What Kind Of Bream Is This?

[Coosa]

I know that hook is huge, I was checking to see if there were bass in this pond when this hungry guy took hold. They were like mad fish jumping at everything that touched the water.

[J Francho]

Green sunfish.

[Coosa]

Good call!

[logan9209]

Around here they're called Warmouth or Rock Bass. They are very aggressive little buggers even more so than the bass. And they will go after lures that leave you scratching your head trying to figure out just how they expected to eat it. For their size, they put up a heck of a fight. Often times a little 4 ounce one will fight like it was a 1-2 pound bass.

Once I was using a white spinnerbait over some thick weeds. I got it to the inside, between the weeds and the bank, and then let it just drop. As soon as it hit the bottom, this warmouth shot out and tried for a minute to get his mouth wrapped around the lure. The hook was too big and he gave up quickly disappearing.

Anyway, they are a hybrid of sunfish and bass (which redundant considering that bass are a member of the sunfish family). The neon blue streaks on their face makes them really pretty fish.

[J Francho]

I don't think it's rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris) or a warmouth (Lepomis gulosus). Looks closest to a Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus).

Rock Bass:

Warmouth:

Green Sunfish:

[logan9209]

Son of a switch! I've been lied to for the last 7 months. You gotta admit though, it does have the mouth of a bass. Oddly enough I think we have the other 2 in our lake as well. Can't always believe what you're told. That's what makes learning how to fish so dang hard. You get 5 bass fisherman in the same room and, most often than not, you won't get the same thing from a one of them. Oh they might occasionally agree on some very general and vague notions, but not anything specific and actually helpful.

[Coosa]

Definately looks more like a green sunfish, but this one is much darker, I think it's a hybrid...

It does look like a rock bass in size and shape...but it's clearly a green sunfish or at least very closely-related.

[Broke bass fisherman]

Around here they're called Warmouth or Rock Bass. They are very aggressive little buggers even more so than the bass.

Warmouth, rock bass, and green sunfish are actually three different species that are commonly mistaken for each other. The fish you caught appears to be a green sunfish, but it is hard to differentiate between the three in the picture.

[Bluebasser86]

Definately looks more like a green sunfish, but this one is much darker, I think it's a hybrid...

It does look like a rock bass in size and shape...but it's clearly a green sunfish or at least very closely-related.

Green sunfish range in colors like a lot of fish do. I've seen them from almost white in really muddy, cold water to almost completely black in heavy weeds or when they've been living under rocks. The have a large mouth compared to their bodies, just like a rock bass or warmouth has. I catch them fishing for bass all the time, especially on poppers it seems but they'll eat about anything, even full sized spinnerbaits and jigs.

[james 14]

What we catch down here I've always called "goggle-eyes". I have no idea why they're called that but I believe they're actually warmouths. The on in the pic looks a little different than what we catch although the pic is a little dark to be able to see all the markings.

[RyneB]

here in illinois we call them rock bass or croakers

[Miller's Ferry 8]

In Alabama we call them Gargalye (Gar-ga-lie) In private lakes or creeks off the river you can drop a cricket down in a hollow stump and just about always pull one out.

[J Francho]

Lots of colloquialisms for panfish everywhere. I think my favorite is when an old timer calls a black crappie a "Strawberry Bass."

[lmoore]

Seems like a lot of the species confusion around my parts comes from the ramnpant stocking of hybrid BG (not complaining, I love catching them). The confusion comes several years later when the hybrid offspring have reverted back into almost complete Green Sunfish. I'm not sure why that happens, but for some reason Green Sunfish traits are more dominant. Anyway, quite a few casual pond owners around here would call that a Bluegill and have no idea what an actuall bluegill was if you held one up to them.

[Gangley]

Green Sunfish. Remove it from the body of water and move on, preferably to the kitchen since they are decent table fare. They stay small and will never have any size to them but they have voracious appetites, have larger broods, and will outcompete other sunfish species for food. Of all the sunfish, they are the least desirable because of those traits (mainly because they stay small), and they will quickly overstock pools and ponds. You will never have a good population of large sunfish with those mixed in the gene pool. When looking at them in the water, they will have a white or yellow line that goes along the edges of their fins, much like what is shown in one of the above photos. They are a nuisance and should be removed if you are wanting to increase the size of your sunfish. They do however put up a great fish on ultralight gear and taste good on the table.

[Al Wolbach]

What I have been taught here in East Tennessee is the Rock Bass can be easily identified by their red eyes and small size..............................Al

[lmoore]

What I have been taught here in East Tennessee is the Rock Bass can be easily identified by their red eyes and small size..............................Al

Traits also shared by some young Coppernose BG and Warmouth