5 Best States in the Midwest for Big Bluegills

For years, big bluegill aficionados have looked upon Midwestern waters and dreamed of seeing their fly disappear from the surface or the cork quiver and go under, followed by a piscatorial running of the bulls.

Bull bluegills, that is, those two-pound, plate-sized panfish that are an absolute blast to catch anywhere in the nation. Push those same bluegills another pound or so on the scale, and you’re getting into rarefied air indeed. And for a four-pounder, well, only five states have tasted that Mount Everest-like summit.

While the southern U.S. certainly has its own slab-sized bluegills—the longtime International Game Fish Association world record bluegill hails from Alabama, a 4-pound, 12-ounce bruiser caught on April 9, 1950 at Ketona Lake by angler T.S. Hudson of Birmingham —the Midwest still has plenty of huge bluegills, or bream, as some anglers call them.

Here are five Midwestern states to keep you busy this summer if you’ve got a few vacation days stashed away:

1. Kentucky

The top Midwestern bluegill is from Bluegrass Country, a 4-pound, 3-ounce fish pulled from a Hopkins County strip-mine lake by Phil Conyers. In a TV interview a decade ago, Conyers said that the enormous bluegill he wrestled in from a water body that is no longer there measured an astonishing 16 inches in length.

Conyers' historic catch came on a 4-inch artificial worm skewered on a small hook. Fishing deep water near the dam on that warm August day, Conyers played cat-and-mouse with the fish occasionally tapping the end of his line. When he finally set the hook, the fish went down toward the bottom and the angler didn't think he had a bluegill.

When he got the fish in, he quit fishing because he knew he had caught something special—a hybrid of some sort, perhaps—and he had to get that question figured out. To help get his question answered, he stopped by the local archery shop. After a local commissioner was summoned, the ball was rolling and Conyers was eventually the bluegill king of Kentucky.

Today, 160,309-acre Kentucky Lake is the king of the state when it comes to great bluegill fishing, arguably the best in the state most years.

But there are plenty of other spots to look for bull bluegills pushing beyond the 8- to 10-inch range, particularly in the backs of coves with flooded timber and vegetation about the time the horses run in Louisville. Other Kentucky lakes that have ranked highly in spring fishing outlooks from the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources include 10,000-acre Barren River Lake in Barren and Allen Counties; 2,500-acre Herrington Lake in Boyle, Garrard, and Mercer County; the 1,131-acre Fishtrap Lake in Pike County; 1,100-acre Dewey Lake in Floyd County; the 158-acre Beaver Lake in Anderson County; and numerous other smaller lakes of less than 100-acres and even the 44 smaller sized Fishing in Neighborhood Lakes (FINS) that dot 28 counties in Bluegrass Country.

2. Illinois

It would be all but impossible to leave Illinois off this list, and for good reason. 

Especially in light of the story that Chicago Sun-Times outdoors writer Dale Bowman told back in 2019, a July newspaper story that involved Illinois Department of Natural Resources Division of Fisheries chief Mike McClelland.

In that story, McClelland recalls with a chuckle the part he played back in 1986 when Illinois school children chose the bluegill as the state fish. "I will certainly have to say I agree with bluegill as the state fish, I remember voting for it when I was in my youth," before adding, "We could probably find a good bluegill lake or pond in close proximity throughout the state."

McClelland will get no argument from Darren May, who caught the Illinois bluegill state record in a Jasper County farm pond back on May 10, 1987, just months after the bluegill was chosen as the state fish. May's fish is a worthy representative of that fish, weighing 3 pounds, 8 ounces and measuring 13.75 inches in length and 16 inches in girth.

"It was as big as a pan," May told Prairie State Outdoors' Bruce Condello back in a 2009 interview. "Its eyeball is as big around as my thumb. And the black dot (gill cover) is bigger around than my thumb."

May told the Decatur Herald & Review newspaper after he caught it that he was pretty sure he saw it the day before. That night, he went to sleep dreaming about catching the big bull sunfish. And the next day, his dream came true, shattering the existing state record at that time by nearly a full pound.

"I got a hit, yanked, then lost the fish," he reportedly told the newspaper. "But as I reeled the bait back toward the bank, it hit again. Pow. It almost knocked the pole out of my hand."

Seeing that it was nearly eight full hours before an official weight was obtained, it might have weighed even more. As it is, the fish was only 1.5 pounds off the world record and bigger than the state records in surrounding Midwestern states except Kentucky.

If you think you've seen this fish somewhere in Illinois, that's right since the fish has been displayed at times in south-central bait shops and taverns, along with a replica mount that hangs in the Illinois DNR regional office.

Interested in catching your own Illinois whopper bluegill? Like one of the state’s mentioned below, ponds in the state’s agricultural reasons are always good bets, and so are some of the smaller water bodies in and around big cities like Chicago, including Busse Lake just minutes from downtown.

As for lakes across the state, don't overlook 4,900-acre Clinton Lake, along with Rand and Crab Orchard Lakes down south along with famed Horseshoe Lake according to Game and Fish contributor Jerry Pabst. And keep Chain O' Lakes, Turkey Lake, Mermet Lake, Little Grassy Lake, Lake Murphysboro, the Fulton County Camping and Recreation Area, the Snakeden Hollow Fish and Wildlife Area (with 125 strip pits and small lakes), and the 104.5-mile long Hennepin Canal on your list too.

3. Ohio

You'll have to forgive Ohio anglers if they're a little distracted this spring, still celebrating Ohio State's College Football Playoff national title earlier this year.

But when those in Buckeye Country start thinking about bluegills, their thoughts might turn to a whopper caught back on April 28, 1990, a 3.28-pound specimen from Salt Fork Reservoir. The bull bluegill measured 12 3/4 inches in length and was caught by Willis D. Nicholes of Quaker City, who unfortunately passed away in September 2024. So important was the state record bluegill catch for Nicholes that it was listed in his obituary.

While his record has stood for 35 years now, there are certainly plenty of good bluegills pulled from Ohio waters most years, since the Ohio Department of Natural Resources notes that the bluegill is the most common fish species in the state and is found in virtually every water body from Lake Erie to the Ohio River. 

Whether you're after a record, or the primary ingredient for some Baja fish tacos, Game & Fish contributor John Mullins noted a few years back in a great bluegill ice fishing story for the magazine that anglers should check out Mogadore Reservoir, the Portage Lake system, and Highlandtown Lake for starters. Other good spots to check include the Wolf Run Lake, Piedmont Lake, Tycoon Lake, Resthaven Wildlife Area, Pleasant Hill Lake, and ponds like those owned by the Ohio Electric Power Company.

As for when to go, my suggestion is on Saturdays this fall because many Ohio lakes will be all but empty as the Buckeyes defend that national championship!

4. Missouri

If you need to be shown the goods before committing to a bluegill angling trip to Missouri, then head to Missouri’s farm country.

In fact, as our fourth best Midwestern bluegill state, it might be worth noting that just about every farm pond in the state is capable of producing a whopper bluegill—just like one did on June 8, 1963 for Mike Giovanini, an 11-year old angler at the time. A regular at the local farm pond, Giovanini took a Zebco rod-and-reel and a can of worms, hoping to catch a few sunnies. But when the bobber went under, it took only a second or two for the young lad to recognize that there was something different at the end of his line.

"I didn't even know it was a record, I just knew I had a big fish, probably bigger than anything I had ever caught before," he said to the Missouri Department of Conservation in a video interview several years ago. By the way, an old newspaper article shown in that interview notes that Giovanini's record bluegill measured 11 1/4 inches in length and a huge 15 1/4 inches in girth.

Giovanni admits that there was a lot of luck involved in his claiming of a record that has now stood for 62 years. "My dad, he had enough foresight to know that it was probably a record fish," said Giovanini. "He took it over there, they verified it, the game warden at that time and he verified that it was a record fish. And we got it mounted and its all history from there."

That spurred a lifetime of devotion to the outdoors in Missouri for Giovanini, for both fishing and deer hunting in the Midwestern state. "I've always enjoyed the out of doors and tried to instill that into my son, my grandson, and we're just bringing it on down, right down the generations."

In the vast agricultural areas of the state, the Missouri Department of Conservation notes that they swarm in just about every farm pond, so virtually any small water body on the Back 40 can hold the next state record bull bluegill. 

While quality big bluegill fishing is a challenge here like it is in most other states, they can be found in rivers like the Current and the Big Piney. And they're also common in bigger lakes like Table Rock, Truman, and Tobacco Hills.

Regardless of where you find big bluegills in Missouri, you're essentially searching for the same thing according to Tory Mason, a Fisheries Management Biologist for many years with the MDC. "A good bluegill lake will have a few things in common," said Mason in a Game and Fish Magazine story a few years back. "There's an 80 or 90 percent chance that a lake meeting all of these criteria will be a good one. The three elements of a good bluegill lake are a decent of amount of food, a really high population of largemouth bass and a watershed that doesn't allow a lot of run-off from the surrounding land."

Why is that? Mason told Game and Fish contributor Greg Keefer that (1) the right amount of vegetation sets the stage for zooplankton production and a healthy food chain; (2) big bass keep the numbers of bluegills in check and prevents stunting; and (3) that a watershed with no more than 20 acres of land per acre of water shouldn't have excessive siltation and poor water quality.

Find that combination in Missouri, and you're liable to have a good one to show off, just like Mike Giovanini did a generation ago!

5. Nebraska

OK, for this last spot, there are several Midwestern states we could have chosen including Indiana (state record of 3 pounds, 4 ounces) and Iowa (state record of 3 pounds, 2 ounces), both among the biggest ever caught in the country.

But record size isn't everything, and for this story, we're talking Cornhusker Country for our final stop on the list. Why? Partly because the state has a sizable state record thanks thanks to a 2-pound, 13-ounce and 12-inch specimen that angler Gary Ralson pulled from Grove Lake back on April 26, 1977 as he fished with a nightcrawler. 

But also because the Nebraska Game and Parks says just about any wet spot in the state can provide some good bluegill fishing.

"Anglers can take their kids to catch some “sunnies” on just about any small body of water in Nebraska," said the agency earlier this year in its 2025 fishing forecast. "The best waters always are those that produce numbers of 8-inch and larger bluegills. Small- to medium-size reservoirs offer some of the best bluegill fishing every year, with Summit, Walnut Creek, Skyview and Yankee Hill topping the list in 2025."

If chasing big bull bluegills is your thing, then the NGP says to head west to upland bird hunting country for sharptails, pheasant, and quail country.

"Nebraska’s Sandhills lakes offer lower densities of bluegills but can produce some trophy ’gills, with the biggest exceeding one pound. The best Sandhills lakes this year will be Frye and Swan. Anglers should remember bluegills that big are rare fish and worthy of having a picture taken and then returned to the water. Pits and ponds like Verdon, West Wood River, and Coot Shallows also will produce some quality bluegills this year."

Another reason to head to Nebraska for some big bluegills in 2025 is that the big ones can be more predictable than you think according to Daryl Bauer of the Nebraska Game and Parks Fisheries Division.

Bauer notes that "...bigger bluegill tend to still hang out in the deeper, darker water just beyond those depressions as well as along the deeper edges of weed, moss and algae lines in summer.” The biologist also notes that larger bull bluegill are normally risk takers and like to hang out in slightly deeper water due to their size. And those bigger fish tend to go a bit farther from aquatic cover and vegetation for better feeding prospects.

Keep in mind, from a conservation standpoint, he suggests releasing those Nebraska bull bluegills "to swim another day." After all, they're a valuable resource that takes a few years to get to trophy size, even in Husker Land.

---