Sunfish fishing question?????

[Trapping God]

i am taking a trip up to detroit lakes and they have a nice panfish stock to their lakes. I will be fishing from the dock and there is a huge patch of lilly pads to my left and some weeds to my right. Not to mention some deeper open water behind me. My question is how to fish for some big slab panfish without using a bobber? I have heard a beetle spinner works good. And some bait options would be appreciated to!!!!!! Thanks

[Bug Guy]

Small jigs on 4lb line retrieved slowly will work, assuming the larger fish are there. When I was fishing from the docks at various lakes it seemed to help to take the smaller fish and release them close to shore and under the dock. That seemed to let the larger fish have a crack at the bait. The smaller fish are always more aggressive. As far as bait choices, I would try to skip the bait until you have thinned the herd a little using artificials and getting the really active fish first. Then I would use small leeches. The hold up better the the constant pecking of the smaller fish. Hope this helps. Good luck.

[Slabgrabber]

i am taking a trip up to detroit lakes and they have a nice panfish stock to their lakes. I will be fishing from the dock and there is a huge patch of lilly pads to my left and some weeds to my right. Not to mention some deeper open water behind me. My question is how to fish for some big slab panfish without using a bobber? I have heard a beetle spinner works good. And some bait options would be appreciated to!!!!!! Thanks

The clarity of the water would make a difference. Having never been there I would just assume the water is clear. Also, by slab pan fish do you mean crappie or bluegill? If bluegill, then just use night crawlers - half a worm at a time. Use a weighted 1/32 hook to get the bait down pass the small fish faster. Use a heavier weighted hook if you have to. For crappie use a 1/32 oz tub jig tipped with a fathead minnow. Try it without a plastic tub. If that doesn’t work put a tub jig on tipped with a minnow. Try it with no minnow. Try different color tub jigs as the days sun light changes. Crappies can be caught any time of day but an hour before dark and an hour after dark is prime time! Crappies like slow and subtle so fish that jig slow, in fact you can drop a jig straight down and hold it as dead still as you can and still get a hit. If your making a V in the water with your line your fishing too fast!