Fish Ids please

[SuperCorona]

On 7/5/2017 at 8:22 AM, the reel ess said:

I think they're both bluegills, of the opposite gender. When one of the sexes gets large it turns very dark as you have there. Nice fish.

 

It's very rare for us to see yellow perch in SC, but they are here. They just don't seem to follow the patters of crappie or bluegill so we don't catch them much. I bet I've caught fewer than 10 my entire "career" and never a good size one. When I was young, we called the green perch.

Here we catch them on the smallest Rapala jointed minnow and Rooster Tails.

 

I caught my first SC yellow perch a few weeks ago with a little crappie jig tipped with a cricket on the freshwater side at Bushy Park/Cooper River.  I knew what it was, but I didn't think there were any in SC.  It was about 8" long.

[boostr]

On 7/4/2017 at 7:58 PM, Pkfish49 said:

Yours is easy to identify, but in my neck of the woods, the Pumpkinseeds are much closer looking to Bluegills.  Check out these. They are clearly Pumpkinseed because of the red dots on the opercular flap, but the coloring is darker than yours.

 

 

Could also be Red ear sunfish. Redear and Ps can be tough to distinguish sometimes. Some people say that Red ear are southern Ps.

[boostr]

On 6/27/2017 at 3:02 AM, FreddoB said:

I catch pumpkinseed on lakes here in North NJ and they're easy to tell from bluegill. Try doing a Google search of "bluegill or pumpkinseed" and look a the differences. I find the pumpkinseed to be much "brighter" and the ear flap at rear of gill cover has red on it. But that said, you have "pig fish for bluegill"! Hang on to your rod well, they put up quite a fight for their 

 

There is a spot in Rockaway off of Green Pond Rd where they have some giant gills for up here.

[the reel ess]

On 7/12/2017 at 7:04 AM, SuperCorona said:

 

I caught my first SC yellow perch a few weeks ago with a little crappie jig tipped with a cricket on the freshwater side at Bushy Park/Cooper River.  I knew what it was, but I didn't think there were any in SC.  It was about 8" long.

Yeah, I never caught one much bigger than 5" in my whole life.

[SuperCorona]

On 7/13/2017 at 2:32 PM, boostr said:

Could also be Red ear sunfish. Redear and Ps can be tough to distinguish sometimes. Some people say that Red ear are southern Ps.

Those look like shellcrackers.

[the reel ess]

Here's a handy chart showing the difference between shellcrackers (redear sunfish) and pumpkinseeds, among others. And I understand shellcrackers get a good bit larger. They also have a different diet as one's name implies.

 

[Largemouth21]

On June 26, 2017 at 11:25 PM, NCbassraider said:

I've got massive blue gill in my lake. That's a 5" jerkbait this guy tries to eat. They attack all the bass baits.  I've been told to get them out to protect the bass population but I find it hard to cull a fish that has lived this long. 

 

bass and bluegill thrive together when in the same body of water. I don't think you need to remove them. 

On June 26, 2017 at 10:54 PM, Karma said:

this is a longear sunfish... for future reference a pumpkin seed looks very similar but has a red/bright orange marking towards the back of the black ear marking. I caught probably 20 or so the other day to bring home and stock my pond. My bass are hungry

 

 

that would be a good aquarium fish. Never seen one with that coloring

[Karma]

On 7/18/2017 at 1:38 PM, Largemouth21 said:

 that would be a good aquarium fish. Never seen one with that coloring

 

yeah I thought about it. Just got a new 55 gallon tank in my house.... on the other hand, I can just go out to Dale Hollow and catch more of them. I know where they like to hang out.

[Largemouth21]

On July 21, 2017 at 4:33 PM, Karma said:

 

yeah I thought about it. Just got a new 55 gallon tank in my house.... on the other hand, I can just go out to Dale Hollow and catch more of them. I know where they like to hang out.

go for it! that tank is plenty big for 2 or three of those suckers! I want a pic when you're done

[Looch]

On 7/13/2017 at 2:32 PM, boostr said:

 

Could also be Red ear sunfish. Redear and Ps can be tough to distinguish sometimes. Some people say that Red ear are southern Ps.

red dot on operculum = pumpkinseed or redear. Pumpkinseed have a war paint look on the operculum. Never see redears where I live but pretty sure those are seeds

 

no red and has pretty color like a p-seed = longear. They also have a white line on the operculum flap around the dark spot. 

 

imo, longear and pumpkinseeds are the prettiest freshwater fish in America, popular in "native" fishtanks, no doubt the aquarium trade is how 'seeds got into the UK and are now listed as invasive. No largemouth to keep them in check. They got pike and zander(basically euroWalleye) but I doubt they harass 'seeds like bass do here during the spawns. 

[Pkfish49]

On 7/13/2017 at 2:32 PM, boostr said:

 

Could also be Red ear sunfish. Redear and Ps can be tough to distinguish sometimes. Some people say that Red ear are southern Ps.

 

On 7/17/2017 at 8:48 AM, SuperCorona said:

Those look like shellcrackers.

 

On 7/24/2017 at 4:08 PM, Looch said:

red dot on operculum = pumpkinseed or redear. Pumpkinseed have a war paint look on the operculum. Never see redears where I live but pretty sure those are seeds

 

no red and has pretty color like a p-seed = longear. They also have a white line on the operculum flap around the dark spot. 

 

imo, longear and pumpkinseeds are the prettiest freshwater fish in America, popular in "native" fishtanks, no doubt the aquarium trade is how 'seeds got into the UK and are now listed as invasive. No largemouth to keep them in check. They got pike and zander(basically euroWalleye) but I doubt they harass 'seeds like bass do here during the spawns. 

 

I got a positive ID from The New York State DEC Bureau of Fisheries:

 

"They’re both pumpkinseeds. The two main identifying characteristics that set them apart from bluegills are the red spot on the gill cover and the turquoise wavy bands on the head. Bluegills lack the red spot and tend to have more of a dark vertical banding down their bodies."

[Subaqua Adinterim]

Some pumpkinseeds get quite large and they're all aggressive.  Here's a pic of a massive one (as far as sunfish go) from several weeks ago that managed to catch up with a 4" pit boss. I thought it was notable due to size, and that it was able to grab a 3/0 skip gap hook.