Anglers,

What methods / lakes have you all had success with for Sunfish in the BW. For my money, sunnies are mighty tasty, and I would guess that there are some big ones in those lakes up there.

BWCAGUY

There is and they are. Crawlers and slip bobbers.

Caught some on Wood Lake a few years ago using leeches under slip bobbers. Saw some nice ones on Insula this past May.

Big Sunnies last year in the Quetico. We were on Crooked Lake our last night out, and Mr. B came out of a back bay that was little more than a beaver pond. He asked me if I had any panfish stuff in my tackle pack, and holds up a stringer with a couple jumbo bluegills on it. All I had was a couple small bobbers and a couple beaver flicks, from the Beaverhouse in Grand Marais. We had some Gulp leeches, and minnows, and we used that set up with a slow retrieve. We ended up with a few more. From that day forward I will always carry a few Flu Flu's and small twisters. IMO sunnies are the best eating, nice a crispy.

We've caught big sunnies in great numbers on Back Bay (Basswood)on a couple of occasions. Caught them in smaller, shallow bays near the lily pads with leeches and bobbers.

Caught a bunch of them on the cummings buck loop in may. Almost all of them were caught on f-5 gold rapalas. Only one or two were big enough to fillet so we released all of them.

quote BWCAGUY18: "Anglers,

What methods / lakes have you all had success with for Sunfish in the BW. For my money, sunnies are mighty tasty, and I would guess that there are some big ones in those lakes up there.

BWCAGUY"

Heres a tip I saw on infisherman a long time ago, If you want to catch the biggest bluegills use a leech under your bobber, small to medium, it will keep the smaller bluegills away, if your catching small ones then use a bigger leech .

Caught them on Insula using a leech and a slip bobber.

bump

Caught this off a the shore on Koma Lake with a Rap

quote SiouxFan: "Caught this off a the shore on Koma Lake with a Rap "

Wow thats a very nice fish .

on mt first trip thats all I caught was pan fish. I tryed everything and all I caught were sunnies and little perch. And SiouxFan that guy is a MONSTER!! Did you eat that bull or throw him back??

Threw him back all I was doing was casting my lures out between hands of wist and removing them for the trip out the next morning. It was my lucky day.

quote SiouxFan: "Caught this off a the shore on Koma Lake with a Rap "

Thats a bumper head right there! If i catch one like that in the week i spend in the BWCA this year I would be very happy!

I grew up catching tons of sunnies on Fall Lake - just off the campground (we camped there for a couple weeks every summer).

Bobber (or just a cane pole) over a piece of a crawler. I also caught the biggest pumpkin-seed of my life there - close to 12".

What I remember was how well they fought - you would have thought you had a small bass on for how much of a fight they put up.

Sunfish? Not sure , but panfish...yes. Lake Lacroix.

quote overthehill: " Sunfish? Not sure , but panfish...yes. Lake Lacroix."

overthehill,

That's a Black Crappie and a very nice one at that.

Dick

One heck of a crappie I'll say. I have really enjoyed this thread. After seeing the size of some of the panfish, I might just have to dedicate a day to them after I get my fill of the traditional bwca fish. thanks

Caught some nice ones fishing for bass around the edges of a lily-pad filled bay on Fairy Lake (between Boot and Gun) with a flyrod and popper.

No better way to catch BW sunnies then on a calm day with a fly rod and small popper!

I suppose one might do some good for them in deeper water were weeds are present with a slip bobber and a leech. Just a guess.

I haven't caught sunnies since I was young, but I wanna. I love those guys, so bright and plucky.

Small slip bobber and 1/4 of a leech is my go to for sunnies. Crappies will bite it too but they are much more likely to bite on a jig/minnow or minnow/hook combo.

There are a few lakes we've had luck on around Basswood and in Basswood itself. Leeches were our ticket.

I caught this one on a purpledescent taildancer in 35' of water.
Not really--cane pole at the cabin, but I couldn't resist posting it.
OT-check out how much my left incisor is worn down from biting on fishing line. Use a clipper, kids. I'm 20# lighter now, BTW.

#1 My Dad on the Kawishiwi River.
#2 Nephew on Insula using small mepps.
#3 My son at Timber Trail Resort on Farm Lake. We caught these with wax worms in the Kawishiwi River in 8' of water off an island. We fished just outside of the reeds.

quote lundojam: "
I caught this one on a purpledescent taildancer in 35' of water.
Not really--cane pole at the cabin, but I couldn't resist posting it.
OT-check out how much my left incisor is worn down from biting on fishing line. Use a clipper, kids. I'm 20# lighter now, BTW."

Wow very nice bluegill .

@ Pax

Big fish!

That's it I'm fishing for perch & bluegill this year!!!