FISHING FOR PANFISH

(Fishing for Panfish by Bob Phillips, first appeared in Lake Champlain Weekly in June 2010)
   If in your travels for fishing, you hit a place that just doesn’t have the game species you are searching for or those particular fish just aren’t hitting that day, you often find panfish in the area. These smaller game fish are both good fishing and good table fare but you have to find them in abundance and large enough to give you a good fight on light tackle.
   Many fisherman look down on this class of game fish, particularly the bluegill, sunfish or perch because they just don’t get all that big in most waters. Small six inch perch often become a nuisance very quickly when you are trying to catch something a bit more substantial. However, when you find perch or bluegills in the three quarter pound range and higher, then the fun begins. Not only do you have some good fishing fun but there is enough substance to fillet and have a delicious fish fry.
   Such is the case when I head south to visit my son and his family. We often go fishing and since it is in between seasons, the opener for trout and the opener for bass, we go fishing for panfish. This past week we had a great time fishing for bluegills on a couple of small Pennsylvania lakes. We caught a couple of bass as well and released them since the bass opener was still a few days away.
   We had an ideal setup for our fishing of the first lake. Two small boats with electric trolling motors to propel us around the lake. We fished night crawlers suspended about eighteen inches below a bobber. My son had an ultra light outfit and I was using a light rod with a super sensitive tip and open faced reel. My grandson and granddaughter both had regular six foot rods with Zebco 202 reels. Nothing complicated and yet more than sufficient for this kind of fishing.
    Immediately we started catching fish. This day, my granddaughter was the one catching the most. We had a great time boating one after another of bluegills and sunfish. Using my digital fish scale, we picked out the largest of the fish and weighed them in at eleven and twelve ounces. That’s not bad when a small panfish weighs three quarter of a pound. I have caught perch that weigh in at just over a pound, but that is rare on most of our waters.
   The fun begins once the hook is set and those large bluegills turn sideway to the line resistance. Those big slab sided profiles can resist a lot of water and it feels like your have a much larger fish on that light tackle. In some locales the record bluegills have been known to get up into the 2, 3 and close to 4 pound range. Here in our northern climates, however, the cold and short growing seasons do not produce such large panfish.
   The second lake we fished the next day was all shoreline fishing. We started out fishing with bobbers but I soon found that the wind was keeping the fish closer to bottom. We switched rigs and put on a dropped sinker and suspended our bait about a foot from the bottom. We started catching the occasional bluegill and perch. Nothing like the day before where we took home about three dozen bluegills for a fish fry. But there was still enough excitement to have fun fishing those worthy opponents.
   Not only can you have fun with light and ultra light tackle, but I noticed a couple fishermen were using fly rods and tackle. These large panfish must really put on a good fight on a fly rod.
   If you plan to have a fish fry, you want to fillet the fish as quickly as possible. These large bluegills made about three pounds of fillets. We dusted them in seasoned flour and fried them to a crisp golden brown. Served with white rice and vegetables, we had an excellent meal.
   When next you go afield and astream and you can’t find your favorite game fish, give panfishing a try. Even if you only catch and release, it just might salvage a day of fishing.