Despite the preponderance of fishing videos, books, television shows and magazine articles that expound intricate patterns and high technology as the best ways to catch fish, the best advice remains to simply fish as much as you can and luck will eventually find you. I believe that; it happened to me last night.

My friend Dave asked my family to come over and visit while his family house sat for some vacationing friends. It was on a nearby lake, so we thought about swimming and sailing, but Dave had fishing in mind – from a paddle boat. Now fishing from a paddle boat is not the most dignifying way of angling, but who said self-esteem was an important product of fishing?

I figured we would float around, have a nice conversation and maybe hook into a hammer handle northern or two. There was the chance to hook a bass, too, so we opted to fish with twister tail jigs. Just as I was reeling in my second cast, I felt the unmistakable jerk of a fish hitting my lure. I set the hook and felt something bigger than a runty perch or sunfish struggling against the rod. It was a fairly nice-sized crappie.

“This could be good,” I said. “Crappies tend to run in schools and maybe we’ll catch more.”

Sure enough, within a few minutes Dave reeled in a scrappy crappie the same size as the first. “We’ll just throw them in this live well thing back here,” he said. I turned around and there was a neat little place molded into the paddle boat to hold a five-gallon pail. We just filled it with water and had nice spot to put our fish. “This is actually kind of cool,” I admitted to myself. “Catch a crappie and drop it in the pail without hardly moving.”

The crappies kept biting pretty well for about 45 minutes, in which we put together a nice mess for a meal. Suddenly we both had bites at the same time – bigger fish that zipped around the boat a few times. That was the first downfall of paddle boat fishing – missing your partners head when you swing your rod around to fight a fish. The fish were small northerns that we threw back.

The two northerns seemed to shut off the crappie bite. We could actually see crappies below the paddle boat eyeballing our jigs, but they wouldn’t bite. It was time to downsize. I tied on a tiny white jig and was able to coax a few more into biting.

Just before dark, we tied on floating minnow baits and twitched them across the surface – one of the most exciting ways to catch bass as they swirl to the surface to grab the bait. Unfortunately no bass bit that night, though we did see a few swirls.

When we peddled our way back in, I thought I will never look at paddle boat fishing the same. It was relaxing, quiet, and put us over fish that wanted to bite. Does a $25,000 fully rigged boat do more? Oh yes, but not on that night!

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I get a kick out of people who think sunfish are kid’s fish. Sure, lot’s of kids catch sunfish, and it often doesn’t take a lot of skill to get some, but panfish are fun and have filled many stringers of people who’ve struck out on “adult fish.”

Right now is the best time of year to catch big sunfish because this is when they spawn. As spawning draws near, big adult sunfish move into the shallows to fan out nests where they lay their eggs. Nesting usually occurs in shallow, protected areas with one to six feet of water. They prefer to spawn on sandy bottoms with a little weed cover. In Minnesota, nesting often takes place in beds of bulrushes, near lily pads growing on sandy bottoms, and under fallen trees.

Sunfish nests are circular areas where the male sunfish has cleared away shells, sticks or debris. Often the shiny shells and discarded debris around the rim of the nest gives it a “halo-like” appearance. The nests will be from six inches to three feet in diameter. Sometimes several sunfish will fan out nests so close together that they are only a few inches apart.

Adult male sunfish aggressively defend their nest and eggs and chase away other sunfish and perch that eat their eggs. This unique prenatal care lasts until the eggs hatch and the young sunfish leave on their own.

During this protection period adult sunfish will boldly grab any small lure or bait that approaches their nest, which is why the fishing can be so good.

You can locate the sunfish nests by cruising the shallows and looking for them. Wearing polaroid sunglasses will really help you see into the water better. If you spook the sunfish off the nests, just make a mental note of where the nests are and return later.

The secret to catching the sunfish is to get your bait or lure right into the nest or just above it. This requires pinpoint casts, so use an ultralight rod designed to cast tiny lures.

If you like to use a cast and retrieve method, use small 1/64 to 1/16 ounce jigs. Cast the jig beyond the sunfish and retrieve the jig until it is just over the nest and let it fall it. Generally a good sized sunfish will engulf the jig just as it is settling toward the bottom.

When the fish are a little spooky, use a bobber and live bait. Set the bobber so it will suspend the bait just over the nests and use just enough split shot to carry the bait down. Tiny foam or very light pencil bobbers that offer little resistance to a nibbling sunfish are the best. Use a number 10 hook and bait it with a piece of worm, night crawler, cricket, or grasshopper, but the best bait is a tiny leech. Big sunfish just go crazy over leeches, and little sunfish seem to not like them. Just hook the leech once through the sucker end and it will wriggle and turn on the hook in a way that really excites keeper sunfish.

Catching sunfish off their nests may seem unsporting to some, or even unethical, but do not worry about the sunfish populations. Too many of our lakes are filled with schools of tiny stunted sunfish that are a result of over population. Catching sunfish off the nest is not only fun, but contributes to healthy sunfish numbers and bigger fish. So what are you waiting for? Somewhere within a short drive there are sunfish just waiting to bite.

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Sometimes, in my line of work, I have to fish for a certain kind of fish. Like yesterday, I had to catch a northern for some photographs. As I worked along a steep drop off I could see fish swirling up in the shallows, likely bass or crappies. But I couldn’t find out because I had to catch a pike. If I was lucky I would catch one quickly, take my photos, and then fish for fun. But work comes first, if you want to call it that.

The gear I was using was pike ammo all the way-a stout graphite rod, 17-pound test line, and a “tooth proof” steel leader. The drop off was steep, dropping from 8-feet to 40-feet in no time at all. To cover a depth range like that I tied on a heavy jig tipped with a piece of pork rind, the old “jig-and-pig.”

I didn’t need to catch a big pike. In fact, a five-pound fish would have sufficed. Sometimes even a northern over two-pounds doesn’t come easy, and I was afraid this was going to be one of those days.

The bluegills were definitely active. Many times a parade of the little guys would follow my jig as I reeled it toward the boat. They would peck at the rubber skirt and nibble at the pork legs, and I had fun watching them. At times there were so many of them I was curious how many there really were. So I held the jig about three feet below the surface and let them come to it. In no time there must have been ten or fifteen.

Suddenly little sunfish were scurrying everywhere, and there he was. A long, lean pike with a baleful look in his eyes shot in and had my lure in his mouth before I could blink. He didn’t run with it, he just sat there four-feet from the boat. I could see tiny little jig legs sticking out between his jaws.

In the fraction of a second all this happened I calculated he was six or seven pounds, big enough to satisfy my photo needs. I struck hard. The heavy rod and line did their job as the hook set turned the fish over on it’s side. Most pike would have been as good as boated about then, but not this one. He must have been part cat, nine lives and all.

Quickly the fish righted itself and shook it’s head a few times, almost like the hook was nothing more than an inconvenience. It was almost as if the pike was showing his defiance. Just what I needed, a northern with an attitude problem.

I knew I had better set the hook again, so I reeled down to drive the hook again. For a split second I let the line go slack. I watched as the pike flared it’s gills and blew the jig right out of it’s mouth. My jig-and-pig settled toward the bottom and little globules of fish slime floated about the pike’s head. He snapped his jaws a few times just to show he wasn’t hurt and shot for the depths.

I couldn’t help but admire that pike. If he is that pugnacious now, what will he be like when he weighs twenty-pounds. With his luck he will get that size and bigger. Good for him, but I still don’t have my photos.

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Even with all today’s emphasis on technology, gaming stations and cell phones, most youngsters still find a certain fascination with fishing. A youth’s excitement at pulling a fish from the watery world of a lake, stream or river is something that has endured for ages.

I vividly recall the first fish I caught on a rod and reel. My dad and I were out in a boat fishing for sunfish. He showed me how to bait the hook and instructed me to keep a sharp eye on my bobber. It was only a few minutes before the bobber suddenly sank from sight. Words can’t explain the excitement that sinking  bobber caused in me. All the anticipation and enthusiasm I had been storing up came out in one big rush as I threw my rod and reel on the floor of the boat and pulled in the struggling bluegill hand over hand. I imagine my dad thought it was rather funny, but all I can remember is being embarrased. I think it was the last time I dropped my rod and reel and elected to pull the fish in by hand.

The bluegill was not even a big one. In fact, it was on the small side, but it looked like a whale that day. We continued to catch fish and enjoy the day. I pestered my father with silly questions like “Are they called sunfish because they bite best on sunny days?” and “Would the fish bite me if they had the chance?”

If I had to single out my happiest fishing days it would be those days when I was young. I was thrilled more then by a biting fish, and I took nothing for granted.

When I first started journaling my outdoor exploits, I wrote about taking my first boy on his first fishing trip. Since then I have introduced three more children to the sport – the youngest one just this spring. They have taken to the sport with various amounts of interest. Some consider it fun now and then, others want to go every chance they get. But one thing remains constant with all of them – we get closer when we go fishing together. I’m convinced that if you don’t take your kids fishing you are missing out on a great experience. It is a blast and teaches young people a form of good clean recreation. But most of all, fishing bridges any gap left by a generation of time and gives parents and children something in common. I don’t know who will enjoy it the most, the parent or the child!

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Have you ever thought about why a walleye will bite on a leech, or even a nightcrawler for that matter? Unless there is some sort of natural displacement phenomenon that I’m not aware of, I doubt a walleye happens across a leech or a night crawler very often.

In all the icthyology (study of fish) books I have, only one mentioned that leeches were a part of a walleye’s diet. There’s a chance that a leech may wander into deeper walleye haunts and get gobbled up. Yet do you know where they get the kind of leeches you buy at a bait store? They’re caught in swamps and ponds with lush cattail, lily pad, and algal growth. Not exactly what you’d call walleye waters.

How about nightcrawlers? No fish book I have says nightcrawlers are standard walleye fare, or even a fraction thereof. Now a river walleye may run across a ‘crawler that slithered into the current, but in a lake it’s not likely.

So why do walleyes, and other fish, devour these unlikely baits? My guess is they just seem like darn good food at the moment. What does a fish care if they’ve never seen them before?

Actually, fish like baits that are even more far fetched than leeches and nightcrawlers. I’ve caught sunnies on bread wadded up on a hook. Once a bunch of us kids at a family reunion caught some on potato chips. The tough part was getting a chip on a hook. There was a time in desperation when I hooked a chunk of bacon on a big hook and added a piece of orange peel. The bacon would ripple through the water just like a snake. And the orange peel gave it a neat color contrast. I thought it looked great – and a big northern or bass did to. That fish swallowed it right down but I managed to lose it before we could get a hand on it. Now that I think of it, that piece of bacon came through the water just like one of those new Sluggo baits that are so popular. There was even a lure called the Porko made of pork rind. Another great idea I didn’t capitalize on.

I have yet to catch a fish on a cigarette butt, however. That used to be the vogue saying years ago. You know, “the fish were biting so well they’d hit a cigarette butt flipped out into the water.” Anyway, who would want to eat a fish that had a butt in it’s mouth.

So unlike humans, fish are not what they eat. That’s a good thing. They don’t know what they like anyway. Leeches, bacon,  potato chips, nightcrawlers, and cigarette butts. If there’s a common denominator present, I can’t see it.

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I don’t know who was the first person to ever catch a fish, but I’ll bet they went back to their cave or hut and tried to think of a better way to do it. Everyone tries to come up with new methods of catching fish, it’s part of the sport.

Man’s desire to catch more fish is never more evident than in lure innovations. Every year new lures appear on store shelves that are supposed to be better than ever. Read More of the Story…

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