Indiana Lake Depths

Panfish · sunfish family

Bluegill

Lepomis macrochirus · also called bream, brim, pond perch

Native to IndianaRecorded in 105 Indiana lakes
Illustration of a bluegill in side view
AI-generated illustration, not a photograph and not to scale.
Spawns
From about 65°F in late spring; the peak is June, and some spawn into September
Nests
In colonies, 1–6 ft deep, usually on gravel
Favors
Lakes and impoundments with weed beds
Eats
Mostly aquatic insects
Indiana record
3 lb 4 oz — Pond, Greene County, 1972

Where bluegill have been recorded

105 of the 111 Indiana lakes on this site with fish records list bluegill, across 35 counties. Tap a dot to open that lake’s depth map.

Lake Wawasee, Kosciusko CountyLake Maxinkuckee, Marshall CountyJ C Murphey Lake, Newton CountyLake Manitou, Fulton CountyCrooked Lake, Steuben CountyCedar Lake, Lake CountyDewart Lake, Kosciusko CountyBig Chapman Lake, Kosciusko CountyKokomo Reservoir, Howard CountyOliver Lake, LaGrange CountyWorster Lake, St. Joseph CountyCedarville Reservoir, Allen CountyJames Lake, Kosciusko CountyKickapoo Lake, Sullivan CountyPike Lake, Kosciusko CountyBlue Lake, Whitley CountyWitmer Lake, LaGrange CountyStone Lake, LaPorte CountyDeam Lake, Clark CountyPretty Lake, LaGrange CountyHoffman Lake, Kosciusko CountyWestwood Run Lake, Henry CountyBeaver Dam Lake, Dubois CountyHuntingburg Lake, Dubois CountyLake Celina, Perry CountyBrush Creek Reservoir, Jennings CountyWall Lake, LaGrange CountyLittle Chapman Lake, Kosciusko CountyRound Lake, Whitley CountyBear Lake, Noble CountyIndian Lake, Perry CountyBixler Lake, Noble CountyCedar Lake, LaGrange CountyStarve Hallow Lake, Jackson CountyYellowwood Lake, Brown CountyGriffy Lake, Monroe CountyNyona Lake, Fulton CountyDiamond Lake, Noble CountyBarton Lake, Steuben CountyCass Lake, LaGrange CountyOlin Lake, LaGrange CountyFish Lake, LaGrange CountyHunter Lake, Elkhart CountyTroy-Cedar Lake, Whitley CountyPretty Lake, Marshall CountyMyers Lake, Marshall CountyWestler Lake, LaGrange CountyPrides Creek Lake, Pike CountyAppleman Lake, LaGrange CountyLawrence Lake, Marshall CountyRockville Lake, Parke CountyRiddles Lake, St. Joseph CountyLake Salinda, Washington CountySaugany Lake, LaPorte CountyLittle Long Lake, Noble CountyRoyer Lake, LaGrange CountyStory Lake, DeKalb CountyMessick Lake, LaGrange CountyLower Long Lake, Noble CountyScales Lake, Warrick CountyProvince Pond, Henry CountySand Lake, Noble CountyShakamak Lake, Sullivan CountyHackleburg Lake, LaGrange CountyLincoln Lake, Spencer CountyGreen Valley Lake, Vigo CountyWilliams Lake, Noble CountyLoomis Lake, Porter CountyBell Lake, Steuben CountyLukens Lake, Wabash CountyElk Creek Lake, Washington CountyFletcher Lake, Fulton CountyShock Lake, Kosciusko CountyEmma Lake, LaGrange CountySaddle Lake, Perry CountySpear Lake, Kosciusko CountyFerdinand State Forest Lake, Dubois CountyCypress Lake, Jackson CountyHog Lake, LaPorte CountyMollenkramer, Ripley CountyMcClish Lake, Steuben CountyRosser Park Pond, Lake CountySacarider Lake, Noble CountyPinhook Lake, St. Joseph CountyCedar Lake, DeKalb CountyEve Lake, LaGrange CountyRivir Lake, Noble CountyBuffalo Trace Lake, Harrison CountyBaugher Lake, Noble CountyGordy Lake, Noble CountyDixon Lake, Marshall CountySpurgeon Hollow Lake, Washington CountyW Keith Ruble Lake, Vigo CountyMartin Lake, LaGrange CountyRupel Lake, St. Joseph CountyPigeon Pit, Pike CountyChrisney Lake, Spencer CountySchlamm Lake, Clark CountyGambill Lake, Sullivan CountyWest Twin Pit, Pike CountyMartindale, Wayne CountyFunk Lake, Vigo CountyNarrow Lake, Sullivan CountyCrooked Creek Lake, Brown CountyCattail Pit, Pike County

Recorded here Other lakes with fish records

How we know

  • 105lakes where a DNR fisheries survey caught them

A lake can appear in more than one line. A lake that isn’t listed may still have them: records exist only where someone caught, netted or stocked them.

Inland lakes on this list run from 7 to 3,508 acres (median 76) and from 6 to 90 ft deep (median 30 ft).

How many turn up in DNR surveys

Indiana DNR crews survey lakes the same way everywhere: timed night electrofishing along the shore, plus gill and trap nets set overnight. The standard method makes lakes comparable. These are the DNR’s own sampling rates from its community surveys, 2008–2025 — a measure of how many fish a lake holds, not how many an angler will catch.

Found in
104 of 105 lakes surveyed this way
Typical rate
184 per hour where found
Highest
1,024 per hour
Method
fish per hour of night electrofishing

“Typical” is the median across the lakes where the survey caught at least one. Nets and electrofishing catch different fish: by the other method it turned up in 100 lakes at a typical 10.2 per net lift. A single survey is a snapshot of one season.

Highest survey rates on this site

  1. Province Pond, Henry 2021 1,024
  2. Wall Lake, LaGrange 2017 900
  3. Spear Lake, Kosciusko 2018 706
  4. Rosser Park Pond, Lake County 2018 700
  5. Worster Lake, St. Joseph 2016–2024 685
  6. Barton Lake, Steuben 2018 612
  7. Kokomo Reservoir, Howard 2019 608
  8. Martindale, Wayne 2018–2025 607
  9. Royer Lake, LaGrange 2019 596
  10. McClish Lake, Steuben 2017 594

Fish per hour of night electrofishing, with survey years. Survey effort and season differ between lakes.

Often found with

Share of these lakes that also list each fish.

How to recognize it

Five to nine vertical bars on each side, a solid black ear flap, and a distinct dark spot at the back of the dorsal fin. A small mouth on a deep, slab-sided body.

Don’t confuse it with

Pumpkinseed — A red spot on the rear edge of the ear flap and blue-green streaks on the cheek.
Redear sunfish — An ear flap with a red or orange border, and no dark spot on the dorsal fin.
Green sunfish — A much larger mouth, a white edge to the ear flap and short, rounded pectoral fins.
Hybrid sunfish — Sunfish cross-breed on shared spawning beds and show mixed features. The one pictured is a bluegill × green sunfish.

Up close

Illustration of a bluegill's head from the side, with a small mouth and a dark ear flap that is dark all the way to its edge.
Bluegill: a small mouth; the ear flap is dark right to its edge, with no colored rim.
Illustration of a pumpkinseed's head from the side, with wavy blue-green lines on the cheek and a bright red-orange spot on the tip of a short dark ear flap.
Pumpkinseed: a bright red-orange spot on the tip of a short dark ear flap; wavy blue-green lines on the cheek.
Illustration of a redear sunfish's head from the side, with a small mouth, a plain speckled cheek and a red crescent along the edge of the dark ear flap.
Redear sunfish: a red crescent along the edge of the dark ear flap; a small mouth; no wavy blue lines on the cheek.
Illustration of a green sunfish's head from the side, with a large mouth reaching below the middle of the eye, wavy blue-green cheek lines and a dark ear flap with a pale edge.
Green sunfish: a large mouth reaching below the middle of the eye; a dark ear flap with a pale edge; wavy blue-green cheek lines.
Illustration of a warmouth's head from the side, with a very large mouth, a red eye, dark stripes running back from the eye and a small dark ear flap edged in red.
Warmouth: a very large mouth, a red eye, dark stripes running back from the eye, and a small dark ear flap edged in red.
Illustration of a longear sunfish's head from the side, with a long dark ear flap bordered in white, wavy blue lines on the cheek and blue spots behind it.
Longear sunfish: a long dark ear flap with a white border; wavy blue lines on the cheek and blue spots behind it.

AI-generated close-ups, not photographs, drawn from the cited descriptions. They show what to look for; they are not a substitute for an expert identification (provenance).

Life in an Indiana lake

Bluegill live almost everywhere in Indiana, from farm ponds to streams, but they are most abundant in lakes and impoundments, where weed beds give them cover and insects to eat.

Males fan out beds side by side in colonies once the water reaches about 65°F, and guard them; the eggs hatch in 3–4 days. Bluegill reproduce quickly: where too few are removed they can overpopulate and stunt, and where too many big ones are kept, few large fish remain. Indiana has had no statewide bluegill bag limit since 1970.

Source: the sources below.

Rules and eating

Check the rules before you keep fish. Each lake page shows the regulations that apply there, and the Indiana Fishing Guide is the official source. Before eating fish from a particular lake, check the Indiana Fish Consumption Advisory.

All 105 lakes with bluegill

Show every lake, by county

Allen County 1

Cedarville Reservoir

Brown County 2

Crooked Creek Lake, Yellowwood Lake

Clark County 2

Deam Lake, Schlamm Lake

DeKalb County 2

Cedar Lake, Story Lake

Dubois County 3

Beaver Dam Lake, Ferdinand State Forest Lake, Huntingburg Lake

Elkhart County 1

Hunter Lake

Fulton County 3

Fletcher Lake, Lake Manitou, Nyona Lake

Harrison County 1

Buffalo Trace Lake

Henry County 2

Province Pond, Westwood Run Lake

Howard County 1

Kokomo Reservoir

Jackson County 2

Cypress Lake, Starve Hallow Lake

Jennings County 1

Brush Creek Reservoir

Kosciusko County 9

Big Chapman Lake, Dewart Lake, Hoffman Lake, James Lake, Lake Wawasee, Little Chapman Lake, Pike Lake, Shock Lake, Spear Lake

LaGrange County 16

Appleman Lake, Cass Lake, Cedar Lake, Emma Lake, Eve Lake, Fish Lake, Hackleburg Lake, Martin Lake, Messick Lake, Olin Lake, Oliver Lake, Pretty Lake, Royer Lake, Wall Lake, Westler Lake, Witmer Lake

LaPorte County 3

Hog Lake, Saugany Lake, Stone Lake

Lake County 2

Cedar Lake, Rosser Park Pond

Marshall County 5

Dixon Lake, Lake Maxinkuckee, Lawrence Lake, Myers Lake, Pretty Lake

Monroe County 1

Griffy Lake

Newton County 1

J C Murphey Lake

Noble County 11

Baugher Lake, Bear Lake, Bixler Lake, Diamond Lake, Gordy Lake, Little Long Lake, Lower Long Lake, Rivir Lake, Sacarider Lake, Sand Lake, Williams Lake

Parke County 1

Rockville Lake

Perry County 3

Indian Lake, Lake Celina, Saddle Lake

Pike County 4

Cattail Pit, Pigeon Pit, Prides Creek Lake, West Twin Pit

Porter County 1

Loomis Lake

Ripley County 1

Mollenkramer

Spencer County 2

Chrisney Lake, Lincoln Lake

St. Joseph County 4

Pinhook Lake, Riddles Lake, Rupel Lake, Worster Lake

Steuben County 4

Barton Lake, Bell Lake, Crooked Lake, McClish Lake

Sullivan County 4

Gambill Lake, Kickapoo Lake, Narrow Lake, Shakamak Lake

Vigo County 3

Funk Lake, Green Valley Lake, W Keith Ruble Lake

Wabash County 1

Lukens Lake

Warrick County 1

Scales Lake

Washington County 3

Elk Creek Lake, Lake Salinda, Spurgeon Hollow Lake

Wayne County 1

Martindale

Whitley County 3

Blue Lake, Round Lake, Troy-Cedar Lake

Sources

← All fish of Indiana