At close range, with their bulbous and dreamy eyes, panfish—especially bluegills and crappies, but also perch—examine foodstuff for scrumptiousness and authenticity. Some items, both lures and real critters, pass inspection. Others fall short.

In-Fisherman contributor and guide Brian “Bro” Brosdahl has been momentarily perplexed by panfish. But he never lets them beat him, certainly never capitulates. His latest tactics are some of his best yet.

Droppers have been in the news for a while, now. The basic hookless vertical spoon, short drop snell, and hook or jig, is a confirmed killer for perch, trout, crappies, and bluegills, in certain situations. The spoon provides flash and mass while the smaller morsel tempts even jaded fish into striking.

Sometimes, though, even the puniest 1/100-ounce jig or scant #12 or #14 hook is too much. The dog-and-pony show works, as fish respond to the dropper and attractor, but they don’t assent to the business end, instead only gaping at it, maybe nosing it.

“It’s not unusual,” Brosdahl says, “for a bluegill to swim in, stop, flare his gills, and **** in the lure just enough to snip off the maggots or waxies. It’s a false hit, but the commotion still makes the rod tip jump a little.”

Bro’s seen this performance all too often in the viewfinder of his Nature Vision Aqua-Vu camera. “I’ve watched countless bluegills approach my lure and then put on the brakes about 1 or 2 inches away—then **** the lure in or, maybe, just sit and stare. On the Vex (Vexilar FL-18 sonar) it even looks like a hit; everything goes red, but they’re not even close to getting stuck.

“Those fish are off. No matter what you do, as far as jigging motion or changing lures, doesn’t matter. I’ve watched those same fish eat bits and pieces of waxies and maggots that came tumbling down the hole, though. They won’t touch the meat on the jig but they’ll eat fragments drifting by.”

The Bro-dropper aims to emulate and deliver those hunks of grub flesh and guts that panfish can’t refuse. The rig comes in a couple of models, too, one horizontal and the other vertical. And each, as Brosdahl says, has its place and time: “As a rule, I use the vertical dropper on crappies and perch and the horizontal version on bluegills. Crappies and perch usually rise to greet a lure. Again, from my time spent studying fish with the Aqua-Vu, crappies, and especially perch, are drawn up to feed.

“With bluegills, it’s more of a sideways thing. They’ll hang off on the sides and move back and forth at a bait. Sort of looks like a first-timer trying to back up a boat trailer, constantly running forward and backward.”

Bro, having been raised in the wild on bluegills, keeps a horizontal dropper constantly ready. Never know when circumstance might warrant. Fortunately, too, the rig isn’t difficult to create.