Green Sunfish

Live bait: crickets, nightcrawlers, red wigglers, waxworms, mealworms, and grasshoppers. Artificial lures: 1/32 to 1/16 ounce jigs with grub bodies, small spinners (like 1/16 ounce Rooster Tail), tiny spinnerbaits, Johnson Beetle Spins, 1.5-3 inch tubes in natural colors.

Best targeted from late spring through fall, with peak fishing occurring after spawning season ends (post-August). During spawning period (late spring through summer, peaking in June and continuing into August), avoid targeting them to protect reproduction.

Present live bait under a small bobber or fished near structure. Retrieve lures slowly near cover and structure. In clearer water, sight fishing can be productive as they're often visible in shallow areas. Fly fishing works exceptionally well during warmer months when aquatic insects are active.

As opportunistic omnivores, they consume insects, larvae, zooplankton, crayfish, snails, small fish, and occasionally plant material, with their predatory nature and large mouth allowing them to take prey other sunfish cannot.

Native only to North Carolina's extreme western mountains but have been widely introduced throughout the Piedmont region, being absent or rare in the Coastal Plain. Found in small creeks and streams in the Mountain and Piedmont regions.