Go Deep or Go Home!

Many panfish anglers feel this way when the dog days of summer approach. As the water heats up the big gills, Crappie and other panfish will head to deeper cooler water for relief. This doesn’t hamper their appetite; they still love to eat and are typically very active. All you need to do is change your tactics a bit and you’ll be having fish for dinner.

What I like to do is to have a couple of poles rigged with slip bobbers and a smaller bait keeper hook, maybe a size 6 or 8. This way I can fish both poles at the same time to help locate productive water quicker and eliminate the areas that may not be as productive. I’ll set each pole to a different depth, approximately 2-3 feet difference between the two. A Carlisle Slip float (Tons of styles to choose from) and a Stop Knot, Speed Stop or Speed Bump for a bobber stop all work great for this application. And be sure to check local laws before fishing two poles at a time, this may not be legal on all bodies of water.

My bait of choice when fishing livebait will either be crickets or red worms; I think either one works very well. When hitting the lake, I’ll look for inside weed edges, sunken islands, points or other forms of structure in deeper water. I’ll set one rig within a couple feet of bottom and the other 2-3 feet or so up from that and start fishing. Fan casting the area you will quickly determine if there are fish in the area. If nothing happens in a short amount of time, I move on. I’ll repeat the above step until I locate fish. And don’t be afraid to cast out towards the middle occasionally, sometimes the big bruisers will be sitting where you least expect them.

Stay the course and you’ll be cranking up some great panfish from the deep…..

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