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Jigs, flies, spinners, topwater, plastics and whatever else, I'm gonna get ready for catching some real numbers and size of sunfish. I'll post pics of my inventory when it gets unpacked.
Until then, what should I focus on for bluegill and shellcrackers as well as red bellies? Only thing I've caught anything on is nightcrawler and gulp minnows.
Do buggy patterns really hit the spot?
You can't go wrong with trout magnets. My bigges t shellcracker was caught on a red trout magnet. I read sometime ago that they would attack anything red.
I mainly use hand ties in 1/48, 1/32 and 1/24 with hook sizes from #6 to #10 with some tiny #12 hooks when they are super finicky. I tip my jigs with pieces of Berkley power wigglers in three colors. Glow white, Chartreuse and pink. Panfish also love waxworms and I tip my jigs with those as well, actually fish like them better than wiggler pieces. Whether you use soft plastics like a trout magnet or hand ties, baits need to be smaller, around 1" long since their mouths are pretty small.
What style of hand ties seem to work best. Gonna be May or June before I get out much if at all before then so lots of time to tie.
Get some Charlie Brewer 1" slider grubs and call it a day! For panfish plastics I have narrowed it down to this and 1" to 1 1/2" tubes.
My favorite is a 1/48 duck jig on a #10 sickle hook. These are great bait fish imitations. For insect buggy patterns a small wooly bugger jig in black, brown or olive work very well. I use mostly rabbit hair for the tails on those. #3 would be a wedge tail type bait. It's a silicone tail bait that tapers to a point but has a nice action and tails come in many colors. I like tying these baits with a wooly bugger type body. These have been productive for me the last few months.
Would a snail imitation be effective for shellcrackers? I've come up with a few pattern even a top water.
The snail imitation would work in dark colors, Redear love crayfish so small imitations work. My biggest Redear was caught on a live crayfish fishing at Lake Havasu ten years ago.
:popcorn, following
I'm addicted to catching panfish throwing artificial lures and jigs. I do well down here during late winter/early spring catching bigger bluegill and shellcrackers using small micro jigs that I tie.
Material:
- 1/80 to 1/32 micro jig heads with a #10 size hook that I get off eBay (cheaper) or from local fly-fishing shop.
- Chenille, old spinner bait skit material, or grey squirrel tail hair.
Technique:
1) a size 7 split shot 18 inches above the jig, cast to area and slow retrieve back to boat/bank
2) 1.5in cigar float at desired length above jig, cast to area and jig and pause, jig and pause as you retrieve to the boat/bank
Attachment 513417
Nice jigs . I too am addicted to catching panfish on micro jigs .Quote:
Originally Posted by queyit
In the past two or three years I’ve switched over to using tungsten beads on size 10 jighooks or sizes 10 and 12 streamer hooks .
Most of mine are rabbit fur tails with chenille bodies .
The tungsten beads allow me to make casts without any added weight or floats .
For me, it’s hard to beat a mini thill cork, single split shot lead weight, #6 bream hook, baited with a live cricket
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The solid black is my favorite . Afew squirrel tail 1/32 jigs , Panfish magnets in the bison color and fle fly go go minnow in the perfect pearl color. you set . As good as these are I alway carry mealworms and a drop shot rig . Attachment 513470
I wish I would tried micro jigs and tinier presentations. Should have put it all together when I had to downsize to just a 1 to 2 inch worm piece threaded onto the hook and as straight as possible. Hopefully I packed my worm ties, and hopefully I can find them.