New experience catching panfish

I went with a new friend to a lake I hadn't fished for years, remembering the excellent crappie caught which was the reason we went. The day was perfect: overcast with a breeze. At first we beat the banks but found nothing. Sonar showed the lake to average between 7-8' with pad islands all over the place. Finally I suggested we fish open water between the islands in deeper water which proved very productive. Bite after bite from sunfish as well as a pickerel that sliced the line easily and a 2 lb bass that felt like a 3lb on a light action rod. The crappie were small as were the sunnies but still fun to catch.

In fact many times the fish were near the surface and hit soft plastics as soon as they hit the water. Many times fish kept attacking the lure all the way back to the boat until hooked or hooked on the second cast to the same spot. I would say that in 7', the fish were schooled in the upper 2'. One gent did well catching LM bass using a Senko, but for my money numbers matter more. I have never experienced a deeper water bite and no shoreline action!

I will get back to the lake soon to learn it better even though many areas are thick with pads and won't be fishable until spring pre-pad growth. The lake has sure changed since I fished it 10 years ago and hopefully anglers haven't harvested too many of the 13" crappie I remember catching.

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Originally Posted by Spoonminnow

In fact many times the fish were near the surface and hit soft plastics as soon as they hit the water. Many times fish kept attacking the lure all the way back to the boat until hooked or hooked on the second cast to the same spot. I would say that in 7', the fish were schooled in the upper 2'.

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I have seen this consistently in the summer. The fish are very shallow out in the middle of the lake. I would often troll in my float tube: throw out a long cast and paddle slowly. I was using a floating line, so the fly couldn't have been more that 12-18" deep. Big bluegills would practically jerk the rod out of my hands!

Agreed! Here bluegill and sunfish is slow biting also but flies still work for the little guys. Haven't fished for trout in years so looking forward to this coming winter stockers with JDM rod and SOS 2lb.

One gratifying thing was catching five species yesterday on different soft plastic lure designs (sunfish, crappie (all under 7"), yellow perch, bass and 2 pickerel; total caught 36 in 4 hours, mostly after 1 pm).

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Originally Posted by LVSpinfisher1

Haven't fished for trout in years so looking forward to this coming winter stockers with JDM rod and SOS 2lb.

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I had a ball last fall with stockers— perfect UL fish.

With the cooler weather coming I have been doing better in the 2:00 pm and later time as well. Poppers are working with the 3 Wgt.
Bob

Fun, fun!

Does cold surface temperatures in the morning, say 7-9 am, affect the bite? Mornings have been an unseasonable 33 degrees nighttime temperature.
Maybe that's why we did much better after 12pm ?

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Originally Posted by Spoonminnow

Does cold surface temperatures in the morning, say 7-9 am, affect the bite? Mornings have been an unseasonable 33 degrees nighttime temperature.
Maybe that's why we did much better after 12pm ?

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It most certainly does both because of a "comfort zone" for the fish and because it often takes warming water to bring off the insect hatch. This time of year fish, especially panfish, are more active when the water is warmer and so is the forage they chase.

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Originally Posted by no1son

It most certainly does both because of a "comfort zone" for the fish and because it often takes warming water to bring off the insect hatch. This time of year fish, especially panfish, are more active when the water is warmer and so is the forage they chase.

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I think you are right on with this. My warm water creek starts to come alive as the afternoon goes on. The pans start dimpling the top as the hatches get underway. A real fun time for topwater!
Bob

Thanks both of you for your replies.
The insects are nonexistent in the waters I am now fishing. The area I found that did yield numbers was many yards away from where we started per my partner's suggestion. It's possible the bite would still have happened early if I had found the spots I did in the pm.

For years I've read about the thermocline:

"The thermocline has been defined as the lake layer where water temperature drops by at least one-half degree for each foot in depth. Water, current, algae, temperature, oxygen, fish, and thermodynamics collide in a seemingly implausible, yet natural progression."

But is the thermocline significant in early fall when the water mixes from top to bottom in shallow waters like the one we fished? (average depth 7-8')

it might be a thermocline , not sure ,but on most graphs its a layer looking type of thing and typically has zero fish of any kind below that line .
thats pretty shallow average water so i am not sure if that occurs in that type of impoundment .
i would think its likely it has something to do with afternoon warmer water and some sort of fall hatch and the food chain that often gets busy during those cycles

We'll see Ketch. Planning on going back there in the next few days when the weather is more falllike. Woke up to 29 degrees this am which most definitely cooled the water in addition to the last 5 cold mornings. At least more days above 72 degrees are forecast for the rest of the week. At age 71 these bones aren't made for unseasonably cold days !

Another question though:
The Fall Bite. What does it really mean? Fish are aren't bears and don't feed to fatten for winter. Could be fish strike better on and off when the surface temperature warms and stimulates higher activity?