With the unseasonably warm March and cool April, all attention has turned to hitting the lakes for some open-water fishing. With the gamefish season closed, my fish of choice is panfish. The opening day for gamefish in Wisconsin is the first Saturday in May. April and May are a great time to fish. The weather can be pretty comfortable, the boat traffic is much less than in summer, and the fish can be very active in pre-spawn locations.

The fish of choice for me are the bluegills and the crappies. In spring, I tend to find the active bluegills in less than 3 feet of water. I will search for the warmest water in the lake. I choose locations like the backs of bays or channels, and I look for soft, muddy bottoms as they seem to hold more fish compared to harder sand bottoms. The softer bottom holds more water and warmth. The softer bottom also contains more vegetation, providing food and shelter for the bluegills. Sometimes it can be hard to find the bigger bluegills; they move a lot depending on the weather. The prime locations don’t seem to change from year to year, so if you found them in a particular spot last year, there’s a good chance they’ll be back this year.

This time of year, the preferred bait is leafworms or waxworms. I will use a small Thill fixed-spring bobber and an ice jig. I like a tear drop or a Lindy Fat Boy. A tear drop provides a vertical presentation, while the Fat Boy horizontally presents the bait. Presenting the bait in two dimensions doubles your chances of catching the fish. If you want to use the smallest bobber you can get away with, that will keep your bait off the bottom. When fishing shallow water, your bobber will seldom go under. The slightest movement or twitch indicates the fish has bit, and that’s when you need to set the hook.

The water clarity in spring is usually some of the clearest water of the year. I choose to use a test no larger than 4 lb, Silver Thread. My rod and reel choice is an ultralight 6 ft length with a Mitchell Advocet reel. Bluegills are pre-spawn and can be very vulnerable this time of year, so be careful not to over-harvest and keep only what you will eat. Like the bluegills, crappies are also in a pre-spawn stage. In spring I usually find the crappies much deeper than bluegills. I start looking for them in 6-8 feet of water in the emerging weed flats. They tend to be nomadic and are genuinely a bite that is here today and gone tomorrow. A bobber is almost always necessary because I fish for them in weeds. Eliminating the bobber would mean moving the bait too fast to keep it out of the weeds. With this water depth, I will choose a Thill slip-bobber with either a small fathead minnow or a small plastic fish fished beneath.

Crappies do suspend in the water column so you will need to adjust your presentation to the mood of the fish. I like to start about 1 foot to 18 inches above the weed growth. I will use the same rod and reel combination for bluegills. Clear water again makes it challenging. I have found that long casts are a must, so the fish don’t get spooked. Keep moving to find a feeding school of fish. Because these crappies are pre-spawn they can be massive so keep a small net handy. Some good fishing can be had on many Southeastern Wisconsin lakes.

My favorites are Tripp Lake, Delavan Lake in Walworth County, and Fox Lake in Dodge County.

With winter behind us, it’s time to get the boat out and spend some time on spring panfishing!