Guide To Panfish Fishing In Nebraska

All about fishing for panfish in NE lakes and ponds.

Throughout the state of Nebraska you can find waters with populations of sunfish, including bluegill, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, pumpkinseed sunfish, redear sunfish, rock bass, spotted sunfish, white bass, white perch, yellow bass and yellow perch.

Panfish Lakes

Panfish are everywhere. And we mean everywhere. Find panfish in most private ponds, rivers and lakes including Bluestem Lake, Box Butte Reservoir, Branched Oak Lake, Calamus Reservoir, Conestoga Lake, Davis Creek Reservoir, Elwood Reservoir, Enders Reservoir, Glenn Cunningham Lake, Harlan County Reservoir, Harry Strunk Lake, Hugh Butler Lake, Jeffrey Lake, Johnson Lake, Kimball Reservoir, Lake Maloney, Lake McConaughy, Lake Minatare, Lake Ogallala, Lake Wanahoo, Lewis And Clark Lake, Medicine Creek Reservoir, Merritt Reservoir, Oliver Reservoir, Pawnee Lake, Red Willow Reservoir, Sherman Reservoir, Sutherland Reservoir, Swanson Reservoir, Wagon Train Lake, Wehrspann Lake, Whitney Lake and Willow Creek Lake. Some of these lakes, that freeze in winter, offer ice fishing for sunfish, perch and panfish.

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.

The state record bluegill was taken out of Grove Lake.

The state record green sunfish all taken from a private pond.

The state record hybrid sunfish from a private pond.

The state record pumpkinseed sunfish came from Box Butte Reservoir.

The state record redear sunfish came from Wildwood Lake.

The state record rock bass came from a farm pond.

The state record spotted sunfish were all taken from the Loup River.

The state record white bass was caught out of Gavins Point Tailwaters.

The state record white perch was caught out of a sandpit.

The state record yellow bass was caught out of Louisville Lake #2.

The state record yellow perch was caught out of Hackberry Lake.

One or more species of sunfish populate virtually all warm water streams, ponds and lakes throughout Nebraska, 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.

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

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.

Sunfish information in other states.