Crappies & Panfish

Bull bluegills don’t require much equipment. A simple spinning or fly-fishing outfit plus a few lures or common baits will help load the boat. A pair of hemostats for removing deep hooks will help too. ■ Photo by Mike Gnatkowski.

Whether you call them brim or bream or just plain old bluegills, big bluegills deserve a certain reverence. Big ‘Bull’…»

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Guide Brad Whitehead shows why side-trolling is so effective for crappie over brush piles.

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Our short video shows how you can catch spring crappie without getting tangled up in brushy cover.

Photo by Ron Sinfelt

Spring may be the time when the best action for West Virginia’s trophy fish takes place, and fall may be…»

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Few fisheries offer the options or opportunities of Minnesota’s share of mighty Lake Superior and its fish-rich major tributary, the…»

Guide Kevin Davis hoists a stringer of big Lake Moultrie shellcrackers. Photo by Terry Madewell.

From late May to the end of June, South Carolina bream fishing is at its peak. Here are some top locations to load your stringer.

Doug Markham caught this big redear sunfish near Willow Grove on Dale Hollow Lake. Photo by Vernon Summerlin.

May is a great time for finding bedding bluegills, but shellcrackers are active too. Here are your best bets for Tennessee bream fishing.

Big shellcrackers are the true trophies for bream anglers. Photo by John E. Phillips.

My son, John, had on a sweatshirt with a hood drawn down so tightly that you couldn’t see his eyes,…»

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If you’re using your fish finder the same way for bass and crappies, you might be missing out on a lot of slab action.

Travis Peterson

An Iowa teenager landed a state record yellow perch while fishing near the Mississippi River last week. Travis Peterson, 18,…»

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These experts know how to put pre-spawn crappie in the live-well and on the stringer. Their tips can help you…»

Photo by Ron Sinfelt.

Top crappie hotspots for middle Georgia from Game & Fish/Sportsman magazine

Rick Dykstra admires a stringer of spring specks. The flesh of spring crappies is white, firm and delicious.  Photo by Mike Gnatkowski.

It’s never hard to find volunteers in Tennessee, but that’s especially true during the spring if you happen to be…»

Photo by Ron Sinfelt

You never know what the weather has in store during the early spring. When you head out to catch some slabs this year, here’s how to deal with that uncertainty.

Bob Shindelar

Idaho angler Bob Shindelar tied the state record for yellow perch Saturday, reeling in a 16-inch, 2.6-pound perch out of…»

Before long, lakes and rivers throughout Minnesota will shed their winter coats of white and change back into a casual…»

Rick Dykstra admires a stringer of spring specks. The flesh of spring crappies is white, firm and delicious.  Photo by Mike Gnatkowski.

It pays to be flexible if you’re an outdoorsman. Even though you might have a game plan, Mother Nature can…»

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Let’s explore some of the best new baits for bluegills, crappies and their kin-fish and examine how to use each…»

Photo by Ron Sinfelt

Several years ago my hardwater fishing season kicked off on Rooney Lake, not far from Spooner. It was a good…»

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Is one of our picks for great crappie fishing in Virginia near you?

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May is one of the top times of the year for catching bedding panfish in Alabama. Here’s your guide to some great places for this actiion right now!

Photo by Ron Sinfelt

by Dan Anderson Panfish — by dictionary-definition any fish that will fit in a frying pan without segmenting or dividing…»

Giving the fish baits they regularly feed on is a a surefire method of filling a stringer with bluegills. ▪ Photo courtesy of Jeff Samsel.

by Jeff Samsel Ripples around your bobber transform you into a bird dog on point. Something tugged on your bait,…»

Robert Lawler's 5 pound, 8.8 ounce redear sunfish could be a new world record.

This panfish might be too big for a pan! Robert Lawler, of Lake Havasu, Arizona, landed a huge 5-pound, 8.8-ounce,…»

Redbreasts are fiesty and colorful bream that favor streams over lakes and ponds. Photo by Polly Dean.

A rouge-hued flash beneath the surface leaves little question what caused the bobber to dart out of sight and is…»