Guide To Panfish Fishing Options In Illinois

All about fishing for panfish in IL lakes and ponds.

Throughout the state of Illinois you can find waters with populations of sunfish, including bluegill, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, redear sunfish, rock bass, warmouth, white bass, yellow bass and yellow perch. Ice fishing for perch and sunfish is popular, and a great way to introduce kids to fishing.

Panfish & Perch Lakes

While you can find panfish in virtually all fishing waters in the state, the most consistent stringers tend to come from larger lakes including Anderson Lake, Carlyle Lake, Cedar Lake, Clinton Lake, Coffeen Lake, Crab Orchard Lake, Devils Kitchen Lake, Fox Chain O' Lakes, Governor Bond Lake, Heidecke Lake, Kinkaid Lake, Lake Carroll, Lake Decatur, Lake Lou Yeager, Lake Mattoon, Lake Michigan, Lake Of Egypt, Lake Shelbyville, Lake Springfield, Lake Taylorville, Little Grassy Lake, Newton Lake, Otter Lake, Pistakee Lake and Rend Lake. Smaller waters, and especially private ponds, may serve up an occasional monster on occasion.

Top Producing Panfish Lures & Bait

Check out the top producing lures and bait for bluegill, redear sunfish, rock bass and warmouth, as well as other smaller sunfish. Click here for the best lures for white bass, yellow bass, white perch and yellow perch.

Click the images and links above for species details.

Illinois State Record Sunfish

The state record bluegill was caught from a private pond.

The state record green sunfish came from a private pond.

The state record hybrid sunfish came from a private pond.

The state record redear sunfish came out of Marion CC Lake.

The state record rockbass was caught in Aux Sable Creek .

The state record warmouth came out of a private pond.

The state record white bass came from the Kaskaskia River .

The state record yellow bass was taken from a private pond.

The state record yellow perch was caught from Arrowhead Club Lake.

One or more species of sunfish populate virtually all warm water streams, ponds and lakes throughout Illinois, and around the world for that matter. They can survive in waters that provide their natural food source of minnows, insects, crustaceans and worms. Their competitive nature amongst themselves, for food, makes them relatively easy to catch.

Bluegill Fishing Basics Video

The core principles shown in this video will work for most sunfish, perch and other panfish.

Panfish are prolific spawners and repopulate the waters as fast as they are harvested. A common problem with panfish fishing is that the waters are under-fished causing panfish to overpopulate. As a result they tend to stay small in size due to lack of food source.

The term "panfish" comprises many species, each called by a variety of names. The bluegill tops the list and is the most common.

Sunfish information in other states.