Lake Havasu's sunfish are on a whole other level.
Most anglers are hooked on the sport from an early age thanks to panfishing. Most of us have great memories of going to a local stream or farm pond and catching sunfish and bluegill by the dozens. I have some good memories of some pretty large bluegill and sunfish I caught as a kid. You likely do too.
I really thought I knew what a big sunfish was. That is until I heard about Arizona's Lake Havasu. This 19,000-acre reservoir sits on the border with California and is a popular recreational lake.
Just beneath the surface swim thousands of giant sunfish. Readear sunfish to be precise. Lake Havasu is a truly magical place because catching a two-pound sunfish is not just possible, it is a common occurrence! This video from YouTuber Ty Pig Patrol demonstrates just how large the panfish of this lake grow.
It is wild to think that the redear sunfish he was catching in this video were average sized ones. For most anglers, any of these would be the fish of a lifetime. It is not often you hear a sunfish stressing out a drag and peeling line like that, even with ultralight fishing gear like he was using here.
Lake Havasu is home to the recognized all-tackle world record by the International Game Fish Association. Hector Brito pulled a massive, 5-pound, 12-ounce slab from its waters back in February of 2014. There is little wonder that many panfish anglers make this lake a destination spot. For anyone looking for the next world record, it is likely it will come from these same waters.
One thing is for sure, we may never look at fishing for sunfish the same way ever again after seeing a video like this one. We thought we knew what constituted a large panfish, but it seems we were wrong!
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
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