Panfishing Tips – Old is New

I don't know where I got this little piece; it's been in my files for a long time. But it has always made me want to put oar locks on a boat and go for some...

Panfishing Tips – The old fashioned way

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 Fishing for panfish has delivered many good times, but more importantly, it has revived memories from my days on the water with my grandfather. He took me fishing as a child often, and he taught me many basic techniques on how to catch panfish.... big bluegills, crappie and perch, to name a few.

Old Fashioned Way
We mostly went to a small lake that didn’t allow gas motors. My grandfather put me in the back of the boat, and he would sit in the center, from which place he ROWED us along.
Yes, I said, "rowed."
In this old-fashioned manner, we made our way around this small lake to locate big panfish.

Grandpa used 2 cane poles as he rowed, one under each leg, and I tossed my little spincast rod-and-reel set. We would slowly troll over weed beds, rocky shoals, drop-offs, around docks, piers and stumps, and any other structure we could find. This simple way of trolling would always locate crappie, perch and big bluegill along with an occasional largemouth bass.

Lessons
What I learned from this type of fishing was patience, and to keep the boat moving until we started catching some nice panfish. 
After we located some fish, my grandfather would gently lower anchor and we would fish this hotspot for a while.
Sometimes we got lucky and stumbled upon a school of crappie or perch; then we'd catch one fish after the other.

Best Lesson
The greatest of the many lessons my gramps taught me was to use different bait combinations while trolling, to discover what they are biting on.

For example, one cane pole might have a nightcrawler, or worm, on a hook, with a float.
The other cane pole may have a minnow rig at a different depth.
Meanwhile, I would be fishing with a jig, like a pinkie or something and bouncing it up and down as we were trolling.

Grandpa would tell me when to raise the jig up a little, or, as we were trolling over deeper water, to let the line out some. Sometimes I would bounce the jig off the bottom of the lake to see if they were deeper, or bring the jig up some to see if they are suspended at a certain depth.

These simple tips helped us catch more crappie, bluegill, perch and bass than you can imagine. We would fill the bait basket that was hanging over the side of the boat by noon almost every time. Not to say that we didn’t have our bad days, but they were far few between.

Utilize these simple panfishing tips and go fishing and enjoy yourself with your children or just a couple of friends. You don’t always need a fancy boat or fancy equipment to have a good relaxing day on the lake or pond near you. We were in a row boat with no electric or gas motor, just a little luck, a hearty breakfast.... and strength to row the boat!