Guide To Panfish Fishing In South Carolina

All about fishing for sunfish in SC lakes and ponds.

Throughout the state of South Carolina you can find waters with populations of sunfish, including bluegill, flier sunfish, pumpkinseed sunfish, redbreast sunfish, redear sunfish, warmouth, white bass, white perch and yellow perch. Panfish waters are everywhere in SC. Lakes, rivers, ponds and parks have one or more species of sunfish.

The major SC lakes, including Clarks Hill Lake, Lake Blalock, Lake Bowen, Lake Greenwood, Lake Hartwell, Lake Jocassee, Lake Keowee, Lake Marion, Lake Monticello, Lake Moultrie, Lake Murray, Lake Wylie, Parr Reservoir, Lake Russell and Wateree Lake all have sunfish.

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.

South Carolina State Record Sunfish

The state record bluegill was caught from a pond in Lancaster County.

The state record flier sunfish came from a pond in Hemingway.

The state record pumpkinseed sunfish came from the North Saluda River.

The state record redbreast sunfish came out of the Lumber River.

The state record redear sunfish came out of the Diversion Canal.

The state record warmouth came out of a pond in Clarendon County.

The state record white bass came from Lake Murray.

Two state record white perch (tie) one caught out of Lake Wylie, the other from Lake Marion.

The state record yellow perch was caught from Lake Keowee.

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

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

Sunfish information in other states.