Dont laugh, but other than rock bass, I have never caught a panfish in the BWCA. Maybe its the time of season. Always late may when I go up. I was thinking about bringing my fly rod and trying that but Im not sure if its worth the hassle. Any good panfishing ideas for the boundary waters? Or flys for late may?

I'm not sure where you are from or where you have been, but we have plenty of panfish close to home, few walleye, northerns, and smallies.

quote Richwon4: "I'm not sure where you are from or where you have been, but we have plenty of panfish close to home, few walleye, northerns, and smallies. "

huh?

If'n you don't count bass, northern, and trout as "pan" fish (does the fact that we fry them up in a pan make them pan fish?) then the only traditional pan fish = blue gill, perch, & crappy = that I have caught has been perch. Caught a bunch of lunker perch in the Man Chain (but that was 2o years ago) and then caught more small perch than we cared to clean on a small lake called Canoe Lake (the one just off of Clam Lake which is off of Hanson).

there are plenty of panfish opportunities in the Bwca and Quetico.
I have caught big crappies in LLC, Agnes, and big bluegills in Crooked.

Jrod, instead of being a guest poster, why not become a member of the site? You're not in the witness protection program are you?

thats the only thing I caught on are last trip to insula. And there were all babies lol

slab crappies on iron, big bluegills on knife

We caught crappie and orange spot on our loop from burntside-cummings.

nice sunnies in birch

Lots of sunnies in Back Bay on Basswood.

Lot's of Crappie in the lower end of Gabbro after the spawn.

Decent bluegills in Cummings. Caught some crappies 12-15 inches in Agnes. It seems small to medium leeches on a plain hook attract crappies in BW. Bluegills seem to like waxworms just like in non BW lakes and I like little mister twister tails with 1/16oz jig retrieved slowly. There are other bluegill hotspots, but they will remain anonymous;). Try the MN DNR website's lake finder and look up BW lakes surveys to find a lake that has them.

Never have ever really gotten into big bluegills, it sounds like a blast tho. Will be going into knife in late may. Is that too early? If its not, where would one try for them. We will be in the south arm.

quote BearDown: "Never have ever really gotten into big bluegills, it sounds like a blast tho. Will be going into knife in late may. Is that too early? If its not, where would one try for them. We will be in the south arm."

Hey no way. Theres a good chance I will be traveling through knife lake in late may.

They do exist, we caught this one on Gull, I know most people wouldn't take a picture of a bluegill, we thought it was fun and he was tasty.

quote BearDown: "Never have ever really gotten into big bluegills, it sounds like a blast tho. Will be going into knife in late may. Is that too early? If its not, where would one try for them. We will be in the south arm."

Look for mud or dark bottom bays early in the year,If those bays are on the northeast side of the lake all the better. Sometimes they will be a foot off the shoreline. A small flu flu jig and waxworm, or small leech on a light wire hook will get em .

Good advice here, try some Gulp Minnow Heads too.

Yep.

Bass, bluegills and sunnies = panfish. I thought perch were related to Walleyes?

I'm guessing you are referring to sunnies/bluegills. The simplest way to catch'em is with a bobber and a worm. Don't waste an entire worm on them, either. It only takes an inch or two (even less, lol). When you find'em, they'll keep you busy for hours :) I can't count how many hours I kept myself occupied fishing off my grandpa's dock every summer, almost every weekend, just catching panfish!

quote Amok: "Bass, bluegills and sunnies = panfish. I thought perch were related to Walleyes?

I'm guessing you are referring to sunnies/bluegills. The simplest way to catch'em is with a bobber and a worm. Don't waste an entire worm on them, either. It only takes an inch or two (even less, lol). When you find'em, they'll keep you busy for hours :) I can't count how many hours I kept myself occupied fishing off my grandpa's dock every summer, almost every weekend, just catching panfish!"

Oh yes, i have kept myself occupied doing the same in local wisconsin lakes. But im talking BWCA.

One of the biggest crappies I've ever seen was caught out of Agnes Lake, south of LLC. It looked like a dinner plate.

If you start catching a lot of 12" Smallies feel free to call them "Pan"fish and fry them up.

Some very good panfishing in the dub if you can find it. Dark bottom bays are where its at. Tiny beetle spins or icefishing jigs. The biggest 'gill I ever caught was at Newton Falls. In an eddy right in the middle of the rapids. The 'gill went 12" and hit a #5 crawfish shallow shadrap. Ate him as it was the first day in. Should be on the wall. But if you find the gilz then a fishfry of 8-9"ers is very doable in a short time.

These bluegills fed us on a "great walleye lake" where we couldn't buy a walleye!






Adam

I feel that you don't fish enough if you haven't caught a small "pan" fish in the bw

Do the panfish rob your bait a lot if you're using nitecrawlers? Is that why most people use leeches instead? I like using crawlers for walleyes, but that can be a problem in lakes with a lot of panfish.

I was surprised that there were pan fish that far north, but I have caught both bluegill and crappie.

I have not brought my fly rod yet.

That pic of all of those 'gills is great!! love to catch and eat those lil' guys. thanks for the pic!

quote huntfun2: "Do the panfish rob your bait a lot if you're using nitecrawlers? Is that why most people use leeches instead? I like using crawlers for walleyes, but that can be a problem in lakes with a lot of panfish.

"

Use small pieces and thread it over a small hook if you are targeting them. Gills are pretty spotty up there on the big lakes.

quote Arlo Pankook: "If you start catching a lot of 12" Smallies feel free to call them "Pan"fish and fry them up."

+1

quote dpreiner21: "

quote huntfun2: "Do the panfish rob your bait a lot if you're using nitecrawlers? Is that why most people use leeches instead? I like using crawlers for walleyes, but that can be a problem in lakes with a lot of panfish.


"

Use small pieces and thread it over a small hook if you are targeting them. Gills are pretty spotty up there on the big lakes."

Hit a pocket of gills. 2yaers ago on lake 2 was great fun and good eating used crawlers