Guide To Ohio Panfish Fishing

All about fishing for panfish in OH lakes and ponds.

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

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

Panfish & Perch Lakes

Ohio waters are loaded with sunfish and an array of panfish. Ponds, creeks, rivers, parks and most fishing water in the state. They are plentiful in some of the larger impoundments including Alum Creek Lake, Atwood Lake, Berlin Lake, Buck Creek Lake, Buckeye Lake, Caesar Creek Lake, Charles Mill Lake, Clendening Reservoir, Cowan Lake, East Fork Lake, Grand Lake St Marys, Hoover Reservoir, Indian Lake, Lake Erie, Lake Milton, Meander Creek Reservoir, Mosquito Lake, Piedmont Reservoir, Pymatuning Lake, Rocky Fork Lake, Salt Fork Lake, Seneca Lake, Tappan Reservoir and West Branch Lake.

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.

OH State Sunfish Records

Salt Fork Reservoir produced the state record bluegill.

The state record green sunfish, redear sunfish, hybrid sunfish, pumpkinseed sunfish and warmouth all came out of private ponds.

Deer Creek served up the state record rock bass.

The state white perch record fish was pulled from Green Creek.

Lake Erie posted the state record yellow perch.

The state record white bass was caught from a gravel pit.

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

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.