I live in Ellis county and I really want to get on some big sunfish hopefully within an hours drive, I know it's early and cold right now but I will still take suggestions.

I have never fished in your area before, so personally cannot give you first hand information on any water bodies there. I did google water bodies Ellis County and there are several nice lakes in that county. Lake Waxahachie and Lake Birdwell came up. Just about every nice size body of water in Texas will have Bluegill and some other varieties of sunfish. Late spring through late fall are the most active months to catch sunfish. During the winter months the sunfish move to deeper water and hunker down in grass beds. They use very little energy searching for food during the winter and stay near their winter habitat. In bigger water bodies look for water 15 to 20 feet with grass beds. Also look for ledges and drop offs in that same depth. Fish are usually on the bottom and you need to fish off the bottom and retrieve your bait very slow. I use live worms. If you can find a large school you can usually catch some nice ones this time of year. Once the warmer seasons arrive look for docks in 8 to 15 feet of water, reeds in water 4 to 10 feet deep, stick ups, lily pads, bridge pillars, boat slips, and over hanging tree limbs. You should not have any problems finding Bluegill from late spring to late fall. There are plenty of water bodies around the Dallas/Fort Worth area including rivers and creeks. Best of luck and hopefully an angler or two who live in your area will reply with some first hand information on the Bluegill bite in your area. Let us know how you do on your fishing trips. Always love post for different parts of Texas.



Side Note: to the TFF!

I consider Bardwell a secret cat lake, shhhhhh. And I might get hate for saying this but I think Waxi lake is kind of trash overall. Unfortunately it's not often I catch sunfish bigger than 3 inches in either. I'm also near Joe Pool which has a good bass population so I'd expect there to be some good sunnies but I'm not sure where I'd go on that lake because I'm a bank fisherman and the access seems limited.

If there is a good healthy bass population there will be a healthy Bluegill population as well. There should be plenty of nice sunfish in Joe Pool.

There are plenty of bluegill in Joe Pool Lake, but very few red ear. The bluegill are a nice size. An eight inch fish is considered a big one. As far as bank access, the fishing dock attached to the Lynn Creek Marina crappie house is available. and I have caught many nice bluegill from there.

to the TFF! Hope you will post some of your trips here.

Thanks guys! An 8 inch bluegill would be fantastic, if I could get a few of those in a trip if be very happy. In my area the crappie came into the creeks and then seemingly disappeared, there's nothing more fun that some big sunfish when nothing else is biting.

That is what I love about the TFF ! Anglers helping anglers.

If you want to drive a little farther than an hour you could head to my beloved Lake Athens. It is one of the best gill lakes in the state.