3 Ways To Bigger Sunfish

If sunfish have moved off beds and into deeper water, chances are you can locate them among submerged trees, brush piles, log jams, and manmade cribs. And, of course, deep weed lines, especially here in the upper Midwest.

With a modern fish finder and trolling motor it’s not only much easier to locate these areas, its possible to electronically anchor into perfect position for pitching or fishing vertically. Depending on the depth and how spooky the fish are, my favorite method for fishing structure-oriented sunfish is vertical jigging.

Often, the biggest panfish are buried deep in the structure and can be hard to catch. Electronics make it a lot easier, whether you’re watching your jig and fish on 2D Sonar set to a narrow cone or have adopted front-facing sonar set to the down-looking position. Maybe you fish completely without electronics and simply drop your bait until you feel the tickle of branches. It can all work.

#1: Go Vertical With A Spoon Hybrid

For years I fished snaggy areas with a micro-tube or simple jig-head and live bait. The only problem with horizontal-oriented lures is they get hung up a lot. Then, a couple years ago, Mike Everett, owner of Hank’s Bait & Tackle in Waterloo, Iowa, introduced me to a vertical minnow-spoon hybrid with a dropper chain and a single gold hook called the 1.5-inch Jigger Minnow, handmade by Schuck’s Lures.

“If I’m fishing big bluegills, I’m never without one on my rod,” said Everett. “Vertically jigged, they slip right through the branches and get to the biggest bluegills. I’ll use a waxworm or a chunk of red worm on the hook. Sometimes it’s a fish on every drop—and you don’t get snagged.”

After testing Everett’s secret weapon on a couple farm ponds filled with submerged trees and brush I became an instant convert—and soon discovered that micro-plastics often work as well as live bait on the single gold hook, especially Liquid Willowcat’s Beaver Tail, Rat Tail, and Finesse Tail scented baits.

The benefit of going artificial? You don’t have to re-bait your hook after each fish; it’s possible to catch a dozen or more sunfish on one plastic bait. Then I’ll add a couple drops of Liquid Willowcat Larvae Scent and go back at it again. If fish are really fussy, I’ll add one waxworm or maggot to the hook with micro-plastic.

#2: Try Bigger: Pitching Rock, Hard Bottom, & Sparse Vegetation

On clear waters with rock, sand, gravel, and an abundance of crawfish, hellgrammites, and other bottom-dwelling critters, I’ve found you can go larger in bait size to catch big sunfish, particularly bluegills, redears, and green sunfish.

It happened by accident. I was fishing bass on a rock quarry with a friend and we stumbled into some giant sunfish with my all-time favorite football head soft-plastics, Fitt Premium Lures’ Big Willie, Helgra-Leech, and Undulator. Dressed on a Northland Finesse Football Head jig-head, the first big ‘gill came between bass catches. Then a big green sunfish. And another ‘gill. So, we stopped fishing, and I suggested we size down in football head to 3/16-ounce and switch to the smaller-profile Willie Wanna Be and Chillee Willie—all baits with added silicone hairs and an O-ring. As far as color, green pumpkin was king.

The big sunfish bite got even more furious, proof that big sunfish eat smaller crawfish, hellgrammites, leeches, and other bottom-dwelling critters because that’s what these baits resemble.

Previously reserved to my clear- and cold-water desert island bass bait box, I now fish big sunfish with these one-of-a-kind soft-plastics. They work great crawled along deeper bottoms, down ledges and drop-offs, and on shallow, hard-bottom flats with sparse vegetation.

#3: Fish Other Baits for Bigger ‘Gills: Ned Rigs and More

Since tackle-tinkerer and notorious fishing journal-keeper Ned Kehde came up with the Ned Rig, the bass world hasn’t quite been the same.

Thing is: Ned Rigs catch more than bass. Most of my 10-inch-plus sunfish have been caught on Ned Rigs like the 2.75-inch Z-Man Finesse TRD. And now Z-Man has an even smaller version available, the recently-introduced 1.75-inch Micro TRD, which I couldn’t be more excited to fish this spring.

Former Z-Man marketing manager/bait developer, Cory Schmidt, is a big bluegill nut.

“The new Tiny TicklerZ is my new favorite big bluegill bait,” said Schmidt. “A few years in development, its multi-tentacled tail provides a subtle wag which attracts the keen vision big ‘gills have to notice to finest details in prey. It’s a great search bait to cover a variety of depths or just work along the bottom like you would a Ned Rig.”

“Color-wise, I’m throwing green pumpkin 90% of the time. On stained waters I’ll fish chartreuse and black. But I think the magic lies in how the buoyancy of the ElazTech makes the tentacles stand up and quiver, emulating a minnow or insect feeding in the substrate,” he added.

“The Tiny TicklerZ is also deadly on a drop-shot rig, but you don’t need the bait that high up from the drop-shot sinker, 4- to 6-inches is perfect. A lot of times nose-hooking it on a panfish hook will produce as many fish as fished on the bottom with a jighead.”

Conclusion: Sunfish Conservation

We all love catching big sunfish (and eating them), but not all waters can support trophies if the population isn’t managed correctly. We’ve all seen it: many lakes have been fished out of large specimens. Without the big sunfish in the fishery, the overall population will start stunting and the overall size of the sunfish population will decrease.

Mindful angling is even more critical in the spring when big sunfish are sitting on beds, willing to attack any bait that comes their way …

So do your part—catch some big ‘uns, grab some photos, but let ‘em go. Keep medium-sized fish for dinner and you’ll ensure anglers like yourself have the opportunity to marvel at giant sunfish, too. They truly are a gift.

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