Line Choice Actually Matters - Panfish Smashfest w/ My Girls

[The Urban Fisherman]

Yesterday was the only day this week not calling for rain so I decided to take my girls out for the evening bite on our local swim. Luke was gone to Toronto with Mom so we were scott free to do whatever we wanted. Booyah... let's go fishing!

 

Claira hasn't really been out as much as Averie did when she was 2/3 years old. It's just a lot tougher to get out when you have 3 kids and a bunch more stuff going on... So Claira was VERY stoked to get out and bugged me for 3 days leading up to last night. We forgot worms at home but had a mix of live minnows and soft plastic minnows. I was actually hoping to get some underwater footage of trout boatside but after trying for a little while we gave up and went in search of panfish. We found schooled up pannies on a 5-6 foot sand flat. The thing that amazed me was that little Claira got bit at least 5 to 1 over Averie and I. It was crazy.... and Averie was getting frustrated with it... lol Maybe Claira just had " The Hot Stick " or Rookie luck but I'm going to bet it was the 2lb test ice fishing line she had on her rod. All three of us were fishing a dropshot, same hook, same weight, same bait... but Averie had 10lb Fluorocarbon, I was sporting 8lb mono and Claira's 2lb Mono got hammered every time she dropped her hook. Unfortunately she missed 9 out of 10 fish but she had a ton of fun... and boy did I get a workout putting new minnows on her hook.

 

Anyways it was a great evening out with my girls, and I'm glad Claira got to have bragging rights for most fish caught. We even managed a few eaters for a snack tonight.

 

On a side note - all the perch we landed were males. We had a couple of fat females hooked up but Claira lost them boatside.

 

Hope you enjoy the pics and have a great weekend!

 

Cheers,

Ryan, Averie & Claira

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NAW]

Awesome!

[jimmer]

Nice batch of panfish there and love the smiles!

[Brettiop]

Way to go!

 

Sure looks like they had a good time out there!

[fishnsled]

Great memories there!! Nicely done Ryan!

[Sinker]

Awesome!

 

2lb test will outfish heavier line every time. Its all I use for pannies!

 

S.

[Big Cliff]

Excellent report, beautiful pictures!

 

And yes, line can play a huge factor not only for pannies!

[The Urban Fisherman]

Awesome!

 

Thanks N.A.W.!

Nice batch of panfish there and love the smiles!

 

Thanks Jimmer.

 

Way to go!

 

Sure looks like they had a good time out there!

 

twas a good time out with the kids... makes me want to get back out this weekend... but the forecast kind of sucks...

 

Great memories there!! Nicely done Ryan!

 

Thanks Buddy!

 

Awesome!

 

2lb test will outfish heavier line every time. Its all I use for pannies!

 

S.

 

Yeah man I learned something on this trip for sure... I've always just used whatever I had laying around for pannies.. usually 6lb mono/fluoro that I sometimes use for finicky smallmouth... I just kind of thought they were dumb aggressive little panfish and have always done well enough.... but Claira's 2lb Mono was absolutely killing us... when she wanted a break I used her little pink rod! lol Getting a decent hookset in wasn't easy with a 16 inch limp noodle kind of ice rod! lol

 

Excellent report, beautiful pictures!

 

And yes, line can play a huge factor not only for pannies!

 

Thanks Big Cliff! I've been mindful of line diameter with other species but never bothered with panfish... until now... I'm going to keep a spool of 2lb mono in the boat just for panfish leader material from now on!

 

Have a great weekend folks!

[Sinker]

Panfish, especially perch, are one of the smartest fish IMO. The big ones anyways!

 

S.

[solopaddler]

Fantastic! You're inspiring me to get out with my own kids for panfish.

[spinnerbaitking]

Nice Report looks like they had a Blast

Tight Lines SBK