Are these all the same species?

[MikeWright]

Went to a local lake and did some dock fishing for pan fish with corn kernels, I never knew how fast you could pluck a gill out of the water with corn!!! Would've saved me a lot of money when I first started fishing and used nightcrawlers. In all I caught 40-50 pan fish in the span of 2 hours, Most of them looked different, but are they all the same species and just different gender or age? Or are they 3 different species as listed? I'm gonna guess...

Bluegill! vvv

Redbreast Sunfish? vvv

A big mama bluegill? vvv

Or are they all bluegill....the first one being a young male, the second a young female, and 3rd the older female bluegill?

[J Francho]

I think you got three species here.  Long ear, red breast, and blue gill.

[Bluebasser86]

Longear, bluegill, bluegill 

[J Francho]

Middle might be a hybrid.  That opercular (ear on the gill cover) flap is weird.  Not uncommon for them mix.  Just isn't the right shape for a blue gill.  Could just be immature, too. The first definitely a longear.

[MikeWright]

The one with the blue all over is a longear? I thought the color would make it a bluegill 

[MikeWright]

Yall are right, in order, longear, bluegill, and a hybrid...that's nuts

[mrpao]

4 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Longear, bluegill, bluegill 

^^^ I agree.

Even within  the same species  looks can differ a little  

[Bluebasser86]

7 hours ago, J Francho said:

Middle might be a hybrid.  That opercular (ear on the gill cover) flap is weird.  Not uncommon for them mix.  Just isn't the right shape for a blue gill.  Could just be immature, too. The first definitely a longear.

The middle one is what our bluegill look like. The bottom one is the only one I'm unsure about, the ear flap is awfully long for a standard bluegill.

[MikeWright]

The real question of the matter is, If this dock is swarming with these...shouldn't it be swarming with bass too?

[Turkey sandwich]

8 minutes ago, MikeWright said:

The real question of the matter is, If this dock is swarming with these...shouldn't it be swarming with bass too?

Possibly?  What other baitfish are present in the lake?  Are sunfish the primary forage?  

[MikeWright]

There are schools of (pearl/purple/blue/yellow striped depends on how the sun hits em lol) shad..I see bass in the distance busting on them all the time but I'm limited to bank fishing so all I get to do is SEE them busting the surface. Have yet to lure them in from the deep from the bank. But if all of this food is here next to a dock and marina....then there has to be bass.

It's always heavily pressured in this lake from bank fishers...I just don't know what presentation will hook me up with one. So after a week of no bass I said to hell with it..I'll at least have fun with panfish

[Turkey sandwich]

I mean, I'm sure you'll find some, but my guess is that the majority are more keyed on the shad than the sunfish.  Shad are less spiny, have a higher fat content and can be ridiculously dense in schools.  A simple way to find out is to just do some basic finesse fishing off the docks.  Skipping 4" Senkos is pretty money for figuring out if anything is holding under those docks.  

[J Francho]

12 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

The middle one is what our bluegill look like. The bottom one is the only one I'm unsure about, the ear flap is awfully long for a standard bluegill.

Opposite up here, lol.  I think maybe you're right, and ours (like the bottom) are hybrids, or another race.  Where is Paul Roberts when you need him.  I'll have to check my college reference on these guys, there's a key to follow for ID'ing these guys.  Rarely do I care - they tast good battered and deep fried!

[Fisher-O-men]

Yep, looks like good-eating to me!

[timsford]

The bluegill in my area do not have the black flap on the top of the gill. The first is a longear or pumpkinseed, the second two look like bluegill mixed with shellcrackers to me, but all these species interbreed, so it's hard to tell. I'd try throwing some bluegill imitating swim baits and crank baits around that area. If you just can't buy a bass, try the ned rig, wacky rigged senko, and dropshot. If you can't catch something on one of those three techniques, you should probably change locations in my experience