a slight damper on the fishing… the fish were still there but were leery to bite. Had to really focus on the strike and pay close attention to the spring bobber. Also found ourselves downsizing slightly…

With the weather, we moved up shallowed closer to cover and found the school of fish. The basin (where they were before the storm) proved to be barren for the most part. A straggler here and there but they would not stay put and were obviously smaller in numbers… so, to the shallow cover we went…

We found our fish holding in 10-13 feet of water right off the shallow break where the bottom content changed. They were there in thick number but like mentioned they were hesitant to bite. With a steady hand and some patience we sifted through the pods of fish and brought home a nice meal for the relatives

All of our fish came on plastics. Gulp! Alive Waxies worked very well, also took several fish on Little Atom Micro Nuggies. I did the best with size 12 Northland Gill Getters and my bro-in-law hooked up on the Lindy Fatboys and JR’s Tackle Pannie Pill. The Custom Jigs and Spins Ratso took a few fish too.

We had others fishing next to us and they were dunking live minnows without any success. They did scrounge up some fish on maggots and waxies though…

Most of what we caught were sunfish, with a few crappies mixed in. We had the camera down for part of the day and watched A LOT of giant crappies swim through but they wouldn’t touch anything. We only iced a total of 6 crappies in about 5 hours of fishing. One of our groups did head in even shallower and managed a few limits of crappies in short order… so we missed them by just a hundred or so yards… however, the spot where we fished turned on (for crappies) after we left… go figure Fished from 8am-1pm.

Overall it was a fun day on the ice. I got to fish with my bro-in-law who I’ve neved ice fished with before. He caught the biggest sunfish of the day which came in right around 10-inches! It was the biggest sunfish he’s ever caught. He has a picture of it on his camera and I will try and get that.

Otherwise here is an average size fish for the day that I picked up…

We had to work for them but the rewards were there… and the relatives sure enjoyed the fish fry!

Hope everyone is enjoying the Holidays and be safe! Good luck out there!

Did you finhd a lot of slush on the lakes to Matt? It was pretty wet where we went on Saturday. Going to try to get out on Ham this evening for a while.

There were areas with slush, but for the most part it wasn’t bad. We had wheelers running all over without any issues of getting stuck. At least in the North Metro the lakes held just find after the storm. We didn’t make much ice this past week but I don’t believe the snow will hurt things too much. Looks like we’re going to have highs in the teens later this week which should steer us back on track…

Well done Matt-I was lucky enough to get out on Saturday evening-fishing was a bit slow but I did pull in a few descent crappies in the 10-12″ range….so the rain and snow made for a slight bit of hungry runners

All this warm weather is sure spoiling us Not bad fishing outside of the portable without having to worry about your hole or line freezing up…

Most of the fish have moved out onto the basin areas now… this is now the time to “run and gun” unless you still have a weed bite going. Also still finding some fish in the shallows. Staying mobile is the name of the game recently… just have to pick off the roaming fish and stay on the pod…

With that being said, don’t be afraid to upsize a bit and chase down the pannies with jigging spoons and even small swim baits like the Chubby Darter, Lindy Darter and Jiggin Rap… all have their place and time and serve as excellent search lures… I’ve also grown more and more fond of the 1-inch Gulp! Alive Minnow

Hopefully everyone is out chasing some fish and having some fun. Looks like the weather is going to stay decent the rest of the week…

Cold weather is back… good thing we have going though is that the large pods of fish have moved out to the basins. Those fish are typically less affected by cold fronts… just have to be willing to move a little more to find an active pod…

The shallow weed bite still holds true as well, so if you have a good thing going in the shallows then don’t shy away from it. I don’t believe this system is enough to shut it down. One thing to consider is to go with something more natural in appearance and try to beat the fish at their own game… might need to take a walk over the Fly Angler and grab some jigs from their section

I’ve been hearing good things about the deadstick bite right now too. In fact, it seems as if the fish taking the deadsticks are aggressive (maybe that is contradicting itself but let’s play along )… meaning that it’s not a suck-in style bite but rather and smack-and-grab. Might also consider setting the rod on your knee if fish seem hesitant to bite…

Don’t fret though… this cold weather won’t last long… warmer weather is back in the forecast by the end of the weekend

For some real fun tie two flies to a drop shot setup. Can also add a little scent to the flies or tip with euro larvae or a small piece of Gulp. Bead head flies like the Copper John or Prince work well anywhere. Scud imitations work well when fishing weed edges. Since Matt let the cat out of the bag might as well head you guys in the right direction. The two fly rig is legal in MN but as I understand it you must use two flies. No regular ice jigs can be used.

Finally a quick break to post a report…

Spent the last several days out in search of pannies. Had a client come in from Colorado in hopes of landing a monster gill… we fell short on the giant gill but managed some giant crappies… and in good numbers, so we counter-acted just fine

We hit a few different lakes on all parts of the “Metro.” Started off on the west side of town in search of gills on a small, fertile lake surrounded by cattails… the pods of fish were roaming the basin for the most part… punched a lot of holes and chased them down. Most of the schools wouldn’t sit still long enough to pick more than about a half-dozen off at a time. This was a mixed bag… gills from 5-9.5 inches and crappies from 7-10 inches… a lot of numbers and easy fishing to start the 3-day stretch off… didn’t matter what we dropped in front of them, they ate it

Next we moved to the north side of town and found larger fish and spent the rest of our outtings up there. Worked all sorts of spots ranging from 4 to 36 feet. Best fishing was found in 12-24 feet with 15-18 being that magic depth. We focused heavily on mainlake structure. A lot of people stacked up in the community spots but we went through some auger gas (3 tanks in one day) and found our own fish… and they we larger on average too. Breaklines off humps and saddles was the name of the game. Seemed as if the fish were moving horizontally a lot the last couple days… intercept them and you got bit…

Crappies ranged from 8-13.5 inches and some decent numbers in the 11-13 inch range. One of the better average fish outtings I’ve had this winter so far for crappies. The gills were again tough to master but we caught a few in the 8-8.5 inch range. The kicker fish were the perch… some over 11 inches and AGGRESSIVE! Very fun when we got on those.

Here are a couple of the eaters we brought home…

We attacked these fish with all types of presentations… mostly tipped with Gulp! or Gulp! Alive… also caught some fish on Little Atom Micro Nuggies and Maki plastics (had a buddy send me a few and they indeed do work!). Blood red and black seemed to be the two magic colors… but yes, the bright colors worked too on occasion

Overall it was a fun few days. Caught some fish, had a few laughs and enjoyed the company!

Nice fish Matt. Thanks for the Deal on the MarCum LX3TC after the fishing seminar (2-3-2010). Keep up the good work, and thanks for putting on the show, we all enjoy it. Cheers. Kevin

Warmer weather and steady fishing! It’s about time! The shallow weed bite picked up but our lingering basin fish still sat on my mind. The crappies and gills were in both areas… the jumbo, yes I said jumbo perch in the Metro, were found out on the breaks in 16-18 feet. Consistent action for fish in the 9-11.5 inch range (with smaller fish tossed in too of course). Also managed a few walleyes mixed in with the perch.

Shallower flats held a lot of sunfish. Had to really run and gun to stay on the larger fish. If you want numbers then just stay put over a spot were you catch a few and good things will come, but you will definitely have to sort. The big ones are on the move and are somewhat “educated.”

The end of the week brought some wind and colder temps, made for hole hopping a little more difficult. Ended up staying put over a pod of active sunfish working to pick off a few larger fish. Managed some but it was the slower day of the week (Sunday). Saturday was booming with awesome weather and excellent fishing! But again, stay on the move!

Presentations of choice were Northland Tackle Mud Bugs and Gill Getters, Custom Jigs and Spins Gill Pills, JR’s Tackle Pannie Pills (see a trend), Gulp! Alive Fish Fry, Little-Atom Micro Nuggies… the list goes on and on!

Snow has now moved in which could throw a small twist into things, but don’t fret, the best is still yet to come! Good luck out there!

What a day to be on the ice! Definitely puts a smile on your face when you start the truck at 6am and it’s already 15 degrees out

We started the morning in search of a few shallow water crappies in the North Metro Area… and by shallow water I mean less than 5 feet. Objective was to pick off cruising fish while they roamed the dirty water. Managed to land 5 decent fish between 11-12 inches and missed another half-dozen or so. It was a tough bite we got our feet wet for the day. Caught all of the fish on Berkley Gulp! Alive Fish Fry on a Northland Tackle Mud Bug…

Onto lake two… this time it was a deeper bite, in say 12-15 feet. We were targeting sunfish and stumbled acrossed a couple pods but nothing of any size. Punched roughly 25-30 holes over three different spots and realized this is was not the “lake of the day.” The gear went back in the truck and off we went…

The final lake of the day is and has been considered by most to be a “stunted” panfish lake. This lake was closer to home so we figured it would be a good one to end the day at. We started out over the mainlake basin in search of both crappies and sunfish. 19 feet of water and the fish were EVERYWHERE!!! Only problem… the stunted fish were in full force. Now beginning to believe the rumors of this lake being only full of stunted fish. We decided to move up shallower so the Strikemaster Solo got put to work and a barrage of holes took place. We worked our way up into about 8-10 feet of water and found a nice pod of crappies up in the weeds over untouched territory. Biggest was 12.5 inches which took big fish for the day…

We managed a few other fish in the 10-inch range and of course a bunch of dinks mixed in too. Had to hole hop to catch the larger fish and once you caught a fish out of a hole all the runts would show up… so you had one shot at the alpha per hole and that was it. A wierd bite but a lot of fun!

Caught our fish on a variety of presentations… Northland Tackle Mud Bugs and Gill Getters, JR’s Tackle Pannie Pills, Custom Jigs and Spins Ratsos, Berkley Gulp! Alive Waxies and 1-inch Minnows… the list goes on and on…

Moral of the day: Move, move and move some more… even if it means moving to a new lake. Then when you get onto a new lake don’t be afraid to beat it up and hit several different spots. My back and shoulders are sore from punching holes but I found a new pattern on a lake close to home that I know I’ll be spending some more time on

Enjoy the rest of this warm weather and good luck out there!

Went back out early this morning to the “stunted” panfish lake to see if yesterday’s catch was a fluke or not. Punched my first hole around 5:30am and started out over the same area where we caught the better fish yeaterday. Right smack-dab at 9 feet with short weeds on the bottom… very close to shallow water. Didn’t mark a fish for about 15 minutes and then this one came through…

A nice healthy barely under 14-inch crappie. Caught it on a Northland Tackle size 10 Mud Bug in the Woodtick pattern tipped with a Gulp! Alive blood red Fish Fry. Also used a fly reel on a 26-inch Quiverstick set-up. Very finicky fish and I’m a believer that the no-twist from the fly reel helped seal the deal.

This spot is unique because it’s right along the largest cusp on the only major inside turn in the lake. Seems to hold the fish like a brick wall from what I can tell. Dropped the camera down there yesterday and couldn’t notice anything major in terms of structure type or content, so it has to be just an edge thing…

Ended up catching a few others but nothing as big. Left the lake around 7am with a sense of comfort knowing I have a lake close to home that indeed holds some larger fish.

I wrote an article on “Backyard Ice Fishing – Metro Area Lakes” just a few months ago… I guess I decided to listen to myself for once and actually try a lake right in my backyard. How long this bite will last, I don’t know, but I’m sure going to give it a few more tries this week to see if I can stay on them… I’ll keep you posted…

Nice fish Matt. Great report. I was starting to give up on some of those lakes around my house thinking they just had stunted fish in them. Looks like Ill have to give it another try.

So why are those crappies in less than 5′ of water rite now. All I can figure is there must be minnows or bugs in there.

I went back out there again early this morning and landed a couple other nice fish, but nothing as big as yesterday. Managed a couple in the 12-inch range and everything else was small. Caught a lot more fish today, but I’m starting to fear that the dinks are moving in and this bite might be done. Not gonna get a chance to get back out there for a few days. Here’s one from today…

These fish were again very finicky. Small size 10 or 12 jigs tipped with plastic. Gulp! Alive continues to take the cake. The wierd part about today was that the larger fish were below the suspended ones. Both of the 12-inchers came right on the bottom while the ones up high were all under 9-inches. A typical sunfish behavior but transposed onto the crappies during this scene.

Going to try and get out there again later this week. I will report back…

Made it out early this morning and fished from 5-7am. Worked the same area I did last week and managed a couple decent crappies. Largest being just under 13-inches. The bite is finicky but a few aggressive fish slide through from time to time. Tried hole hopping but it seemed as if staying put was the ticket. The biggest fish came on a 1-inch Gulp! Alive minnow in Chart Shad…

Always nice when you get to the lake at 5am and it’s already mid 20’s for temps Should be a great week out there!

Although the warm weather made it comfortable out on the ice, we had to work a little harder to catch our fish. We started the week in the same, shallow-focused areas where we found our fish last week… however, they threw a curveball at us and we found that they slide out on the first break in 10-14 feet of water. The shallow bite still held a few fish, but the schools moved out a ways and the action was more consistent where the school decided to anchor.

We continued to pick fish up on 1-inch Gulp! Alive minnows, as well as Little-Atom Micro Nuggies and other forms of plastics. The plastic bite continues to be the top producer, although we had a few groups out landing fish on Euro larvae. Some crappies teetered into the 12-inch range.

As the week developed we found our fish relocating into the shallows and both the crappies and gills were in full force. The perch also decided to join the party and were more than eager to take the cake. They were the aggressors by far, but it took some sorting to find the larger fish. The gills up in the shallows were of larger size and kept our attention.

The downside of the week was the diminishing ice conditions. The recent warm weather and rain has sure taken its toll on our Metro Area ice. Shorelines and accesses are beginning to really wear down and the days of truck traffic might be over. Please USE EXTREME CAUTION when venturing out on the ice from here on out. Don’t risk it and if need be don’t be afraid to use your legs and just walk out to your spot. Reports of trucks breaking through the ice are beginning to trickle in, so don’t add your name to that list of statistics.

Otherwise the bite this upcoming week should be great, so go out there and get ’em!

The past week sure brought on some changes… can you say bye bye to the ice?!?! Wow did things take a downward spiral in a hurry! Drove out early in the week but found oursleves limited to only foot traffic by the end of the weekend. Shoreline ice is very week on a lot of area lakes, in fact you could launch a boat at some accesses

Outside of the ice conditions, we found some pretty stable and stellar fishing. Air temps were very comfortable and I witnessed several people actually putting on sun-tan lotion to avoid getting burned… not bad considering it’s the beginning of March! The warm weather made it easy to chase down the fish, no excuses at this point!

We focused heavily on the shallow flats and shoreline structure. With all the water running back into the lakes the oxygen levels up next to shore skyrocketed and the fish followed suit. Wasn’t uncommon to be butted up within yards of some shorelines in search of pannies. Found a couple spots in water as shallow as 3 feet and managed some nice gills. However, most fishing was in the 5-12 foot range.

The beauty of late ice (and highly aggressive fish) is the fact that larger plastics begin to play a role. I’m a big fan of using the largest presentation I can get away with and this is the time of year to really hit those fish hard with 2-inch Berkley Power Minnows and “open water” tubes. Get down quick and attack the school before it gets a chance to move on. Don’t want to be re-baiting now.

Overall this past week was a fun one! Shared the ice with some great people and caught a lot of fish! Nothing too huge but a few gills in the mid 9-inch range and a couple crappies around 12-inches… but a lot of fish!

Looking to try and get out a few more times before the ice officially forces us to grab the boats

Be safe out there and good luck the rest of the ice fishing season!

Hey Matt!
Long time no see.
I’ll be hitting a lake up 35E tomorrow, in the boat for the first time this year. I’m pumped!

Picture of my first spring open water crappie.
They just started moving into the shallows.
We also found a school in 16ft.
Most were around 10-11″

Nice fish Ron. What did you find for water temps?

49 on main lake.
53 in one channel.
56 in river.

There was a half way decent bluegill crappie bite saturday afternoon on Minnetonka. We managed a few fish and missed a lot of light bites. Water temps ranged from low to mid 50’s depending on where you were at. I gotta imagine it has been lights out the last two days and that that will continue this week.

dd

I got to spend Friday morning in the boat with my wife (Tara) and son (Jack) in search of some panfish at a local lake. Jack has been dying to get out and chase down some more fish so we were going no matter the weather!

Of course we had to start the day with Jack finding the perfect fishing spot…

And I knew it was only a matter of time until he found it… he basically said “fish here dad” and so we did…

We kept things simple and used pretty much exclusively Berkley Gulp! Alive 1-inch Minnows and Mister Twister Micro Shad. Both seemed to work just fine and the fish were cooperating on about every cast. We focused on the shallows and the fish were thick in there. Water temps hitting the low 70’s and fish of all species were using the shorelines and inside weed lines.

Here’s Jack fighting his first fish of the day…

And the death grip once it flopped off his line…

The PRIZE!!!!……

Jack wasn’t too sure if he wanted to hold the fish in the mouth for the picture, but he loosened up a bit once he watched mom and dad show him how it easy and painless it was.

Later Jack caught the first crappie of the day (all by himself ) and he was eager to hold it for a picture…

It was just one of those days where I couldn’t be happier. Tara and Jack caught fish after fish and Jack sure loves being in the boat! Almost every morning he wakes up he starts talking about “boats, walleyes and crappies” right away, LOL

The warm weather is here now and things are really going to heat up. Stay hydrated out there and good luck for those of you who venture out on the water! Bass opener is this weekend!