Indiana Lake Depths

Panfish · sunfish family

Redear sunfish

Lepomis microlophus · also called shellcracker

Native to IndianaRecorded in 84 Indiana lakes
Illustration of a redear sunfish in side view
AI-generated illustration, not a photograph and not to scale.
Typical adult
8–10 in, usually a pound or less
Eats
Mainly snails, crushed with special throat teeth
Spawns
May or June, in communal nests
Favors
Clear water with more rooted plants than bluegill use
Indiana record
3 lb 10 oz — Pond, Brown County, 1974

Where redear sunfish have been recorded

84 of the 111 Indiana lakes on this site with fish records list redear sunfish, across 33 counties. Tap a dot to open that lake’s depth map.

Lake Wawasee, Kosciusko CountyJ C Murphey Lake, Newton CountyLake Manitou, Fulton CountyCrooked Lake, Steuben CountyCedar Lake, Lake CountyDewart Lake, Kosciusko CountyBig Chapman Lake, Kosciusko CountyWorster Lake, St. Joseph CountyJames Lake, Kosciusko CountyKickapoo Lake, Sullivan CountyStone Lake, LaPorte CountyDeam Lake, Clark CountyPretty Lake, LaGrange 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 CountyStarve Hallow Lake, Jackson CountyYellowwood Lake, Brown CountyGriffy Lake, Monroe CountyNyona Lake, Fulton CountyDiamond Lake, Noble CountyBarton Lake, Steuben CountyCass Lake, LaGrange CountyFish Lake, LaGrange CountyHunter Lake, Elkhart CountyPretty Lake, Marshall CountyMyers Lake, Marshall CountyPrides Creek Lake, Pike CountyAppleman Lake, LaGrange CountyLawrence Lake, Marshall CountyRockville Lake, Parke 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 CountyShock Lake, Kosciusko CountySaddle Lake, Perry CountySpear Lake, Kosciusko CountyFerdinand State Forest Lake, Dubois CountyCypress Lake, Jackson CountyHog Lake, LaPorte CountyMollenkramer, Ripley CountyMcClish Lake, Steuben CountySacarider Lake, Noble CountyPinhook Lake, St. Joseph 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 CountyRupel Lake, St. Joseph CountyPigeon Pit, Pike CountyChrisney Lake, Spencer CountySchlamm Lake, Clark CountyWest Twin Pit, Pike CountyMartindale, Wayne CountyNarrow Lake, Sullivan CountyCrooked Creek Lake, Brown CountyCattail Pit, Pike County

Recorded here Other lakes with fish records

How we know

  • 84lakes 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 72) and from 6 to 85 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
78 of 105 lakes surveyed this way
Typical rate
20 per hour where found
Highest
147 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 78 lakes at a typical 4.4 per net lift. A single survey is a snapshot of one season.

Highest survey rates on this site

  1. Saddle Lake, Perry 2013–2025 147
  2. Indian Lake, Perry 2012–2018 133
  3. Province Pond, Henry 2021 107
  4. Scales Lake, Warrick 2014–2024 95
  5. Kickapoo Lake, Sullivan 2017–2024 85
  6. Pretty Lake, Marshall 2017 84
  7. Pigeon Pit, Pike 2023 77
  8. Hunter Lake, Elkhart 2016 76
  9. Westwood Run Lake, Henry 2016–2022 74
  10. Buffalo Trace Lake, Harrison 2013–2018 73

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 small mouth, a checkered pattern of dark spots, and long pectoral fins that reach past the eye when folded forward. The ear flap has a red or orange border.

Don’t confuse it with

Bluegill — A solid black ear flap, dark vertical bars and a dark spot at the rear of the dorsal fin.
Pumpkinseed — A red spot on the ear flap too, but with wavy blue lines on the cheek.

Up close

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 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 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

Redear sunfish prefer clear, weedy water and do poorly in current. They crack snails and other shelled animals with hard plates in the throat — hence “shellcracker”.

Like most sunfish they nest in groups; the male guards the nest until the eggs hatch. After spawning, redear move to deeper water for the summer. Bluegill and redear are the most-fished sunfish in Indiana.

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 84 lakes with redear sunfish

Show every lake, by county

Brown County 2

Crooked Creek Lake, Yellowwood Lake

Clark County 2

Deam Lake, Schlamm Lake

DeKalb County 1

Story Lake

Dubois County 3

Beaver Dam Lake, Ferdinand State Forest Lake, Huntingburg Lake

Elkhart County 1

Hunter Lake

Fulton County 2

Lake Manitou, Nyona Lake

Harrison County 1

Buffalo Trace Lake

Henry County 2

Province Pond, Westwood Run Lake

Jackson County 2

Cypress Lake, Starve Hallow Lake

Jennings County 1

Brush Creek Reservoir

Kosciusko County 7

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

LaGrange County 9

Appleman Lake, Cass Lake, Eve Lake, Fish Lake, Hackleburg Lake, Messick Lake, Pretty Lake, Royer Lake, Wall Lake

LaPorte County 3

Hog Lake, Saugany Lake, Stone Lake

Lake County 1

Cedar Lake

Marshall County 4

Dixon Lake, Lawrence Lake, Myers Lake, Pretty Lake

Monroe County 1

Griffy Lake

Newton County 1

J C Murphey Lake

Noble County 10

Baugher Lake, Bear 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 3

Pinhook Lake, Rupel Lake, Worster Lake

Steuben County 4

Barton Lake, Bell Lake, Crooked Lake, McClish Lake

Sullivan County 3

Kickapoo Lake, Narrow Lake, Shakamak Lake

Vigo County 2

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 1

Round Lake

Sources

← All fish of Indiana