Guide To Popular Panfish Fishing Options In Mississippi

All about fishing for bream and sunfish in MS lakes and ponds.

Throughout the state of Mississippi you can find waters with populations of sunfish, including bluegill, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, redear sunfish, spotted sunfish, warmouth, white bass and yellow bass.

Panfish & Bream Lakes

Find fishing water in Mississippi and you probably will probably find one or more species of panfish. Private ponds, rivers and major lakes like Aberdeen Lake, Arkabutla Lake, Ross Barnett Reservoir, Bay Springs Lake, Bogue Homa Lake, Columbus Lake, Enid Lake, Grenada Reservoir, Lake Beulah, Lake Washington, Lake Whittington, Moon Lake, Okatibbee Lake, Pickwick Lake, Sardis Lake and Tunica Lake all have healthy schools of panfish.

Some of the better bream lakes include Lake Lamar Bruce, Trace State Park Lake, Flower Lake, Lakeview\Horn Lake, Tunica Cutoff, Beulah Lake, Lake Washington, Lake Ross Barnett, Lake Mike Connor, Lake Mary Crawford, Lake Jeff Davis, Pascagoula River Oxbow Lakes, Black Creek and Lake Perry.

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.

Mississippi State Record Sunfish

The state record bluegill was caught from a farm pond.

The state record green sunfish came from Waltmans Lake.

The state record hybrid sunfish came from a private pond.

The state record longear sunfish came from Black Creek.

The state record redear sunfish came out of Tippah County Lake.

The state record spotted sunfish was caught in Thompson Creek.

The state record warmouth came out of Black Creek.

The state record white bass came from Grenada Reservoir Spillway.

The state record yellow bass was served up by Pickwick Lake.

The state record yellow perch was caught from Mill Creek, Pickwick.

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.

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

Sunfish information in other states.