Don’t assume panfish want finesse — assertive lure presentations catch ’em, too! 

Fishing provides many rewards. I relish those rare, but important, ah-ha moments. The times when you test a hypothesis, often against conventional thinking, and get rewarded with steady fishing action.

One of these occurred 15 years ago on a frigid February night. In an ice house, three friends and I were trying to sweet-talk crappies using maggot-tipped ice jigs. Electronics displayed slow, fussy fish — or so we believed. 

Recognizing that we were all doing the same thing with poor results, I began to experiment with a small jigging minnow. After a couple snaps and drops, a crappie streaked in and smashed the lure. Repeating the process yielded another fish.

Naturally, my buddies became curious and I shared extra jigging minnows. For a while, we enjoyed steady action before the crappies called it a night and left.

That evening serves as reminder of the risks of assuming panfish want a finesse presentation. Currently, my approach is to begin assertively jigging a lure since it can catch more and better quality perch, crappies, bluegills and pumpkinseeds. Uninterested fish are a sign to move or try finesse tactics, but here are some advantages to starting out with a power-fishing presentation. 

Aggressive Tactics Tailored to Panfish 

Before diving into details, some context is in order. Power-fishing panfish, in my ice shack anyway, involves using a spoon, jigging minnow or lipless crankbait somewhere around the 1-inch to 2½-inch size. One can use upsized plastics for these tactics, but the focus for this article is hard baits jigged aggressively. 

Keeping in mind the fact that your audience is panfish and considering the current conditions are both very important with this approach. At dusk, in pre-front conditions, and during other feeding windows, active panfish may eagerly strike a meal-size lure after it swiftly darts around and then drops into the strike zone.

Neutral-mood panfish during tougher conditions may require small hops, shakes and other bite-triggering moves. This frequently applies to panfish initially attracted with large, fast lure movements. Such is the cat-and-mouse game that ice anglers must play with panfish, customizing a presentation based on fish response displayed on a portable sonar or underwater camera. While power-fishing a lure involves aggressive jigging cadences, sealing the deal using subtle moves is certainly part of the game.

A Powerful First Impression

Dropping a lure down a fresh ice hole and making it dart around erratically can trigger a reaction strike. Speed and surprise force panfish to make a split-second decision. It’s a golden moment when their instincts kick in and they attack.

Tightly grouped panfish may also be more inclined to bite a feisty lure. Each fish becomes increasingly eager to pounce as they inch closer, intensifying their competitive instincts. 

In that situation, a good strategy is  to jig several feet above the group. This forces interested fish to swim up to strike. Once hooked, the fish is then less likely to spook the others in the pack since it’s farther away.

Find Fish Fast

Related to the above scenario, aggressively jigging a lure makes fast work of exploring areas when trying to locate fish. A power-fishing presentation produces heaps of movement, flash and vibration — all of which entice curious panfish closer.

Interested panfish — whether they bite or not — give important feedback upon entering a sonar’s transducer cone. They reveal themselves, exposing the area’s potential. An angler can then fine-tune tactics to make fish bite.

Target the Big Ones

Power fishing a lure can trigger big fish looking for a meal. I suspect a speedy, sizeable lure may also appeal less to pint-size panfish, the ones all too eager to peck at finesse presentations. 

Consider the trend of catching bragging-size panfish on lipless crankbaits. Thanks in part to the lipless-crankbait walleye craze, several smaller versions have come to market suitable for upsized panfish tactics. Recently, I’ve had success swimming, snapping and shaking the Rapala Ultra Light Rippin’ Rap and Slab Rap. The Northland Tackle Rippin’ Shad and Yo-Zuri Rattl’N Vibe Mini are other options. The tight vibrations, rattles, tall profile and other lipless crankbait features flip a switch in the brains of big panfish and make them attack. One can also use darter baits from Salmo and Lindy.

What has been very interesting to me is watching fish react to a lipless crankbait on a Garmin Panoptix LiveScope unit. Crappies suspending over deep flats have swiftly smashed a Rippin’ Rap. On other lakes, the LiveScope revealed perch and pumpkinseeds racing across 8- to 12-foot weed flats to pounce on these lures.

A jigging minnow’s baitfish profile and diverse movement characteristics also stimulate sizeable panfish. A Jigging Rap or Jigging Shad Rap darting around, then gliding down in a wounded-baitfish arc attracts panfish and can stimulate a reaction strike. Yet, barely jiggling the hand or imparting faint nods with the rod tip make a jigging minnow rock, shimmy and quiver like a nervous baitfish. Those subtle accents are deadly for triggering strikes from hesitant mature fish.

Snap-jigging, fluttering and gliding straight spoons also catches big panfish. Spoons have a wobbly, tumbling action and a vertical profile, unlike the horizontal orientation of jigging minnows and lipless crankbaits. Those characteristics give an angler another option for determining panfish preferences.

Glide is Good

Power fishing a lure that falls off to the side is another good strategy. I use McGathy Slab Grabbers, the 13 Fishing Origami Blade, Lindy Flyer, Williams Ice Jig and VMC Tumbler spoons, as well as jigging minnows.

Getting a bait away from the hole expands its search area and engages more fish, helping with search tactics. A gliding action is also advantageous once fish are located.

Picture an 8-foot, sand-grass flat holding crappies and bluegills in a neutral mood. Fish are curious, but won’t travel far to inspect a presentation. Using a sideways swimming lure helps close the gap and pull fish toward you. This reduces the number of times you need to hole-hop, a potentially noisy proposition capable of spooking shallow-water panfish, even if only temporarily, and slowing the bite.

Here’s another trick to try with a Slab Grabber or side-dropping spoon on sand and mud flats where snags aren’t a concern. Let the bait fall from the hole on completely slack line, maximizing the distance it travels. After it touches the bottom, take up the slack with the reel, then raise the rod 1 or 2 feet to drag the bait along the floor. Small hops and drops can also be used. Panfish aren’t used to seeing a bait move horizontally along the bottom in winter, and it drives them bananas.

Drop Speed Details

It’s also a good idea to try lures with a delayed descent, which is to say they don’t sink like a rock. This is recommended for scenarios when a fast-dropping bait spooks panfish, which by nature are a skittish bunch. Aggressive panfish may be unaffected by a fast drop, whereas neutral-mood fish may prefer a lazy fall. This gets back to knowing your audience and tailoring power-fishing tactics accordingly.

The good news is that an angler can still use a fast lift and shakes to power-fish a slow-falling lure. When a quick raise is followed by the bait changing directions and then slowly, naturally falling, the results can be fantastic.

A delayed drop also extends a bait’s duration in the strike zone. This gets you more bites.

The Acme Hyper-Glide does this exceptionally well. It can be snapped to dash up and dart around unpredictably. On the fall, however, its hinged side wings open, creating drag and slowing its downward, fluid, swimming motion. I’ve riled up savage strikes from quality crappies on the 1.5-inch version.

Flutter spoons, like the Freedom Minnow Jigging Spoon and Williams Wabler, are also good picks. An upward snap delivers good flash, vibrations and movement. But, the icing on the cake is the fluttering and shimmering as they parachute downward like a wounded baitfish.

The VMC Tumbler Spoon is another neat one for shallow to mid-depth scenarios. It jukes and jives on the lift. When falling, its unique knuckle-bend produces a moderate tumbling action without pushing the bait too far to the side.

Panfish lipless crankbaits also have merit. One can aggressively snap an Ultra Light Rippin’ Rap, then let either the 1/16- or 3/16-ounce version drop at a moderate pace, shimmying seductively on the fall. Likewise with a 3/16-ounce Rattl’n Vibe Mini.

Of course, an angler can control the sink rate of a fast-falling lure through line tension. This is a wise play when using a heavier, straight-jigging spoon for deep-water panfish requiring some last-minute coaxing to strike. After lifting the spoon, follow the lure’s drop with the rod tip, maintaining semi-slack line.

These are important details because moving a lure at different speeds on the lift and fall — and sometimes in different directions — adds unpredictability to the presentation. Erratic behavior makes fish strike on instinct and is at the heart of a power-fishing approach.

Think of an aggressive, open-water retrieve with a jerkbait. After rapidly slashing the bait forward, it’s a sudden small twitch or a brief pause that makes predators pounce. In the predominantly vertical game of ice fishing, playing with rise and fall speeds, along with sideways movement, all have a similar effect.

Move It!

Another rule of thumb when power-fishing is to keep the lure moving. A stationary hard bait tends to encourage scrutiny from panfish.

As mentioned, moves don’t need to be big. Light nods with the rod and subtle shakes will maintain an artificial’s guise. Imparting these faint moves, combined with steadily raising the lure away from an interested panfish, will often trigger fish to strike.

There are exceptions, of course, such as tipping a lure with live bait. In this case, the lure is an attractor and a delivery system for the meaty morsel. Here, an assertive jigging sequence and some shakes, followed by a pause is often irresistible to panfish. This is another example of balancing power tactics while maintaining the ability to persuade reluctant fish to chew.

There are many ways to catch panfish in winter and each strategy brings its own risks and rewards. Power fishing gambles on being able to attract fish and then either trigger a reaction strike or coax the fish into biting using subdued moves with the same lure. Admittedly, aggressive tactics aren’t foolproof. When they do work, panfish hit hard, their size is often above average, and the action is some of the best you’ll experience on the ice.

— Tim Allard is an Ontario-based hard-water expert and author-photographer of the book, “Ice Fishing: The Ultimate Guide.”

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