Though not native to Michigan but to regions to the south, redear sunfish provide good fishing opportunity in more than 40 lakes in Michigan, most of them in the lower two tiers of counties in the Lower Peninsula.

Michigan fisheries biologists began experimental stockings of redear sunfish in the mid 1950s and had some success in creating self-sustaining populations. In the mid 1980s, fisheries managers began stocking more lakes with the idea of creating fisheries with larger panfish in them. Results have been impressive; trap net surveys conducted in 30 lakes with mature redear populations showed the average specimens to be 8.7 inches, more than two inches longer than the average bluegill or pumpkinseed caught in the same surveys.

More likely to be associated with woody debris and/or open water than bluegills or pumpkinseeds, which prefer vegetation, redear populations do not appear to negatively impact other sunfish species. Redears prefers mollusks as food items - hence one of their common names, "shellcrackers" - and are less susceptible to anglers using artificial lures or flies than other sunfish species.

Anglers typically fish for redears on the bottom, rather than higher in the water column, with live bait such as red worms or leaf worms. Because of the plumpness of their bodies, redears can be kept for food at shorter lengths than bluegills.