Positive Panfish Presence in Panfish Paradise
I saw some positive improvements this week in the panfish department. I tried a few areas that had been good mid-winter areas, and there was nothing to be found. I was glad. I love when fish shift from old and stagnant patterns to brand new ones. Why? First of all, when fish stay in a pattern, they don’t move a lot and cycle to and from areas enough to provide good fishing for long periods—it’s a numbers thing. When you poor a bowl of shredded wheat cereal, the plump and crunchy shredded wheats are on the top of the bowl. It’s good and crunchy and sweet and easy to find other whole nuggets—at first. As you reluctantly continue eating the cereal it becomes a challenge to keep finding whole shredded nuggets and the ones you do find are soggy. Good fresh crunchy shredded wheat only lasts so long. Finally, you come to the end of the bowl and cereal supply. Basically, nothing good happens until you poor more fresh cereal and put some good cold milk on top. Finding new fishing spots, especially after they transition to new patterns, is like pouring a new bowl of cereal.
So it seems we’ve made a positive turn this week in lakes country. The fish are certainly responded positively to our longer days and are finding new areas to camp out at. Once you find them you should anticipate decent action and good sizes. If you’re only finding moderate action and small fish then keep looking.
I tried three spots the other day for sunfish. One was bare (as mentioned), the next had lots of fish (but they were small), and the 3rd area was very good action and nice sized blue gills. There were bass mixed in with the nice sunfish. While bass are a good sign (because bass eat panfish), be sure and release any that you might accidentally catch because the bass/game fish season is closed. Be sure to keep trying new areas for panfish around Otter Tail Lakes Country this week—because they are on the move. Also, be time-of-day cautious. Although the panfish are beginning to come alive, it seems like they are being particular about when they are active. That affect is usually caused by predation—panfish will lay inactive when northern and bass are feeding on them (which is typically driven by light levels and water clarity). Once predators quit cruising and pursuing panfish, the sunfish and crappie and perch will openly feed.
Each lake is different, so they will all have select “strong” fishing periods as well as difficult “off” periods. The only way to figure out the lake that you choose, is to fish an entire afternoon or morning period (about 4-5 hours). The strong and weak fishing periods should become evident by the time your fishing outing is over with. Good luck fishing lakes country this week! And happy spring!
By Ross Hagemeister, meisterguideservice.com