Panther Martins for Warm Water

   My son with a nice crappie caught on a Panther Martin spinner.

Not too long ago, Shoreman from Northern California Trout gave me a hot tip when I posted about fly fishing for bluegill at a local pond.

Here is his comment and my response.

Shoreman said...

I would be interested in finding out, the next time you fish this pond, if you would try a small black & gold Panther Martin about 1/16oz to 1/32oz and see if it would produce a good size bluegill. Some years ago, I caught a big one from a small pond (a lot smaller than this one) on that lure. Just curious.

nimrod243 said...

Shoreman,

Thanks for the tip! I promise I will try it and report back at my earliest convenience. It will be a fun little project, and if there is any hope of catching a nice sized bluegill, I'm up for it!

My friends, if you are looking for fishing advice, I recommend you pay Shoreman a visit.

A couple of weeks later, (with no camera on hand, of course) I purchased said lure and drove down to said pond. I caught a couple of respectable sized bluegill, and then it happened… (insert Jaws music) I cast near the dam and started reeling in slowly, when I had a good strike, and could feel a heavy fish at the end of the line!

I love that feeling of anticipation to see what I have at the end of my line. Sure enough, I reeled it in and saw that it was indeed the biggest bluegill I have ever caught, by a large margin! This thing was probably 10 1/2 inches long and about two times the thickness of my hand. I wished I had a scale to weigh the bruiser, probably would have been close to a pound, I think.

Since I didn’t have a camera with me, and I didn’t plan on eating it, I gently released it in hopes of catching it again when I actually have a camera with me.

Undoubtedly, you are thinking I am just making up another fish story to keep up your interest, but I give you my word of honor that this is a true story!

A couple of nights later, I caught a nice crappie (which I let my son reel in) and a largemouth bass on the same lure, which was really exciting because I had never caught either species at this particular pond. I love making these discoveries (with a little help from Shoreman in this case) when I am fishing. Reminds me of the day I reeled this in.

Reminiscing about the formidable Panther Martin also takes me back to a day several years ago when I was in Colorado and we went fishing at a reservoir where “there are rainbow trout up to six pounds” (reportedly).

It was a reservoir near Grand Junction, Colorado. That’s about all I can remember of the whereabouts of this particular body of water. I think we ended up at the wrong place though, because we sure as hell didn’t catch any six pound rainbows...

I was casting a Panther Martin spinner similar to the one described above and caught a nice largemouth bass, probably about 11 inches long or so. Not too shabby for a “dyed in the wool” trout fisherman like myself. Who knew them Panther Martin spinners were so good for warm water fish?

Thanks, Shoreman!

Tight Lines!
~nimrod243