I have been fishing for bass most of my life and have caught only a handful of sunfish on accident. However, I decided to branch out and to start fishing for sunfish too. Do y’all have any tips for a beginner? I’ll mostly be fishing grapevine lake. Any tips would be appreciated!

I target sunfish but have caught just about every other fish out there while fishing for the sunnies. I use ultralight tackle. 5' rod, six pound test line, size 6 or 8 cricket hooks or regular size shaft, and Eagle Claw split shots size 4 and 3. Smaller or bigger size split shots used depending on where i am fishing and conditions. I also use the small cigar shape adjustable floats but mainly fish with out them. I use what I call the "Bait of Champions" WORMS. Get em at Walmart. I keep it very simple. You are going to get some OUTSTANDING advice from other GREAT Anglers who post here that will help you a lot. It takes time to get to know patterns of the bigger sunfish and the more you fish for them the easier it gets to figure the patterns out. Catching a bunch of sunfish is hard to beat. Best of luck and looking forward to hopefully seeing some future sunfish catches and post.

To the Bluegill Section of the TFF! I have only been fishing for the sunfish for 8 years. I have never even thought about targeting them until I moved to Texas. I also fish for crappie and bass. I use nothing but artificial baits. I also use ultra light tackle fishing for the sunfish. I use 4 lb test line and fish some of the time with a leader. I mainly tie my baits directly to the line. Small spinner baits such as Rooster Tails, Little Georges, Rapala Minnows, and small crank baits work great. I also use some of the Gulp Alive Products such as leaches, and minnows. When I use the Gulp Alive Products I use a drop shot method. I always keep a sunfish rod handy when ever I go out. I also have taken up fly fishing and I am getting better each year. Love catching sunfish on the fly. You are going to have a blast catching those big Bluegill and Redear. Everything I have learned most about the sunfish is right here in the Bluegill section of the TFF. Great bunch of anglers post here. Everything form fishing patterns to methods of catching them is all right here.

Never fish for sunfish . I do love however reading post and seeing catches of "Monster Slabs" from the anglers who post in this section.



Side Note: Keep following this section. You will learn a lot.

Grapevine is a good lake for sunfish. Just float a nightcrawler 3 or 4 feet below a float around the mouth of creeks or in the shade of marinas.

Hey Jake...welcome aboard. You are in the right place to get some great tips on bluegill fishing. I learned almost everything I know from these hooligans. I am old, and fished for bass for my 1st 65 years, now concentrate on bluegill from April through October. Here are my initial thoughts/tips:

1) Get a good ultra lite action rod & reel. There are a lot of them out there. I started out with Ugly Stik rods & now use various St Ctroix rods most of the time. The Ugly Stiks are the most durable rods on the market & I believe the St Croix are the most sensitive & also very durable (but pricey) As far as reels go I would recommend the Pflueger President in the smallest one they make. I have 5 of them and have never had one issue.

2) Line...Started out using 6 lb test, but now use 4 lb test most of the time...I prefer Stren flourocarbon. I soak it in water for 1 week before use to reduce/ eliminate memory. Some prefer braid with a flourocarbon leader, but to me that's just too much trouble to mess with.

3) Baits...You cannot beat worms...either night crawlers or red wrigglers will do fine. I used to fish them directly on the bottom & caught a lot of fish. Now, I fish the drop shot rig (VMC Spinshot #6 hook) with a 1/8 oz pencil weight attached about 6 inches below. Also, I have migrated away from worms, primarily because of the mess & use Gulp Alive 1" minnows almost exclusively. These work exceptionally well on the lakes I fish, so you will need to do some experimenting on Grapevine to see what works.

That's it for now...don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions...There are a lot of different methods to catching these guys & you will have to just find out what works best for you through trial & error...

I appreciate all the help from everyone! Can't wait to get started.