Species › North America · Freshwater › Redear Sunfish

Freshwater

Redear Sunfish

Lepomis microlophus · shellcracker, Georgia bream, cherry gill

Water temp
68–82°F
Peak season
Apr–May
Best light
Daytime
IGFA record
6 lb 4 oz (2.83 kg)
Redear Sunfish (Redearsunfishnctc.jpg)

Photo: Raver, Duane · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

OverviewWhere & WhenHow to CatchGearRegulationsRecordsForecastCatches

Overview

Redear sunfish look like a bluegill built for heavy work: a thick, deep body, olive-gold flanks with faint bars, a small mouth and a black ear flap edged in bright red on males and orange on females. They are native to the Southeast from the Carolinas to Texas and up the Mississippi to Illinois, and have been stocked widely into California, Arizona and the Southwest. Most fish run 8–11 in, but the stocked population in Lake Havasu, Arizona, feeding on invasive quagga mussels, has produced every recent world record and fish over 6 lb.

Unlike bluegill, redear feed mostly on the bottom, using specialized pharyngeal teeth to crack snails, clams and mussels, which earns them the name shellcracker. They school in deeper water than other sunfish, suspending over 10–25 ft flats and dropping to 30 ft in summer, and they rarely take surface baits. Spring spawning around the full moons of April and May concentrates them in colonies on sand and gravel in 3–8 ft, where anglers find them with worms and crickets. They are a favorite for their size, their habit of schooling by size and their mild, sweet fillets.

Typical size1/2–1 lb (0.2–0.5 kg); 8–11 in
Trophy2 lb+ in most waters; 4 lb+ in Lake Havasu
Table fareExcellent — sweet, flaky panfish fillets

Where & when

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Redear spawn when water reaches the upper 60s to low 70s°F (19–23°C), so the peak is March in Florida, April–May across the South and the Southwest, and June in the upper Midwest; summer fish are catchable but deeper.

Lake Havasu, AZWorld-record shellcracker factory on quagga musselsLake Okeechobee, FLHuge spring spawning beds; crickets and wormsSantee Cooper (Lake Marion), SCClassic South Carolina shellcracker waterLake Seminole, GAShallow grass flats loaded with spawning beds

How to catch

Bottom-fishing wormsThread a piece of red wiggler or nightcrawler on a size 6 long-shank hook with a small split shot 12 in above and let it rest on sand or gravel in 4–12 ft. Redear feed down, so a bait lying on the bottom outfishes one under a float most days.
Slip-float over spawning bedsDuring the April–May full moons, locate saucer-shaped beds in 3–8 ft near shoreline cover and suspend a cricket or wax worm an inch off the bottom under a slip float. Fan-cast quietly; beds hold dozens of fish.
Dropshot with small plasticsIn summer, locate schools on 15–25 ft flats with sonar and drop a 1/4 oz dropshot with a 1 in soft-plastic grub or mussel-colored craw. Shake it in place; this is how Lake Havasu giants are caught.
Drifting live bait off pointsDrift red worms or small crawfish on a split-shot rig across 10–20 ft points and submerged humps, letting the bait tick bottom. Once you hit a school, mark it and repeat the drift.

Gear

Rod6'6"–7' light or ultralight spinning
Reel1000–2500 spinning
Line4–6 lb monofilament or 10 lb braid with a 6 lb fluorocarbon leader

Lures

Small soft-plastic grubs on 1/32–1/16 oz jigheadsDropshot micro-plasticsTiny tube jigsSmall inline spinners

Baits

Red wigglersCricketsWax wormsSmall crawfishFreshwater clam meat

Regulations

Redear are usually grouped with bluegill under a generous combined sunfish or panfish daily limit with no minimum size, though a few states set lower limits on trophy waters. A freshwater license is required; Lake Havasu straddles Arizona and California and honors a reciprocal license arrangement.

Records

IGFA all-tackle world record: 6 lb 4 oz (2.83 kg) — Lake Havasu, Arizona, 2021 (Thomas Farchione). State and regional records are kept by each fish & wildlife agency.

Frequently asked

How do you tell a redear from a bluegill?

Look at the ear flap: a redear's black flap has a distinct red or orange border, while a bluegill's is solid black. Redear also lack the dark blotch at the rear of the dorsal fin, have fainter vertical bars, a longer pectoral fin and a deeper, heavier body.

Why does Lake Havasu produce world-record redear sunfish?

The lake is full of invasive quagga mussels, a protein-rich food that redear crush with their throat teeth and few other fish eat. Combined with a long growing season and a deep, clear reservoir, it has produced redear over 5 and 6 lb, far beyond the 2 lb trophies most waters give up.

Bite forecast — Redear Sunfish

Recent catches

Posted by anglers on the live map, filtered to Redear Sunfish.

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