Grand Rapids, Minnesota fishing guide and Hall of Fame angler Tom Neustrom spends much of his time on the water jousting with panfish from first fight to frying pan. He often plays on their piscatorial instinct to eradicate whatever sparkles.

“Flash means food,” he says. “I don’t care if you’re a sunfish in the weeds or a crappie suspending over the lake basin. If it flashes, you’re getting after it.”

Of all the seasons and situations where metal matters, his favorite is midsummer and early autumn when the lakes are steaming and the panfish forgotten by the masses. At this time of year, certain weedbeds are tantamount to panfish housing projects.

“Not every shallow weedbed is full of panfish,” Neustrom says. “But many do hold lots of fish.” Given the opportunity, he concentrates on broad-leaf pondweed (cabbage) beds in 6 to 12 feet of water, but recognizes that panfish use other varieties as well. Depending on what’s available, they might also inhabit curly-leaf pondweed and Eurasian milfoil, as well as coontail.

What’s most important, regardless of species, is that the weeds exhibit core characteristics. Neustrom explains: “I search for the biggest and thickest weedbeds. Bigger means more fish and food to go around. Thickness provides better cover for baitfish, as well as ambush points for panfish.”

From a dietary perspective, Neustrom’s prescribed weedbeds are more of a supermarket than a corner store. Inventory runs deep. Selection is broad. Flashy and sassy young-of-the-year panfish—crappies, bluegills, and perch—are present and accounted for. Resident baitfish, such a flashy lake shiners share residency, as do edible-sized crayfish and sundry aquatic insects and crunchy crustaceans. Fish never need miss a meal.

Thickness also supports darkness, which in turn keeps temperatures in check. Fish retinas aren’t singed beneath a shadowy canopy of cover. Oh, and about that 80-degree surface water stagnating around the surface. Figure on it being slightly cooler below heavy vegetation.

“Big,” in Neustrom’s noggin means 30 yards across or better. “Thick,” constitutes cover that a water snake would struggle to slither through. That’s where pockets enter the equation. They produce the edges of ambush areas, as well as openings for fish to assault passing lures—more openings the merrier.

Neustrom also favors zones with multiple weedbeds, or clumps. Irregularity is a good thing, too. Deviations in a weedbed—cuts, fingers, holes, and thick to thin spots—hold more fish and as a bonus grant fishable access for the angler.

Premium beds have a certain look from above. Neustrom describes the treetops: “Normally, there’s open space between the tips of the weeds and the surface. A foot to 3 feet is common.” And it’s inside this operating space where he garishly flaunts metal and gets panfish to rise like Roman candles.

So we’ve identified that the consummate weedbed is massive. Its shape is amorphous, featuring knobs, slashes, and the like. There are probably multiple beds clustered in a greater area with lanes of various breadths between them. One thing is certain given this character sketch: you can expect to carpet bomb a lot of water to locate fish. And then, maybe, if you expose a concentration of fish, a more one-on-one approach like casting a bobber and jig or minnow becomes efficient.

In the meantime, per Neustrom’s nudging, it’s wiser to swing with a wide sword. Confronted with so much greenery, he busts out the blades and trolls.

Track System on his Humminbird activated, Neustrom, a GPS-aholic, begins making lateral passes across the entire zone. At the end of each pass, trolling well past the edge of the weeds to ensure that the lure touches everything, he turns and runs back across taking a parallel path, this time 5 to 10 yards inside the original pass. The process continues until he’s left no weed unturned.

Along the way, if all goes as planned, he picks off multiple fish from a particular position. If so, he drops an electronic icon. A collection of marks signifies a concentration of fish. That’s a summons to postpone further trolling until the spot has been scrupulously peppered, characteristically with some type of jig, bobber, and livebait concoction.

Essentially, Neustrom’s trolling offering is off-the-shelf—an elementary adaptation of a livebait spinner rig. The greater spinner category is more associated with dragging walleyes from the depths than summoning panfish to the surface. But with a few tweaks it’s a bona fide panfish producer.

The rig looks like this: It begins with a plain-Jane baitholder hook, either a #10, #8, or #6, depending on the size and ferociousness of the quarry. Next in line comes a 5-bead series: brass, gold, red, orange, or chartreuse, depending on water color. They’re followed by a spinner blade on a clevis. The snell is 48-inches long and of 6-pound test, a small swivel on the end. The snap-swivel is crowned with another bead to protect the knot from a 1/16- or 1/8-ounce bullet sinker in full sliding mode.

There is genius behind each individual selection. The hook is chosen for its aptitude to carry a minnow message (but works perfectly with a small leech, too). Neustrom usually runs with a snout-hooked fathead minnow 2 to 3 inches long. The tubular shape is conducive to tight tracking and slips well through the weeds. As you might guess, while this technique catches its fair share of bluegills, it’s most effective on perch and crappies.

The beads aren’t a deal breaker, but Neustrom, who preps neurotically before a day on the water, does his best to color coordinate. The minnow, blades, and beads should be complementary. His first pick is brass followed by gold or silver—all of which pair well with the looks of a live minnow.  He keeps bead selection simple and goes with the same color for all the beads. Red his overall favorite color.

Blade shape and size are important, too. Neustrom: “The Colorado shape has a nice rotation and thump, but I also use Indiana blades. They both ride high and let you troll slower. A #3 or #4 blade works best.”

Neustrom’s trolling speed isn’t arbitrary. He begins at 1.1 to 1.2 mph. At that speed the blade churns seductively while running subsurface, just tickling the weed tops, but not crashing through the forest. Simply speed up or slow down to micromanage spinner assignment in the water column.

Backtrolling, stern acting as his masthead, Neustrom clutches a soft-tipped 7- or 7½-foot spinning rod. Out goes 30 to 40 feet of line—30 in the wind, 40 when it’s calm. Surprisingly, strikes often are jarring when you consider that we’re talking panfish. Upon impact, he drops back on the rod tip just a bit before making a gentle sweep set. Anything harder might leave a hole in the delicate maw of a crappie and emptiness in the livewell.

Sometimes, come the boiling-bowels of summer, the right sized minnows are scarce. And if you aren’t brandishing elite aeration, like Neustrom’s minnow-miracle-maker—the 6-gallon Frabill Aqua-Life Personal Bait Station—keeping bait alive is like keeping ice cubes in a cocktail. Try substituting a 2- or 3-inch soft jerkbait (fluke). Nose- hook it just like a live minnow. A few noteworthy options include Berkley’s Gulp! Minnow and Northland’s Smelt Minnow.

Noel Vick, Isanti, Minnesota, is a longtime contributor to In-Fisherman publications. Tom Neustrom is online at mnfishingconnections.com.