2016 Panfishing

[dak109]

Went for a little bit yesterday afternoon. The wife caught a nice bluegill right off the bat. All I had was a little bait stealer stealing my bait. Oh well, it is early in the year yet.

 

[chato]

Has anyone been to Hardy or Deam's recently?

I'd like to take my little 12' tadpole bass tracker out on Saturday to fish for some crappie.

another question is, which lake is better for crappie? Hardy or Deam's?

 

[Michigan Slim]

My wife and daughter brought home 20 crappies today between 9 and 14". Great way to spend Easter together. Happy Easter INGO

 

[hondatech2k2]

I have taken my daughter out twice now to try and catch some bluegill with no luck. She is five and it is exciting for her to go fishing with me, so I am anxious to get her a catch. Anyone have a good spot that I can take a 5 year old to? I am sure once she gets her first fish she will want to go all the time, which is a win for me! I am looking for a place around Johnson County, Morgan/Monroe, Martinsville, etc. Please let me know, or I will keep trying the only spots I am familiar with -driftwood, Atterbury

 

[seedubs1]

I've heard Pisgah lake in Atterbury around the dam in the evening is decent for cats. Maybe try some lighted bobbers there when the sun sets. That's tons of fun for the kids.

You've also got flatrock creek, which is excellent for smallies. You can bet I'll be catching my share this year on the creek.

I've also done well on Monroe in the non-large boat area in my canoe. Caught a really large channel cat there.

I have taken my daughter out twice now to try and catch some bluegill with no luck. She is five and it is exciting for her to go fishing with me, so I am anxious to get her a catch. Anyone have a good spot that I can take a 5 year old to? I am sure once she gets her first fish she will want to go all the time, which is a win for me! I am looking for a place around Johnson County, Morgan/Monroe, Martinsville, etc. Please let me know, or I will keep trying the only spots I am familiar with -driftwood, Atterbury

 

[bwframe]

I've been too busy with other stuff get to the water, (on top of being a wuss about fishing while wearing a coat.) I seen a few boats anchored in usual crappie catching spots over the weekend. Where do you recon we are as far a crappies on the beds?

 

[Hardscrable]

Not yet here in the north. Have not seen any eggs yet.

 

[Michigan Slim]

Quite a few of our crappies had eggs. Not fully developed sacs but they were there. The water temps up here are still ten degrees too cold to spawn. They are up shallow though. Normal. Water is a few ticks warmer and there is food shallow.

 

[mom45]

26 bluegill came home with us today. Spent about 4 hours on the lake and they were biting good today! Some nice sized ones with a few smaller ones mixed in.

 

[bwframe]

Most of the time Yellow Bass are just an annoyance while crappie fishing around here. Most fishermen don't know what they are and refer to them as stripers. During their spawn, sometimes you can lope into larger ones, big enough to justify cleaning. I brought home five decent sized ones along with the crappie targeted. Pretty tasty battered in GoldenDipt Fish and Chips batter.

 

[mkgr22]

I caught over twenty bluegills and eight bass in a farm pond this morning. I kept a dozen 'gills for dinner.

 

[mom45]

Just finished dinner...caught enough today for a meal but we had to work for it! They just weren't biting that good but we finally got enough to eat.

 

[Hardscrable]

Gills numbers & size began diminishing in my area of lake last half of last week. Females that I cleaned this week end are now full of eggs...a little ahead of normal. So apparently they are leaving my area & migrating to spawning areas. A little odd as the water temps in those areas on Saturday are still less than this action would indicate. Have enough fillets in the freezer to last the year, ate fresh gills Friday & Saturday, and have enough in frig for one or two more meals early this week.

Also crappies have basically vanished other than an occasional one. Neighbor and I tried numerous normal crappie 'hot spots' Saturday and did not have a bite.

Not pan fish but large mouth & northern pike activity seems to be 'normal' for this time of year.

 

[bwframe]

Friday was the full moon. That being a late one in April with warmer temps make those gills think it's time to bed. Hopefully the big gills wait 'til next month's full moon.

I caught a dozen pretty nice black crappie towards dusk this evening. I fear the bigger white crappie may be done with their spawn. Their bite seemed to move away from the banks over the weekend. Hoping a little water warming proves me wrong.

It's been very nice catching a handful of fish mostly at will as time permits. Small batches make the processing much less daunting.

Electric fillet knife is fine, I'm anxious to try it on bigger fish (catfish.) I've pretty much moved back to the precision of the 6" Rapala Superflex though. Either way, I cannot speak highly enough of wearing nitrile gloves. I won't grab a knife without them now.

 

[Hardscrable]

Friday was the full moon. That being a late one in April with warmer temps make those gills think it's time to bed. Hopefully the big gills wait 'til next month's full moon.

I caught a dozen pretty nice black crappie towards dusk this evening. I fear the bigger white crappie may be done with their spawn. Their bite seemed to move away from the banks over the weekend. Hoping a little water warming proves me wrong.

It's been very nice catching a handful of fish mostly at will as time permits. Small batches make the processing much less daunting.

Electric fillet knife is fine, I'm anxious to try it on bigger fish (catfish.) I've pretty much moved back to the precision of the 6" Rapala Superflex though. Either way, I cannot speak highly enough of wearing nitrile gloves. I won't grab a knife without them now.

My standard operating procedure for several years...catch as many as possible daily for the fun but only keep a couple dozen at most to clean; use an electric fillet knife; nitrile gloves are a must for cleaning - almost eliminates hand odor following and is immensely valuable to save hands from the normal cuts, slices, etc. that wet hands experience from the process.

Had a good run of " bank fishing" from my yard this year...can't beat it with a stick. Sorry to see it end. Have about 25 lbs. of fillets in freezer that should supply the wife and I for rest of year...30 bags with .75 - 1 lb in each and normally routine is eat 1 bag every couple weeks. Have about 1.5 lbs. of fillets in frig that I cleaned Sunday on the agenda to fix for tonight's meal with left overs for lunch tomorrow.

 

[bwframe]

 

[SteveM4A1]

^^ Those right there are some good eaters

 

[Frosty]

Well bass and bluegills are on the nest around here! I skipped work and pulled the daughter out of school for the day. Man we had a blast trying out a new pond.
My first bluegill on a fly

Couple more nice bluegill


Some bass the daughter and I caught

 

[mom45]

Looks like you guys had a great day, Frosty! Nice!

 

[Frosty]

Looks like you guys had a great day, Frosty! Nice!

Thanks mom, it was a good day!