Indiana Lake Depths

Panfish · sunfish family

Redear sunfish

Lepomis microlophus · also called shellcracker

Native to IndianaRecorded in 136 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

136 of the 186 Indiana lakes on this site with fish records list redear sunfish, across 41 counties. Tap a dot to open that lake’s depth map.

Lake Wawasee, Kosciusko CountyJ C Murphey Lake, Newton CountyHamilton Lake, Steuben CountyLake Manitou, Fulton CountyCrooked Lake, Steuben CountyCedar Lake, Lake CountyHardy Lake, Scott CountySylvan Lake, Noble CountyDewart Lake, Kosciusko CountyBig Chapman Lake, Kosciusko CountyWorster Lake, St. Joseph CountyKoontz Lake, Starke CountyLake Gage, Steuben CountyAdams Lake, LaGrange CountyJAMES LAKE, Kosciusko CountyKickapoo Lake, Sullivan CountyBig Lake, Noble CountySilver Lake, Steuben CountyStone Lake, LaPorte CountyWabee Lake, Kosciusko CountyBischoff Reservoir, Ripley CountyDeam Lake, Clark CountyPretty Lake, LaGrange CountyIrish Lake, Kosciusko CountyWestwood Run Lake, Henry CountyAtwood Lake, LaGrange CountyBeaver Dam Lake, Dubois CountyHuntingburg Lake, Dubois CountyLake Celina, Perry CountyBeaver Dam Lake, Kosciusko CountyBrush Creek Reservoir, Jennings CountyFox Lake, Steuben CountyWall Lake, LaGrange CountyLittle Chapman Lake, Kosciusko CountyKuhn Lake, Kosciusko CountyRound Lake, Whitley CountyLittle Turkey Lake, LaGrange CountyBear Lake, Noble CountyIndian Lake, Perry CountyStarve Hallow Lake, Jackson CountyYellowwood Lake, Brown CountyCenter Lake, Kosciusko CountyGriffy Lake, Monroe CountyStone Lake, LaGrange CountyNyona Lake, Fulton CountyDiamond Lake, Noble CountyBarton Lake, Steuben CountyCass Lake, LaGrange CountyFlint Lake, Porter CountySechrist Lake, Kosciusko CountyClear Lake, LaPorte CountyFish Lake, LaGrange CountyRound Lake, Noble CountyHunter Lake, Elkhart CountyPretty Lake, Marshall CountyMyers Lake, Marshall CountyPrides Creek Lake, Pike CountyUpper Long Lake, Noble CountyAppleman Lake, LaGrange CountyLawrence Lake, Marshall CountyRockville Lake, Parke CountyDiamond Lake, Kosciusko CountyEagle Lake, Noble CountyLake Salinda, Washington CountySaugany Lake, LaPorte CountyOtter Pit, Warrick CountyLittle Long Lake, Noble CountyRoyer Lake, LaGrange CountyStory Lake, DeKalb CountyHill Lake, Kosciusko CountyMessick Lake, LaGrange CountyLower Long Lake, Noble CountyScales Lake, Warrick CountyIndian Lake, DeKalb CountyProvince Pond, Henry CountySand Lake, Noble CountyShakamak Lake, Sullivan CountyHackleburg Lake, LaGrange CountyLincoln Lake, Spencer CountyPisgah Lake, Johnson CountyGreen Valley Lake, Vigo CountyWilliams Lake, Noble CountyLoomis Lake, Porter CountyBell Lake, Steuben CountyLittle Cedar Lake, Whitley CountyLukens Lake, Wabash CountyElk Creek Lake, Washington CountyLake Everett, Allen CountyShock Lake, Kosciusko CountyEngle Lake, Noble CountySaddle Lake, Perry CountySpear Lake, Kosciusko CountyFerdinand State Forest Lake, Dubois CountyCypress Lake, Jackson CountyHog Lake, LaPorte CountyFish Lake, Elkhart CountyMollenkramer, Ripley CountyMcClish Lake, Steuben CountyRound Lake, Steuben CountyOld Lake, Whitley CountySacarider Lake, Noble CountyMcClures Lake, Kosciusko CountyPinhook Lake, St. Joseph CountyEve Lake, LaGrange CountyBrokesha Lake, LaGrange CountyRivir Lake, Noble CountyBuffalo Trace Lake, Harrison CountyBaugher Lake, Noble CountyGordy Lake, Noble CountyDixon Lake, Marshall CountySellers Lake, Kosciusko CountyCrane Lake, Noble CountySpurgeon Hollow Lake, Washington CountyW Keith Ruble Lake, Vigo CountyGrouse Ridge Lake, Bartholomew CountyGreen Lake, Steuben CountyClear Lake, Porter CountyRupel Lake, St. Joseph CountyOgle Lake, Brown CountyWahkShinGah Lake, Huntington CountyStone Arch Lake, Johnson CountyPigeon Pit, Pike CountyChrisney Lake, Spencer CountySchlamm Lake, Clark CountyPleasant Lake, Noble CountyLake Arrowhead, Steuben CountyWest Twin Pit, Pike CountyMartindale, Wayne CountyNarrow Lake, Sullivan CountyCrooked Creek Lake, Brown CountyBoone's Pond, Boone CountySmalley's Pond, Fayette CountyMoss Lake, Noble CountyBryant Creek Lake, Monroe CountyCattail Pit, Pike CountySummit Lake, Noble County

Recorded here Other lakes with fish records

How we know

  • 136lakes 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 6 to 3,508 acres (median 72) and from 6 to 90 ft deep (median 32 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
124 of 170 lakes surveyed this way
Typical rate
4.4 per net lift where found
Highest
58.6 per net lift
Method
fish per net lift (gill and trap nets)

“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 121 lakes at a typical 18 per hour of electrofishing. A single survey is a snapshot of one season.

Highest survey rates on this site

  1. Stone Arch Lake, Johnson 2016–2024 58.6
  2. Appleman Lake, LaGrange 2012 34.0
  3. Indian Lake, Perry 2012–2018 29.5
  4. Round Lake, Noble 2013 29.2
  5. Starve Hallow Lake, Jackson 2021 27.5
  6. Myers Lake, Marshall 2018 24.8
  7. Center Lake, Kosciusko 2020 24.5
  8. Bell Lake, Steuben 2015 23.0
  9. Barton Lake, Steuben 2018 21.5
  10. Story Lake, DeKalb 2019 21.2

Fish per net lift (gill and trap nets), 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 136 lakes with redear sunfish

Show every lake, by county

Allen County 1

Lake Everett

Bartholomew County 1

Grouse Ridge Lake

Boone County 1

Boone's Pond

Brown County 3

Crooked Creek Lake, Ogle Lake, Yellowwood Lake

Clark County 2

Deam Lake, Schlamm Lake

DeKalb County 2

Indian Lake, Story Lake

Dubois County 3

Beaver Dam Lake, Ferdinand State Forest Lake, Huntingburg Lake

Elkhart County 2

Fish Lake, Hunter Lake

Fayette County 1

Smalley's Pond

Fulton County 2

Lake Manitou, Nyona Lake

Harrison County 1

Buffalo Trace Lake

Henry County 2

Province Pond, Westwood Run Lake

Huntington County 1

WahkShinGah Lake

Jackson County 2

Cypress Lake, Starve Hallow Lake

Jennings County 1

Brush Creek Reservoir

Johnson County 2

Pisgah Lake, Stone Arch Lake

Kosciusko County 17

Beaver Dam Lake, Big Chapman Lake, Center Lake, Dewart Lake, Diamond Lake, Hill Lake, Irish Lake, JAMES LAKE, Kuhn Lake, Lake Wawasee, Little Chapman Lake, McClures Lake, Sechrist Lake, Sellers Lake, Shock Lake, Spear Lake, Wabee Lake

LaGrange County 14

Adams Lake, Appleman Lake, Atwood Lake, Brokesha Lake, Cass Lake, Eve Lake, Fish Lake, Hackleburg Lake, Little Turkey Lake, Messick Lake, Pretty Lake, Royer Lake, Stone Lake, Wall Lake

LaPorte County 4

Clear Lake, Hog Lake, Saugany Lake, Stone Lake

Lake County 1

Cedar Lake

Marshall County 4

Dixon Lake, Lawrence Lake, Myers Lake, Pretty Lake

Monroe County 2

Bryant Creek Lake, Griffy Lake

Newton County 1

J C Murphey Lake

Noble County 20

Baugher Lake, Bear Lake, Big Lake, Crane Lake, Diamond Lake, Eagle Lake, Engle Lake, Gordy Lake, Little Long Lake, Lower Long Lake, Moss Lake, Pleasant Lake, Rivir Lake, Round Lake, Sacarider Lake, Sand Lake, Summit Lake, Sylvan Lake, Upper Long 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 3

Clear Lake, Flint Lake, Loomis Lake

Ripley County 2

Bischoff Reservoir, Mollenkramer

Scott County 1

Hardy Lake

Spencer County 2

Chrisney Lake, Lincoln Lake

St. Joseph County 3

Pinhook Lake, Rupel Lake, Worster Lake

Starke County 1

Koontz Lake

Steuben County 11

Barton Lake, Bell Lake, Crooked Lake, Fox Lake, Green Lake, Hamilton Lake, Lake Arrowhead, Lake Gage, McClish Lake, Round Lake, Silver 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 2

Otter Pit, Scales Lake

Washington County 3

Elk Creek Lake, Lake Salinda, Spurgeon Hollow Lake

Wayne County 1

Martindale

Whitley County 3

Little Cedar Lake, Old Lake, Round Lake

Sources

← All fish of Indiana