Live Bait For Winter Panfish

Some will say nothing catches more panfish in winter than live bait. Others may disagree with this because of the new life like plastics on the market today. But chances are if you ask an angler out on the ice if they have live bait with them, they most likely have a container in their pocket containing there favorite live critter. Some of the most popular baits are wax worms, mousies, grubs, meal worm, butter worms, red worms and maggots. Many others will also have a bucket of minnows, a popular go to bait year round. Minnows can be extremely effective in winter on jigs, tip downs and tip ups. Most panfish minnows are in the 1 to 2 inch size range.

Most of these live bait options can be found at your local bait shop, or at a  shop near the lake where you are going to fish. When you go to the bait shop take some time to talk with the people at the bait shop. Ask what has been the most productive bait lately, and also ask about the presentation of that bait. Is this bait being put on a plain hook and set below a tip up, or is it used to tip a small jig and fished with a rod and reel. Any good bait shop will point you in the right direction on bait selection for a particular body of water. If there has not been a pattern that has produced fish recently, buy a few different baits to try. Try each of these baits with many different presentations, and let the fish tell you what they are looking for that day.

When fishing with the live worms (waxworms, mousies, maggots, meal worms, ect,), keep them in your pocket in a container that wont crush and never let them freeze. These baits are most often used to tip off a small jig. There are many good jig companies and far too many styles too list. This brings up another question you can ask at the bait shop, what are people using lately. You can find many popular jigs at Lureandtackle.com in the fishing store. Jigs come in many size, shapes and colors, and can also be made out of different metals (lead,steel,tungsten). The most popular jigs are painted with bright flashy colors, and some even glow in the dark. Metallic colors such as gold and silver have been a great go to jig more many anglers. Others like to use many different shades of yellows, and greens. Water clarity will also help you decide what color to use. In dark murky water go with a contrasting color such as a yellow or chartruse. In clear water conditions try to use a color that looks like an insect that is native to those waters. This is also called match the hatch.

When fishing minnows I like to use tip ups spooled with a heavy braided line, which helps keep the minnows where you want them. From the braided line I tie on a barrel swivel, then add a 2 foot leader of 4 to 6 lb. test fluorocarbon. Last you tie on a no. 6 or no. 8 treble hook. Your minnows  should be lively and checked often to make sure they are working hard for you. A dead or lifeless minnow wont attract many fish. Check your minnows to see that they are not down in weed cover where fish won't find them, also see that they are staying at the depth you intend them to be fished at. If they are swimming upward you can add a splitshot near the leader to hold them down. When you set your minnows on tip ups always start them at different depths too see what depth the active fish are at. Then you can set them all accordingly. I like too start 1 foot off the bottom and go up from there with my other lines.

Happy Fishing from LureandTackle.com