Panfish action 7/3-4

[Michael Thompson]

I met Jack up in Pelican Rapids, and we hit an area lake that was really going for Slabs and big sunfish. Some of the crappies were close to a pound and a half.
My best bait was a 16th oz jig tipped with a 2.5 inch gulp alive emerald shiner colored minnow. Also slow trolling or fan casting a paddle tail plastic put many fish on the line too. Just about anywhere we found healthy stands of broad leafed pondweed, we would get fish.

[PATRICK R]

Nice slabs and gills MT. I was on Chisago last night chasing bass, but the panfish were being greedy with the plastics so I downsized and caught a bunch of panfish. They crappies were hitting ripple shads as well as the bass, pike and walleyes. The big sunfish would chase the ripple shad, but I was only able to hook one. Switching up to a small bit of crawler enticed a bunch of health 7-8 inch sunfish, seeds and hybrids. They were heavily schooled near the weeds and at times there backs were sticking out of the water while chasing bugs near the surface.