Tackle?

A few years back I had health issues and had to sell my boat and all my fishing gear. Now that my health is improving and my son is showing a huge interest to get into fishing on a regular basis it’s time to gear up. I won’t have a boat again for a while but we are making the best outta it by hitting the banks of the bayous and any public ponds. We’ve found one spot that has tons of small panfish, while we really wanna catch crappie in my areas it’s normally just mixed panfish.

With all that said we went pickup some tackle and hit the banks. To keep things simple I just went with the basics IMO:

Rig 1) cork, split shot, hook and live worm.
Rig 2) cork, jig head and tube jig.

My question is, should we stick with this for now and beat the banks OR is there any new latest greatest panfish lures I should run out and get?


Thanks BigTat

What you have will work especially if you want to keep it simple. However a couple of different colors would be nice. Something with chartreuse maybe. I would also possibly consider a smaller size hook for smaller panfish though like bluegill. But what you have will work.

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Originally Posted by SuperDave336

What you have will work especially if you want to keep it simple. However a couple of different colors would be nice. Something with chartreuse maybe. I would also possibly consider a smaller size hook for smaller panfish though like bluegill. But what you have will work.

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I do also have black/chartreuse and blue/white jigs. I’ll grab some smaller hooks as well, should I stick with the aberdeen type hooks?


Thanks

For panfish I would stick with live bait but how old is your son. Start him off with live bait and move him to lures as he gets older (i'm assuming he is very young).

Those should be fine. :ThumbsUp Good luck

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Originally Posted by Grainraiser

For panfish I would stick with live bait but how old is your son. Start him off with live bait and move him to lures as he gets older (i'm assuming he is very young).

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He’s 14 years old but has high functioning autism so not quite on the same level as other 14 year olds, we’ve only been back at it for a couple weeks and he’s catching on very well at this point. He’s been baiting his own hook, casting/retrieving on his own and unhooking his own fish. Now things like untangling lines and getting stuck in the grass can be very frustrating but he’s getting better/good at it now.

I love artificial lures but we were not getting many hook ups and I didn’t want him to lose interest so I decided to go get some worms and that’s when his interest blew up. One spot we found has tons of small panfish and every cast you get bites. He’s hooked on the worms for sure, so much that we’ve already built a worm bed/bin to raise red worms and his interest in that has amazed me.

Thanks

That's awesome he's found something to interest him. If those hooks have been working then stay with them. I used to have a worm bin myself and worm compost is good for gardening or plants as well. :highfive

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Originally Posted by SuperDave336

That's awesome he's found something to interest him. If those hooks have been working then stay with them. I used to have a worm bin myself and worm compost is good for gardening or plants as well. :highfive

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Yes I’m super excited he’s making progress. Us having to sell the boat was sort of a blessing because I realize working with him from the bank helped a lot. I think the boat rocking and me on the trolling motor may have took his focus away from learning the actual technique of fishing along with being a little older he’s doing great. Now he’s started side casting under low tree branches and whatnot.

When we researched worm beds we were blown away by all the cool stuff you can do and the amazing fertilizer it makes.

We are gonna book a trip at toledo bend for Sac-a-Lait in the next few months, he’s super pumped and is putting in the work to learn as much as possible before the trip.

Thanks

In my opinion, beetle spin type rigs come in handy for a bank fisherman’s tacklebox. You can buy them without jigheads, or you can buy them rigged and ready. They really come in handy fishing in the bayous. As long as you keep it moving, it’s good about not snagging, because it’ll bounce off of most logs and keep going. It’s also a great lure for those new to artificial lures as it only requires casting/reeling, and the fish will pretty much hook themselves. It’ll catch just about everything that swims too.

You can easily swap out jig heads to meet your needs…heavier to cast further or lighter with a smaller lure when you need to pick up smaller bluegill.

Good luck,

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Originally Posted by Aix

In my opinion, beetle spin type rigs come in handy for a bank fisherman’s tacklebox. You can buy them without jigheads, or you can buy them rigged and ready. They really come in handy fishing in the bayous. As long as you keep it moving, it’s good about not snagging, because it’ll bounce off of most logs and keep going. It’s also a great lure for those new to artificial lures as it only requires casting/reeling, and the fish will pretty much hook themselves. It’ll catch just about everything that swims too.

You can easily swap out jig heads to meet your needs…heavier to cast further or lighter with a smaller lure when you need to pick up smaller bluegill.

Good luck,

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I agree with everything you’ve said. One of my favorite lures was always the good ol Johnson Beetle spins. I’ve caught lots of Bass on the 1/4oz white ones and tons of panfish on the 1/16oz yellow ones. I definitely need to pick some up!