Panfish Fun - Ultralight Tackle Primer
By Tim Sherman

Two soft plastics are positioned with a coin to illustrate their size.

Fishing with ultralight tackle is a passion of mine. Now that my daughter is at the age and height where she can come wading with me, there is an added incentive to break out the tiny lures and ultralight combo spooled with 6-pound test line. On these trips I'm not targeting any particular species. Destinations like the marshy back waters of Dundee Creek offer white perch, yellow perch, sunfish, blue gills, and sunfish. There is a good change that you will land small stripers and largemouth bass as well. When I hit the flowing Gunpowder River, sunfish and small smallmouth bass are what I can tempt with tiny artificials. You think panfish aren't aggressive? I've caught shell crack sunfish on small buzzbaits and white perch on Rebel minnows.

While these are my two favorite areas, locations like the flowing sections of the Susquehanna, Potomac, and Patapsco Rivers offer plenty of panfish action. And while I prefer to fish belly button deep in these waters, tidal backwaters are accessible by boat. Anglers unaccustomed to the "buggy whip" rod and dominutive lures may question which offerings are best for a given scenario. I use the same approach with panfish as I do with bass. In tidal marshes and flowing rivers, perch and bream species feed as aggressively as any species twice their size. Without any further delay, let's delve into where and how to present ultralight offerings.

INLINE SPINNERS
Fish rely on sight and feel to sense what is going on around them. Inline spinners appeal to these two senses. These lures allow you to work an area quickly. I generally stay with 1/8-ounce spinners in both river and tidal scenarios. Willow leaf spinners like the Tsunami Cocktail and Worden's Rooster Tail lures are what I use most, and I carry white, chartreuse, and spotted patterns. Gold and silver blades are best in clear water situations in rivers. They also produce well in the stain of tidal marshes. A painted blade or blade with a colored tape sticker is best in turbid water. You may even want to cast a spinner that has a French or Indiana blade like the Mepps Black Fury.

SOFT PLASTICS
In the same way we cast soft plastic fish imitators to appeal to stripers, the mini-size replicas of these lures catch the eye of perch and bream. Twister tail grubs are an excellent choice, but I have found that natural fish shaped lures work best. I will not head to Dundee Creek without my box of Crème Lit'l Fishies. They swim more naturally than any other soft plastic minnow I have used. I carry the 1 1/2 and 2 1/2-inch sizes in chartreuse glitter, blue back/pearl, and clear/black stripe. The smaller size gets impaled on a 1/16-ounce round jig head, and the larger gets a 1/8-ounce head. Tiny swim baits also draw strikes from panfish. The 2-inch versions with 1/8-ounce of lead molded in are best. Here, too, chartreuse, white, and clear patterns are the three top hues.

SURFACE LURES
Panfish are aggressive. It all boils down to competition for food. Present them with a lure that mimics dying prey and you can start a sunfish feeding frenzy. White perch will also rise for a chance to take down a surface lure, but you will rarely catch a yellow perch on a floating topwater plug. These floating lures will often be struck several times during a retrieve before you actually hook up.

I am partial to prop baits in flowing water. They can be twitched in place for subtle surface action, or worked on a straight retrieve to wake the surface. I find that they prefer the slower offering. My favorite prop bait is the 1/8-ounce Golden Eye Blabbermouth. It is different then most rear propeller models in that it has a tapered, scooped out face. This gives a popping action along with the spin or the prop. It only took me one cast the first time I tried it to be convinced of its appeal to river sunfish. The Blabbermouth has also accounted for numerous Gunpowder River smallies. The Heddon Baby Torpedo is also a fine topwater bait. It has a rounded face and a pointed rear where the prop produces its water churning action.

While prop baits are my favorite for flowing rivers, tiny poppers are tops for tidal waters. White perch, pumpkinseeds, and blue gills seem to prefer the popping and spitting action over the churning of a tiny propeller. Small poppers will also draw strikes from bass and stripers. I suggest the 1/8-ounce Rebel Pop-R and the 3/16-ounce Tsunami TS Popper. Both are the ideal size for tempting panfish on the surface. For all my topwater lures, I carry natural baitfish and frog patterns. I start out on the river with a black/gold Blabbermouth, and in Dundee I prefer a bone colored Pop-R.

CRANKBAITS
Hard plastic or wooden lures in the smallest renditions that imitate bugs, crawfish, and minnows are perfect for panfish. Sunfish, bluegills, and perch produce punishing blows to ultralight crankbaits. Number one on my list is the Rebel Crickhopper. It catches panfish on a straight retrieve, yet it is often more effective with an erratic stop and go cadence. This lure is effective in both stream and backwater scenes. I predominantly use the larger 1/4-ounce size in summer hopper, fire tiger, and yellow grasshopper hues.

Small fish shaped crankbaits do not go unnoticed by panfish. In tidal waters, the shallower the diving lure you use, the better your results will be. I've always done well with a 3/16-ounce Rapala Shallow Shad Rap. I had a hard time with it at first. Then I saw a tournament bass fishermen fighting through panfish to get to his bass. He used it like a jerkbait rather then a crankbait. With that knowledge, I then too started pounding perch and battling bluegills. The original shad pattern has always been my favorite. Several small crankbaits work well in flowing water.

In my box are Cordell Big-O's, Mann's Tiny 1-Minus, and Bagley Honey B's, and Bomber Fat A's. The assortment of colors includes natural baitfish, chartreuse, and crawfish patterns.

In streams and rivers, the Rebel Wee-Crawfish catches both sunfish and smallmouth bass. It has a tight wiggle and should be allowed to rise after making contact with the bottom or after bouncing off of a rock. Giving a slight pause to any crankbait after bumping cover can yield more strikes. Crawfish swim erratically, so you have to imitate their action with this lure to be effective.

PLAN OF ATTACK
In tidal waters in summer, underwater grasses can grow thick and heavy. On low tide, the vegetation is often topped out at the surface. Working the edges of a grass bed on a falling tide is the best method of retrieve. Panfish, like bass, line up tucked in on edges of the beds to wait for unsuspecting prey to swim by.

On flooding tides you can often work these lures above the vegetation. If you find yourself pulling grass off of a spinner or plastic after every cast, speed up your retrieve and/or fish with your rod tip a bit higher. Slow down with crankbaits if you are snagging grass. You should reel only fast enough to tick the top of the vegetation.

In flowing waters, I make most of my casts at up-current angles. This allows the lure to wash back with the flow more naturally. Crankbaits and topwater lures often receive more attention when worked slightly against the current. This gives the lure appearance of struggling against the river's flow.

Fish rely on sight, feel, and sound to a degree, to sense what is going on around them. This selection of ultralight lures stimulates these senses in some manner. This summer, I will make several trips for panfish to my favorite haunts. I may have to go through the boxes a few times to find the hot lure of the day, but that is the fun of trying to outwit sunfish, bluegills, and perch.