Indiana Lake Depths

Panfish · sunfish family

Green sunfish

Lepomis cyanellus · also called green ball

Native to IndianaRecorded in 45 Indiana lakes
Illustration of a green sunfish in side view
AI-generated illustration, not a photograph and not to scale.
Typical adult
3–7 in; up to 10 in
Tough
Tolerates muddy water, silt, low oxygen and heat
Spawns
Mid-May to August, in shallow colonies
Eats
Insects, snails, crayfish and small fish
Indiana record
1 lb 10 oz — Pit, Fountain County, 1987

Where green sunfish have been recorded

45 of the 186 Indiana lakes on this site with fish records list green sunfish, across 26 counties. Tap a dot to open that lake’s depth map.

Lake Wawasee, Kosciusko CountyLake Freeman, Carroll CountyCedar Lake, Lake CountyWinona Lake, Kosciusko CountyKokomo Reservoir, Howard CountyGlenn Flint Lake, Putnam CountyWorster Lake, St. Joseph CountyCedarville Reservoir, Allen CountyHurshtown Reservoir, Allen CountyKickapoo Lake, Sullivan CountyShipshewana Lake, LaGrange CountyDeam Lake, Clark CountyPretty Lake, LaGrange CountyWestwood Run Lake, Henry CountyBeaver Dam Lake, Dubois CountyBrush Creek Reservoir, Jennings CountyCedar Lake, LaGrange CountyGriffy Lake, Monroe CountyStone Lake, LaGrange CountyOlin Lake, LaGrange CountyRound Lake, Noble CountyWestler Lake, LaGrange CountyRockville Lake, Parke CountyLake Salinda, Washington CountyRoyer Lake, LaGrange CountyLower Long Lake, Noble CountyProvince Pond, Henry CountyLincoln Lake, Spencer CountyLoomis Lake, Porter CountyLukens Lake, Wabash CountyEmma Lake, LaGrange CountySaddle Lake, Perry CountyMcClish Lake, Steuben CountyPinhook Lake, St. Joseph CountyCedar Lake, DeKalb CountyBrokesha Lake, LaGrange CountyGordy Lake, Noble CountySellers Lake, Kosciusko CountyGrouse Ridge Lake, Bartholomew CountyRupel Lake, St. Joseph CountyChrisney Lake, Spencer CountyMartindale, Wayne CountyLindsey Lake, Noble CountyBoone's Pond, Boone CountyFancher Lake, Lake County

Recorded here Other lakes with fish records

How we know

  • 45lakes 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 9 to 3,508 acres (median 81) and from 7 to 82 ft deep (median 29 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
32 of 175 lakes surveyed this way
Typical rate
4.0 per hour where found
Highest
172 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 25 lakes at a typical 0.25 per net lift. A single survey is a snapshot of one season.

Highest survey rates on this site

  1. Kokomo Reservoir, Howard 2019 172
  2. Hurshtown Reservoir, Allen 2018 156
  3. Lake Salinda, Washington 2013–2025 37
  4. Deam Lake, Clark 2011–2024 16
  5. Pretty Lake, LaGrange 2018 16
  6. Shipshewana Lake, LaGrange 2022 16
  7. Griffy Lake, Monroe 2016–2019 9.0
  8. Martindale, Wayne 2018–2025 9.0
  9. Lincoln Lake, Spencer 2016–2024 8.0
  10. McClish Lake, Steuben 2017 8.0

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

A large mouth for a sunfish, with the jaw reaching the middle of the eye, a black ear flap with a white or pale border, short rounded pectoral fins, and blue lines on the cheek.

Don’t confuse it with

Bluegill — A small mouth and long, pointed pectoral fins.
Warmouth — Red eyes and dark stripes from the eye, with no blue cheek lines.
Hybrid sunfish — Green sunfish and bluegill often cross; the one pictured is a bluegill × green sunfish.

Up close

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 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 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

Green sunfish thrive where other sunfish can't: muddy creeks, small streams, weedy backwaters and new ponds, which they are often the first fish to reach. They like to hide around rocks, logs and brush.

Males build nests in shallow colonies and guard the eggs for the 3–5 days until they hatch, then try to attract another female. Most mature at two years.

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 45 lakes with green sunfish

Show every lake, by county

Allen County 2

Cedarville Reservoir, Hurshtown Reservoir

Bartholomew County 1

Grouse Ridge Lake

Boone County 1

Boone's Pond

Carroll County 1

Lake Freeman

Clark County 1

Deam Lake

DeKalb County 1

Cedar Lake

Dubois County 1

Beaver Dam Lake

Henry County 2

Province Pond, Westwood Run Lake

Howard County 1

Kokomo Reservoir

Jennings County 1

Brush Creek Reservoir

Kosciusko County 3

Lake Wawasee, Sellers Lake, Winona Lake

LaGrange County 9

Brokesha Lake, Cedar Lake, Emma Lake, Olin Lake, Pretty Lake, Royer Lake, Shipshewana Lake, Stone Lake, Westler Lake

Lake County 2

Cedar Lake, Fancher Lake

Monroe County 1

Griffy Lake

Noble County 4

Gordy Lake, Lindsey Lake, Lower Long Lake, Round Lake

Parke County 1

Rockville Lake

Perry County 1

Saddle Lake

Porter County 1

Loomis Lake

Putnam County 1

Glenn Flint Lake

Spencer County 2

Chrisney Lake, Lincoln Lake

St. Joseph County 3

Pinhook Lake, Rupel Lake, Worster Lake

Steuben County 1

McClish Lake

Sullivan County 1

Kickapoo Lake

Wabash County 1

Lukens Lake

Washington County 1

Lake Salinda

Wayne County 1

Martindale

Sources

← All fish of Indiana