Tag Archives: Panfish

Bass and Panfish Poppin’

Here Fishy Fishy!

Taking advantage of the near 70-degree highs that we experienced on Saturday, the Moose Knuckle crew headed out to a legendary lake in Sussex County. We were expecting to catch a few Sunfish, maybe a Crappie and at best a juvenile Bass. What came to pass was a Panfish Slay Ride not witnessed since early in the fall of last year.

Panfish Slay Ride

The neighbors graciously allowed us to borrow one of the 12-foot Aluminum hull rowboats dry-docked along the shore. We brought our own electric trolling motor, a necessity if you want to fish and not row yourself to exhaustion.

Mark was spin fishing primarily with a two inch Rapala Floater; I of course, commenced throwing my Mohair Leech. We put in around 1:00 PM with blue skies and the bright sun overhead. As one would expect, our shadows spread far and wide, disclosing our approach early to the sluggish fish.

Crappie ferociously swam up from deep below

Besides a few Crappies nailed right at the put in, we messed around for a while attempting to comprehend the underwater ecosystem. Whilst conducting our exploration of the lake, Mark and I landed around ten Sunfish each. Then it dawned on us, fish are cold blooded, the water is chilly and the sun is hot. We motored straight back to the shallow, swampy, and most importantly warm flat-water section of the lake.

Head to the Flats

Here as we navigated the partially submerged stumps and the militant Swan, Mark landed his largest Bass of the year; that is until he caught the next three after that. Myself refusing to admit defeat to the Rapala Floater, switched to a Muddler Minnow. This quick fly change was rewarded with a few more Sunfish. At this point, I was intent on catching one of these Bass I pulled out of my arsenal an old standby, the Black Hale-Bopp Leech.

Chunky Bass landed on a Rapala Floater

Just as I switched flies again, Mark landed another Bass! Consumed, with a feeling of pressure, an intense biological demand to get my fly in the water; I cast out to the shallows as far as my Sage VXP 4 weight rod could go and hooked right into a log.

I attempted to free my hook from the “log” but it started moving back and forth like a tractor through the algae. There was a Bass at the other end of the line! At this point, it should be noted that when a Bass swallows a leech dangled on a 4-weight rod quite a contest arises. After a few minutes, out popped the most haggard Bass I have ever seen. He had a cataract in one eye; the scars of herring attacks on his back and sandpaper like skin. Needless to say a fish is a fish.

Haggard Bass and the Sage VXP

Lessons Learned

Fishing is turning on much earlier than last year. The mild winter, in the majority of the lower 48 states, was lenient on fish. This being said, waters are still not at their optimal range for active feeding activity. Bass and Panfish will be caught in the warmer, shallow and flat areas of a lake or pond. Attempt a retrieve at varied speed, on the fly I found that two six inch strips followed by a short waiting period was triggering a strike. Bass seemed to strike during the active retrieve while the Sunfish attacked when the fly stopped. Do not be afraid to experiment and vary the speed of retrieve.

See all of the pictures here.