Catching California's Green Sunfish

Green Sunfish are found all through Southern California, usually swimming with other groups of sunfish. They are often caught be mistake, when anglers are targeting crappie or bass, but they still can be fun to catch, especially for kids or beginning anglers. Scientifically called Lepomis cyanellus, Green sunfish are often referred to as "greenies" by local anglers.

Green sunfish are often mistaken for their more common sunfish relatives, including the bluegill or the pumpkinseed sunfish. However, unlike they bluegill, green sunfish have larger mouths and have a much more colorful appearance, with blue and red streaks along their faces (like pumpkinseeds). They are easily identified as not being pumpkinseeds by their larger mouths, something that allows them to bite and hold larger lures than most anglers usually use for sunfish. While bluegill tend to have smaller mouths, they can still get larger than green sunfish overall. Maximum length for greenies is about 12 inches, which is less than the 16 inches that bluegill have been found growing up.

I have caught green sunfish using mealworms, either dropshotted or fly-lined. A bobber, split shot and mealworm setup will work just as well, and so will nightcrawlers or earthworms. I have also caught them using Berkely Gulp biodegradable minnows, in shad color, on jig heads or dropshotted. These guys strike really hard, but do not seem to fight as hard as bluegill usually do. Another popular way to catch green sunfish is to use a dry fly and a clear plastic bobber, on warm evenings. The trick is to get the fly to act like a true insect, struggling to survive in the water, thus drawing attention to it from nearby fish. Small beetle spin lures and microjigs should also work to catch Green sunfish, just be sure to avoid getting snagged in nearby cover (logs and brush).

Look for warm water lakes and ponds to find the best Green sunfish fishing. Talk to local anglers and visit bait and tackle stores to find out where people like to catch them. Fairmount Park, Balboa Park, Puddingstone Reservoir, Lake Perris and several other popular parks with fishing allowed have Green sunfish populations. Puddingstone in particular has a healthy population of greenies, while Perris tends to have more monster bluegills and redear sunfish than green sunfish (from what I have seen when fishing there). If a pond has bass, catfish and other warmwater species, it is a sure bet that they probably have Green sunfish as well. Tight lines and happy catches!