trophy sunfish

[Imgonnamissher]

I realized that decent bluegills are going to be widespread in PA waters, but if you had to choose two or three trophy bluegill waters in the eastern half of the state, where would you go. I'll be down there come July most likely armed with my 3 and 4 weights and a few foam spiders ready for battle. Can't wait.








Oh, and the trout and the bass are cool too....I guess...

 

[JasonS]

I believe if you check the PA fish and boat website they have the bluegill/sunnies trophy waters listed, that would be a good starting point. As far as trout and bass, which area specifically are you gonna be in, I'm sure someone on here can give you some ideas on where to fish.

 

[Imgonnamissher]

Thanks for the reply and especially the website recommendation. I've been getting some excellent info from this site and others for bass and trout. It seems to be a little tougher to pin down really excellent sunfish waters just because they are so overshadowed by the aforementioned gamefish. I gotta say, the more sunnies I catch, the more I come to appreciate their attitude and fighting style. Add that to the strength of a 10 inch 'gill on the end of a lighter tippet and I'll take that over lots of other types of fishing.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

The lakeside quarry in Myerstown has some very big panfish in it. Might be worth looking into. It also has carp, crappie and some nice bass in it. Oh yeah and those stocked brook trout fingerlings ;-)

 

[tomgamber]

Went for a quickie this evening at the local lake. Big bluegills are finally moving in. Caught a few dozen biggun's on dries...for a while it was one after another...

 

[ryguyfi]

I go to a private lake atleast once a season for bass and big sunfish. They fight better than the bass on most days. Also have a smallish pond in a state park that they are plentiful, just not very big. I like grasshoppers, poppers, small streamers, and ants, even though they hit just about anything.

 

[Fishidiot]

Imgonna,
Most of the public lakes at state parks etc have good sized bluegills. However, in my experience, the true trophies are rather tough to find after they're off their beds (which will be the case when you visit). Large lake/pond bluegills tend to suspend over deeper water or hold down on deep structure during the summer. The shoreline cover remains crawling with little dinks contributing to the common view that a lake's population is stunted. Personally, I prefer fishing rivers for bass/sunfish and find I'm able to catch a lot more large red-breast sunfish and rock bass in rivers than bluegills in lakes. In any event, if you're itching to take some big summer bluegills, try stripping a nymph along the outer edge of a deep weedline or over bottom structure. This typically takes a sinking line. A sonar graph helps too.

 

[osprey]

Imgonnamissher.......Meadowgrounds lake in fulton county has the biggest bluegills i've ever seen in my life (i'm 53) and lots of em. The last time i was there late last summer my fishin buddy got one 12 and a half inches, we caught slabs all day. it's got special regs for panfish , if you like catchin big gills on the fly give it a try GOOD LUCK

 

[tomgamber]

Boy is that an interesting looking piece of terrain...

 

[osprey]

Yeah Tom there is a little bit of everything in that area of the state and you aren't far from the Raystown Dam there either , letterkenny army depot has a lake nearby too that is stocked with trout and is open to the public , nice part of PA.