Best Time to Harvest Some Panfish

Type: Nontidal
Region: Central
Location: Local Ponds

Just want to remind everyone that now is one of the best times to harvest and eat a few panfish fillets. Bluegills, crappies, white and yellow perch, along with a host of hybrid sunfish species are chowing down in the fall. We recently enjoyed catches of 75, 31, 70 and 62 panfish, mostly bluegills, on our last four trips respectively from small public waters. Of those totals we kept 30 for the pan, releasing the rest.

Small 1/64th or 1/80th ounce shad darts or hair jigs tipped with worms or mealworms are our top producers. Fish them 3 to 5 feet below a sensitive bobber and allow the wind to drift them along weed edges, creek channels or around sunken brush or wood. Good luck and harvest only what you can eat for a few meals and release the rest, especially the larger specimens.

Photo shows Matt Gronaw with a pair of great fall bluegills from one of our recent trips.