Generally, 8-pound line is the best to use; it's light enough to fool skittish panfish, and it has enough strength to give you a fighting chance to land something a lot bigger.

If the suggestion of a closed-face reel surprises you, it shouldn't, as today's market offers anglers more choices in high-quality spincasting reels than ever before. Though the easiest of all for youngsters or novices of any age to use, these reels are valid tools for even the most serious of angler.

Today's fishing lines also are stronger than ever before. An 8-pound line is going to give you all of the fighting power you need to handle the majority of fishing situations you'll encounter when after panfish -- but with a line diameter small enough to be really effective on even the wariest of fish.

LURES
If you look through your favorite mail-order fishing tackle catalog, you're going to find more choices in artificial baits for panfish than ever before. If something has worked well for you over the years, by all means stick with it.

But if you're an angler who has relied mostly on natural/live bait for your panfishing, and you want to give some artificials a try, here are a couple that you can't go wrong with, based on personal experience.

For all-around fish-catching potential, it's really tough to beat a 3-inch soft-plastic curlytail grub on a jighead. The bait is large enough to attract attention from channel catfish that will go 5 pounds or more -- and it has done just that for me -- but it's also small enough not to intimidate crappie and sunfish.

Depending on prevailing conditions, you'll likely be rigging this on a 1/16- or 1/8-ounce jighead. In some extreme cases, however, you may have to go up to 1/4 ounce. From here, the 1/8-ounce head seems the best all-around choice.

Another panfish lure you should carry, believe it or not, is a small crawdad-imitation crankbait. You can find them from various manufacturers, and the ultralight sizes are best for panfish. It's best to have a few in a natural color combination and a few in a bright color. Use the former in clear water and the latter in stained or murky water.

The little plug I use is made by Rebel and has produced keeper-sized crappie, catfish and sunfish of all varieties. Colors No. 60 (a natural green with an orange belly) and No. 34 (chartreuse over orange) are the ones I rely on.

One other artificial bait that deserves a mention is the tiny safety-pin-style spinners with soft-plastic grub bodies that most of us grew up with. They can be particularly effective this month, because panfish become quite active and aggressive as water warms.