Species Spotlight: Warmouth
United States: Freshwater lakes, rivers, and streams.
Habitat preference: Warmouth tend to congregate near the shorelines, especially near rocks. Some people even target fish for warmouth near rock outcrops. Spefically large rocks like boulders between which they use as cover.
What bait or lures to use:
I tend to use crappie jigs. Hollow soft plastics with the tentacles or skirt. Live baits such as crickets or worms work extremely well. It may be difficult to target fish for Warmouth depending on your local body of water and stocking levels. Expect to get a smattering of different panfish such as bluegill, redear, crappie, pumpkinseed, etc.
The gender can affect the color of the warmouth. The female warmouth is lighter in color than the male.
“It is extremely voracious and, consequently, a favorite for angling.” Warmouth are strong and feisty for their size. That has definitely been my experience in catching this fish. Many times they have tricked me into thinking they were a small to medium size largemouth bass.
They are a great fish to use as an education tool as well. Youngsters often are introduced to fishing through panfish. You could teach your young fisherman or fisherwoman how to tell the difference between a few different types of panfish. Make a game out of IDing the fish as the family reels them in.