1831 Amer. Turf Reg. & Sporting Mag. July 550 For Sun fishing, the float line is used together, with very small hooks..baited with earth worms.

1848 W. Brabazon Deep Sea & Coast Fisheries Irel. v. 48 Sun fishing. There is another class of deep sea Fishing belonging alone to the West Coast of Ireland, that is very little worked at present, although its success is beyond a doubt, it is for the Sun Fish or basking shark.

1855 Encycl. Brit. IX. 634/2 Another occupation, formerly much practised in Scotland, but now almost peculiar to Ireland, is that of sunfishing.

1912 Independent (N.Y.) 29 Aug. 469/1 The proper rod for sunfishing is the lightest and most delicate cementing of six strips of split bamboo.

1977 Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Jrnl. 3 July c4/1 Lake Baylor... A few crappie are still being caught and sunfishing is good.

1978 E. Lusch How to catch & identify Gamefish Oregon 64 The young of this state..graduated into the salmon and trout leagues but always returned for an occasional reunion with..the simple pleasures of sunfishing.

2008 Oklahoman (Oklahoma City) (Nexis) 5 Oct. (City ed.) b18 Oklahoma City's urban ponds and small lakes primarily offer decent catfishing and sunfishing.

1901 Evening Gaz. (Burlington, Iowa) 9 Nov. 12/2 He was past master in pitching, ‘sunfishing’ and high and lofty bucking.

1924 W. M. Raine Troubled Waters v. 52 Neither sidebucking nor pitching, sunfishing nor weaving could shake the lean-loined, broad-shouldered figure from his seat.

1988 L. L'Amour Lonigan (2005) vi Devil May Care swallowed his head and lashed at the clouds with his heels and went into another hurricane of sunfishing.

1908 Out West Mar. 193 A fall from a ‘sunfishing’ bronco.

1923 N.Y. Times 16 Aug. 10/1 As Yak went by the sun-fishing longhorn sort o' sheered.

1999 A. Proulx Close Range (2003) 155 A pneumatic drill ride on the back of a sunfishing, fence-cornering, tatter-eared pinto.