Fall Panfish!

[Patrick "Bullworm" Olson]

Fall is in full force up here in Northern Minnesota! When the water temps start falling there is only one way to consistently catch good fish, GO DEEP!!! That's right! The bluegills and crappies are starting to school up over there wintering spots. Theses spots are often main lake basins and or mid lake humps that are adjacent to deep water.
When going into the abyss for these deep-water panfish, I up-size my lure offerings. There are a couple of reasons for this. 1. I need to get down to the fish fast. 1/16 and 1/8 oz jigs are as small as I will go. 3/16oz would be the biggest. These jigs are always tipped with 1.75" STBs! Color is all dependent on water clarity. 2. I want the bigger fish of the school! I'm a firm believer in "big lures catch big fish"! An added bonus for using bigger baits, especially darker water, is that the bigger lure profile makes it easier for the fish to find and chomp!
Most of these "abyss panfish" will suspended over the humps and basins. This is is where good electronics plans a big part in success. GSP is also your best friend in this technique. Once you locate a school, drop a waypoint, marking the school. Using your graph, try and stay on top of them. Last step, vertically jig just above the school. Crappies feed in an upward direction so, jigging above them has them in position to strike.
I hope this information helps you out if you are struggling finding and catching fall panfish! Good luck and tightlines! Patrick

[Tony Livingston]

There you go...cold water BG like a bigger bait early in the season, and the added weight lets you get down to em' faster... that's why I enjoy tungsten so much.

[Bruce Condello]

Great read!! Nice work.  This is definitely a "feature" blog!

[Patrick "Bullworm" Olson]

Thanks guys! I love the fall season. No bugs and big fish baby!

[Bruce Tomaselli]

Thanks for the tips. Those are great fish. I can't wait to pull some up through the ice this year. Last year here in PA, we had very little safe ice.

Bruce

[Leo Nguyen]

Excellent article and tips Patrick. Keep feeding us those wonderful photos of catches!