Panfish Presentation Secrets

Essential details that will help you trigger more bites during the daytime hours, from iced-over panfish. Bull bluegills, slab crappies, jumbo perch.

By Mark Strand

At prime times, when panfish are looking for something to eat, it can be easy to get bites. Anything that looks edible gets inhaled, and you start making plans for your own fishing show. But during daylight hours, it often takes just the right combination of size, appearance, and movement to trick fish into tasting.
If you can make panfish bite during the day, you can certainly catch them at prime time.
Let’s concentrate on honing your daytime skills.

Is the Fish Seeing or Feeling it?
When it comes to deciding what type of bait to use, and how to present it, this is the most important question. Panfish tend to either primarily ‘eye up’ your bait, or ‘find it’ through the lateral line sense.
In clear water, fish can see your bait at surprising depths, especially if there is little snow cover and the sun is shining. In dirty water, and/or lower light, fish tend to rely on sensing vibrations. Dave Genz says this: “I think there’s definitely a difference (in the kind of presentations that work best), depending on whether the fish is looking at your bait or feeling it.”

When They’re Seeing It
When panfish can see your bait, a horizontal or angled presentation, which looks like it’s swimming (or vibrating with a horizontal attitude), becomes important.
Key horizontal baits include the Fat Boy and Genz Worm.
The key ‘angled’ bait is the Genz Bug.
Plastics (Techni-Glo Tails and Munchies Tiny Tails) have proven themselves in these situations.
To produce a horizontal presentation, first make sure your knot is positioned properly (see photo). In many cases, it’s also important to thread plastics or live bait on straight, so the completed package doesn’t spin or swim in other unnatural ways.
Another effective setup: ‘T-bone’ a wax worm or plastic tail, similar to what bass anglers call Wacky rigging.
Beyond that, it’s up to you to impart a variety of motions. The fish will indicate what they like best, by biting or refusing each presentation.
Keep doing what they like!

Feeling It
When panfish are mainly finding your bait by ‘feeling its presence,’ it’s not as critical whether it’s hanging a certain way or swimming perfectly. Fresh live bait tends to be important for closing the sale, after an aggressive, vibrating presentation gets the fish to sidle up.
When visibility is limited (including deeper water, even under bright conditions), the properties of Lindy Techni-Glo ice lures can make a significant difference in how many fish you catch, and how long you keep catching them. Our tests, using traditional colors and Techni-Glo, have proven that we continue catching fish longer, as darkness descends, with glowing baits.
(You must regularly ‘charge’ Techni-Glo lures! The sun is the best charger, but when the sun is down or behind clouds use the Lindy Tazer.)
Fat Boy, Genz Worm, and Genz Bug remain solid deep-water jigs. Pick a weight that lets you fish efficiently. If you don’t think the fish can see well, use Techni-Glo– and don’t worry much about whether the jig is hanging horizontally or vertically.
Experiment with plastics, especially Techni-Glo Tails, in deeper water. But also offer the fish fresh live bait and see which produces best.

Upsizing Works
The Frostee, Frostee Jigging Spoon, and Rattl’n Flyer Spoon are also good deep-water options. They are standbys for perch. You can pound them into the bottom, puffing things up, a presentation that gets perch excited and feeding.
Genz developed the ‘Glide ‘n Drag’ presentation with the Rattl’n Flyer Spoon:
Drop the spoon on slack line, and it glides out several feet to the side as it descends, often going out of the cone angle on a Vexilar, temporarily disappearing off the display. Let the bait hit bottom, then drag it slowly along bottom back toward the center of the hole. As you drag the bait, it disturbs the bottom, catching the attention of bottom-feeding fish, especially perch. The fish often pick the bait up off bottom and the battle is on.
Frostee Jigging Spoons are extremely effective on crappies and sunfish, too. At times, especially when big bluegills and crappies are mixed with smaller fish, you can selectively trigger the bigger ones by ‘upsizing’ to a larger lure. Pack on the maggots, and pound the bait so the treble hook dances. Genz also likes Blood Red Pin Tail Munchies, or Techni-Glo Red Pin Tails, one on each hook of the treble, to imitate bloodworms.
However you tip it, make it vibrate in place, treble hook dancing. Even fish that refuse a smaller bait can be forced into feeding.