# Interesting Facts



## Intimidator (Nov 25, 2008)

With all the panfishing experience on this board...What interests you the most, or got you interested about this type of fishing? 
What are some facts about your favorite fish that you have learned over the years...like their favorite structure, favorite food, water temp, depth, color, etc, etc, etc?

I'll get into facts later but I enjoy Crappie fishing due to my Grandmother. My father was a truck driver and had little time to fish. Luckily my Grandmother was American Indian and an avid Outdoorswoman. She loved fishing and especially Crappie fishing and took me from my earliest memories as a small boy. She taught me everything about fishing, how to relax and enjoy it and how to enjoy the harvest. Now every time I Crappie fish I think of her and her secrets of fishing and I'm back to relaxing and enjoying it while teaching my son!


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## buckzye11 (Jul 16, 2009)

I think like most of us, my first fish was a bluegill. But my excietment when catching that gill was like a 10 pt walking under the treestand now. Same with every new spicies from then on, and still now when i get a big fish reletive to the species norm. I first fished with my Grandpa, and like your Grandma, he showed me the tricks of the trade. He loved carp fishing on the backwaters of Lake Lucerne and Nimi Creek(aka mosquito heaven).
My favorite fish to target are redear gills. One reason why is they are tough to find besides the spawn. On a day when every other gill is up on the shoreline cover, the redears might be schooling up in 15 fow. Another day they might be right in the cover with the others. I haven't been fishing for them long enough to develop a true pattern. Any time i drop the mushroom anchor i check to see if there are a large amount of shell peices on it. If there is, i mark that spot on the lake map to visit again. Every day fishing is a lesson learned even if you get :S The tough part is putting together all those lessons so you make the right choice on how you are going to learn the next lesson. 
I really hope our waters arn't too polluted, cause the thing that i enjoy just as much as the fishing, are the filets. I enjoy at least 1 bluegill meal a week. This time of year is great, when you can have a plate of beer batter gills with a side of morels, and a deer jerky appitizer


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## Intimidator (Nov 25, 2008)

buckzye11 said:


> I think like most of us, my first fish was a bluegill. But my excietment when catching that gill was like a 10 pt walking under the treestand now. Same with every new spicies from then on, and still now when i get a big fish reletive to the species norm. I first fished with my Grandpa, and like your Grandma, he showed me the tricks of the trade. He loved carp fishing on the backwaters of Lake Lucerne and Nimi Creek(aka mosquito heaven).
> My favorite fish to target are redear gills. One reason why is they are tough to find besides the spawn. On a day when every other gill is up on the shoreline cover, the redears might be schooling up in 15 fow. Another day they might be right in the cover with the others. I haven't been fishing for them long enough to develop a true pattern. Any time i drop the mushroom anchor i check to see if there are a large amount of shell peices on it. If there is, i mark that spot on the lake map to visit again. Every day fishing is a lesson learned even if you get :S The tough part is putting together all those lessons so you make the right choice on how you are going to learn the next lesson.
> I really hope our waters arn't too polluted, cause the thing that i enjoy just as much as the fishing, are the filets. I enjoy at least 1 bluegill meal a week. This time of year is great, when you can have a plate of beer batter gills with a side of morels, and a deer jerky appitizer


Nice! 
Is their MAIN food source...snails? 
Would that be the ultimate bait for them?


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## buckzye11 (Jul 16, 2009)

I know they eat freshwater clams, snails, and mussels..... but ive never tried them for bait. Crickets and grasshoppers are what i use for them mostly. Or pieces of crawler, or those fat wood grubs you find. Even though i'm trying for redear i usually have a wide range of fish with any live bait.


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

For redears, my rule would be hard bottom with weeds. They're always there. Just have to find where they're congregating. Got into a nice mess of them last year on the Portage Lakes. Warm spring days they'll be right up next to shore where there is hard bottom and brush. garden worms are my bait of choice. I have a pile of grass clippings and dirt that provides plenty of worms until the middle of summer. 

I'm still learning the rules for crappie, but I got a 15.5 incher last year!


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## Intimidator (Nov 25, 2008)

bdawg said:


> For redears, my rule would be hard bottom with weeds. They're always there. Just have to find where they're congregating. Got into a nice mess of them last year on the Portage Lakes. Warm spring days they'll be right up next to shore where there is hard bottom and brush. garden worms are my bait of choice. I have a pile of grass clippings and dirt that provides plenty of worms until the middle of summer.
> 
> I'm still learning the rules for crappie, but I got a 15.5 incher last year!


Crappies love vertical structure or cover. In the day they see colors just like you and I (but you have to know how your water effects colors and what colors disappear in the water first), that's why "matching the hatch" works so well with them. At night they see clearly in Black and White. They would love their water to always be 75 degrees. Crappie are very sly and normally "taste" their food first and spit it out if it's not what they want, this is what crappie fisherman see when their bobbers are moving and not going under...most fishermen are unaware that their missing the first bite. When they seem to not be biting hard you have to anticipate the bite and try to hook them while they're "tasting"!
I'll let some others post more!


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