Looking for crankbaits for panfish.
Zero experience. I currently use trout magnets, Mule Fishing soft plastics etc.
Want to expand my horizons.
Suggestions welcomed.
Edit: Thanks to all who responded. I am now armed with a great list.
TIL I learned there was a sinking braid line.
For me it seems to be a very useful line to minimize the wind blowing my line around and making a direct connection to my lure while floating braid gets a big bow.
The floating line needs to be reeled in a fair amount before I feel I am feeling the lure. The other thing is that the floating line slows the drop of the lure.
What are people’s thoughts on this?
Tried out a fly setup in my spinning rod. Got some nibbles but switched to a trout magnet and a small black plastic I forget the name of.
Still fun.
I was wondering if I can swap one spool into another reel model from the same brand?
Thinking about putting a shallow spool on a reel that had a deep spool.
Lots of different sunfish in these waters. What did I get?
Discovered the “Bite Time” feature in Fishbrain. Also a similar feature in my trial of Fishbox.
Said this morning would be good so I went to a highly pressured pier where I have been skunked on my last four visits.
Caught four fish in one hour. Fishing for panfish and caught a perch, bluegill, rock bass and green sunfish. Everyone was out to play it seemed.
I also verified that the dangly tail from IFish truly works.
Started with a trout magnet. Caught one fish and had a few nibbles. Put on the dangly tail and got hit hard and frequently landing three.
I have been catching perch on Trout Magnets with a lot of success.
I wanted to see what else would work so I tied on this fly on my UL spinning kit.
Worked well.
Went to a spot I have had luck before. I am working on being disciplined in trying a limited set of baits on every outing.
I was getting zero hits on anything. Texas rigged Senko, wacky rig, swim bait, fluke. Then I decided to throw the small urchin I got on a whim.
Bam. Hit right away.
Not an impressive fish but still had some fight in him.
The lesson learned was he turned his nose up at everything except the urchin.
However, after that it was like he told everyone to stay away from that funny looking fuzzball.
No more interest.
Switched to a Black Fury inline spinner and got a hit but missed the strike and that was the end of my day.
I use spinning gear and have only fair success with placing my lure where intended. I have gotten better with practice but see more experienced anglers casting a lure to very tight locations with a spinning rod.
I hear a lot of folks praising the accuracy of a bait caster and wonder if it is clearly wiser to cast accurately with a bait caster assuming doing the practice.
What are others seeing?
Edit: Thanks for all the responses. I will be practicing a lot this year.
Skunk days are usually classified by me as “casting practice”.
By general consensus nightcrawlers are crack for a lot of fish.
My question is why?
They are not an aquatic species so it seems the fish would encounter them only occasionally.
Insects seem to be the obvious bait as it seems those would drop into the water more frequently.
I am asking the collective knowledge of the Redditsphere for insight into this.
21” American Shad. (Earlier misidentified as Pikeminnow)
Shimano Sensilite with 6lb braid and 4 lb flouro leader.
She hit it hard and leaped a couple of times and tried to get into the brush.
Was able to land her and release safely.
Edit
Apparently should have kept it as they are invasive.
Found this at my local fly shop. Thought it would be good for panfish.
I was not wrong.
Needed a tiny split shot to get a bit of distance but was very popular with the fish.
Is it OK to rig up a soft plastic like a Senko or Ned rig the night before I go out or is it better to keep them in their packaging until you need them?
Additionally, would it be OK to just leave your rod rigged up with a soft plastic in your truck in case of emergency fishing?
I have been fishing this canal a few times and all I get are Rock Bass. Not complaining as it is still fun.
What I have noticed is that when I release them, they zip right into holes in the rocks.
It reminded me of ground squirrels popping in and out of rocks to grab a bite to eat.
Made me think they occupy that same niche but in an aquatic zone.
Meanwhile LMB and pike occupy the coyote niche.
Edit: I fish only UL and these are mad fun to catch and as others have noted, they are the sure fire skunk solution.
I need to check the motor controller. The mower blade will not start but the wheel drive does.
Exactly zero diagrams or schematics on the web for how to access the controller.
I know it is under the gray panel that also holds the battery, but there are three screws to remove (which I did) two tabs that clip in at the front which are seemingly impossible to undo and I think, two tiny screws in the small holes toward the back which seem to require a looooong thin torx of either 20 or 15.
Anybody have advice on this?
TIA
Every time I swear that I will bring only a minimal amount of stuff, I rig up four rods with different setups and bring a backpack full of stuff “ in case”.
I do this because where I regularly fish we have like five species from LMB, SMB to a range of panfish, trout and a couple of others.
I am just really trying to avoid the skunk but I know my indecisive approach makes that more likely.
Not looking for answers, just sighing out loud.
The OGs of the spinner world are Mepps and Rooster Tails. They are also a bit pricey and it stings when you lose one.
I see a lot of inexpensive spinners online and was wondering if anyone has experience with them.
As I have decorated a certain amount tree with the expensive stuff I would like to cut down on my running costs.