Fishing for Panfish

Fishing for panfish is, without doubt, the most popular angling sport in America.

To be sure, the way the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service categorizes things, there’s an appearance that other fish are sought more. For instance, there are, not counting the Great Lakes, about 11-million bass fishermen, compared to just under eight million anglers fishing for panfish. However, the F&WS counts crappie---which are universally thought of as panfish---in a separate grouping. Add the roughly seven million serious anglers who go crappie fishing and you wind up with nearly 15-million panfishermen.

All of which raises a basic question: What, exactly, is a panfish?

Traditionally, the term comes from the fact most species in this category are small; small enough to easily fit in a pan. But, when you start looking at sauger running more than three pounds, and crappie in the 16-inch range, and jumbo perch stretching a foot and a half long, you’re really pushing that concept.

A more useful definition would be that panfish are those species, excluding catfish, which are fished for primarily for food, rather than for sport alone. Among the fishes included would be bluegill, shellcrackers, and other sunfishes; rock bass; crappie; white and yellow bass; sauger; yellow perch; and even walleye. Some anglers include Kentucky spotted bass in this category as well.

This isn’t to say fishing for panfish can’t be sporty. Any of these fish, taken on light tackle, can give a good showing for itself. Try a bluegill on a lightweight fly outfit, for instance, and you’ll have just as much fight as if it were a smallmouth bass on heavier gear. And even a larger crappie, on bass fishing gear, let’s you know he isn’t happy about things.

Most of us first catch the angling bug fishing for panfish. I was no different. I well remember my first fish; a bluegill that must have stretched all of three inches. We were summering in the mountains, and I wanted to go fishing like the older guys. I was all of seven at the time.

Dad cut a sapling for me to use as a pole, and wound a bunch of heavy sewing thread around the tip. That, along with a small hook, a split shot, and a cork bobber, was my whole rig.

Baiting with a cricket I caught under an old board, I practically wore out that cork staring at it. When it quivered, and then sank as a fish jerked on it I jerked back. The biologists might think it was a bluegill, but it was a flying fish that day.

While it was the bluegill that took the bait, I’m the one who was hooked. And have been fishing ever since.

That’s another aspect of fishing for panfish that makes them appealing. You don’t need sophisticated (read “expensive”) tackle. If we could amass the numbers it wouldn’t surprise me to find that as many panfish are still caught with cane poles as with all other tackle combined. But, by the same token, if you choose to use your top-end flyrod, or to invest in specialized crappie rods and reels, there’s nobody going to say thee nay.

Not all fishing for panfish entails drowning a worm or other live bait beneath a bobber. Many panfish are minnow eaters, and will take an artificial bait as readily as any gamefish. Try casting a twisty tail grub in the tailraces for sauger, for example, or throw a weighted spinner to white bass on their spring spawning runs, or toss a small vibrating bait on a crappie lake, and you’ll need to learn as much about technique as any bass or musky fisherman.

Making them even more appealing is the fact that panfish are always available. Many a day you can come home skunked after fishing for the more glamorous sportfish. But nobody who spends the day panfish fishing comes up empty. Maybe they won’t all be keeper size. But you’re sure to catch something. What’s more, panfish are available anytime of the year. You can catch them in the summer, when temperatures are balmy. Or you can do equally well fishing through a hole in the ice when the cold winds are howling. Your choice.

You can also make it as simple or as complex as you like. Maybe you just want to spend some quality time with the kids. Get a couple of rods and reels, some terminal tackle, and a cup of waxworms, crickets, or redworms, and you’re in business. On the other hand, you can get all grown up and sophisticated, with fancy gear and secret presentations. The sheer diversity of panfish species, and how they live their lives, assures you can use any level of fishing skill that suits your fancy.

I live near a lake that’s considered the best bluegill water in my state. That’s not just my opinion. The fish and wildlife boys say the same thing. It consistently yields big catches of bluegill in the 8-11 inch range---which are nice ‘gills on anybody’s stringer. Side by side you can see anglers just staring at a bobber, on one hand, and, on the other, fishermen arguing about why this rod or that is better, and which is the best bait, and how to present it, as if they were after trophy sportfish. Both groups, when all is said and done, average the same numbers and sizes of fish.

The difference between fishing for panfish and sport fishing, however, comes at the end of the day. The sportfisherman has had a great time in the outdoors. The panfisherman has had all those same intangibles provided by any outdoor recreation. But he or she will bring home supper as well.