Pumpkinseeds are found near the shore near rocks. Find a rocky shoreline and cast a #8 or #10 gold Aberdeen hook baited with a cricket or a piece of worm about 10 feet or so out. Let the bait sink and retrieve slowly until your bait is near the rock. You may find a 1" balsa bobber helpful. Use a #3 pinch on sinker. Adjust the bait to float near the bottom.The pumpkinseed is an aggressive fish and bites hard and fast. Be ready. They rarely get above about 5 inches here in North Texas, but they are beautiful fish.
I target them often in Southeastern Wisconsin......many of the seeds I catch are caught quite deep....usually in 13-30 ft. Lakes that contain zebra mussels are known to hold larger specimens. Crawler chunks/spoons have taken some real beasts.
Thanks for the advice. I'll have to try out using the live bait when I get back home for break. And that is a big ole pumkinseed! Those are some of the best looking sunfish there are. They make shellcrackers look like the ugly stepsister
Pumpkinseed, like all sunfishes, forages on zooplankton when tiny but
graduates to a diet of insects, snails, and other small mollusks, along
with small fish as they reach adulthood. Try close to the bottom like fishing for red ear.
went ice fishing on Christmas day and caught some really nice yummy pumkinseeds, just using a small 1/4 of nightcrawler, caught about 30 or so and kept 18 for fixin, we found em in about 5-8 ft of water near weed line
we go fishing every saturday at Bangs Lake, we have finaly named our shanty..Hicky Hut, come join us, we get out there early and leave about 4:30 ish. we were thinkin about tryin Griswald lake this saturday but hmmm we don't know. anyone want to get together just post here or send us an email........oh and those pumkinseeds are yummy