Tip # 34 – Catching Panfish Through The Ice

Sunfish, crappie, pumpkin seed, perch, all are great species to catch for both young and old through the ice.  Even though they are rather small species, with light gear they can put up quite the fight.  Here are a few ice fishing tips to help get you into a few more panfish when you are ice fishing this year.

1. 1. Work baits slowly.  That goes for live/organic bait as well as lures.  In particular, sunfish can be fussy, especially in the winter when the water is much colder.  Use very subtle moves as well as long pauses in between to trigger hits from these fish.
   2. Most of these species have pretty small mouths.  With that, its always a good idea to bend out your hook gap, widening it by about 10 degrees or so to increase hookups.
   3. When the bite slows down, and it will, move on to some different holes and fish those for a while.  Then you can return to your previous spot once things have calmed down a little.  Its always a good idea to have lots of holes drilled when ice fishing.
   4. Be sure to keep your bait fresh.  Re-bait hooks and tipped lures often with either live or artificially scented baits to keep a consistent scent trail.
   5. When using the raise and drop technique, be sure to keep your line taught between the rod tip and lure.  Having slack line will greatly reduce your ability to detect the subtle takes that these fish produce.
   6. Panfish can be spooked easily, and often they are line shy.  Have a good selection of lighter lines in case this is the situation.  Don’t be afraid to drop down to 1 or 2 pound test line.