Indiana Lake Depths

Panfish · sunfish family

Warmouth

Lepomis gulosus · also called stumpknocker

Native to IndianaRecorded in 90 Indiana lakes
Illustration of a warmouth in side view
AI-generated illustration, not a photograph and not to scale.
Typical adult
6–8 in, occasionally 11 in; usually under a pound
Spot it by
Red eyes and dark stripes running back from the eye
Spawns
May through July, in single nests, not colonies
Favors
Clear, shallow, weedy water; hides around stumps and brush
Indiana record
1 lb 6.4 oz — North Dugger Pit, Sullivan County, 2002

Where warmouth have been recorded

90 of the 111 Indiana lakes on this site with fish records list warmouth, across 29 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 CountyDewart Lake, Kosciusko CountyBig Chapman Lake, Kosciusko CountyOliver Lake, LaGrange CountyWorster Lake, St. Joseph CountyJames Lake, Kosciusko CountyKickapoo Lake, Sullivan CountyBlue Lake, Whitley CountyWitmer Lake, LaGrange CountyStone Lake, LaPorte CountyDeam Lake, Clark CountyPretty Lake, LaGrange CountyHoffman Lake, Kosciusko 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 CountyPretty Lake, Marshall CountyMyers Lake, Marshall CountyWestler Lake, LaGrange CountyPrides Creek Lake, Pike CountyAppleman Lake, LaGrange CountyLawrence Lake, Marshall CountyRiddles Lake, St. Joseph CountyLake Salinda, Washington CountySaugany Lake, LaPorte CountyLittle Long Lake, Noble CountyStory Lake, DeKalb CountyMessick Lake, LaGrange CountyLower Long Lake, Noble CountyScales Lake, Warrick 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 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 CountyEve Lake, LaGrange CountyRivir Lake, Noble 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 CountyWest Twin Pit, Pike CountyFunk Lake, Vigo CountyNarrow Lake, Sullivan CountyCrooked Creek Lake, Brown CountyCattail Pit, Pike County

Recorded here Other lakes with fish records

How we know

  • 90lakes 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 77) and from 6 to 90 ft deep (median 33.5 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
10 per hour where found
Highest
68 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 76 lakes at a typical 1.0 per net lift. A single survey is a snapshot of one season.

Highest survey rates on this site

  1. Eve Lake, LaGrange 2016 68
  2. Rosser Park Pond, Lake County 2018 68
  3. Saddle Lake, Perry 2013–2025 57
  4. Scales Lake, Warrick 2014–2024 45
  5. Hunter Lake, Elkhart 2016 42
  6. Yellowwood Lake, Brown 2019 42
  7. Lake Celina, Perry 2012–2025 39
  8. Lawrence Lake, Marshall 2017 36
  9. Kickapoo Lake, Sullivan 2017–2024 35
  10. Cattail Pit, Pike 2023 34

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 very large mouth for a sunfish, red eyes, and dark stripes running from the eye across the cheek to the ear flap. The ear flap is small with a red border, and the pectoral fins are short and rounded. It can change quickly from light to dark brown.

Don’t confuse it with

Rock bass — Six spines in the anal fin (warmouth have three), a dark teardrop under the eye, and a black margin to the fins.
Green sunfish — Also big-mouthed, but with blue lines on the cheek and a white-edged ear flap.

Up close

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 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 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

Warmouth are secretive fish of clear, shallow water with dense rooted plants — natural lakes, sluggish streams, oxbows and marshes — hiding among stumps, brush and weeds.

Unlike most sunfish they don't nest in colonies: each male fans out a nest beside a rock, stump or clump of plants and guards the eggs and young.

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 90 lakes with warmouth

Show every lake, by county

Brown County 2

Crooked Creek Lake, Yellowwood Lake

Clark County 1

Deam 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 3

Fletcher Lake, Lake Manitou, Nyona Lake

Jackson County 2

Cypress Lake, Starve Hallow Lake

Jennings County 1

Brush Creek Reservoir

Kosciusko County 8

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

LaGrange County 14

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

LaPorte County 3

Hog Lake, Saugany Lake, Stone Lake

Lake County 1

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

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 3

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

Whitley County 2

Blue Lake, Round Lake

Sources

← All fish of Indiana