Pannie pics 2010

It doesn’t look like there’s a panfish pics thread like there are in the other forums… I love pictures of panfish because there’s so much color and variety, so I figured I’d start one. Maybe the Mods will pin it to the top of the forum if we’re lucky?

Anyway, this is a small green sunfish I caught in about 8″ of water the other day… he’s small, but his coloration was so vivid and the lighting so good for this picture that I thought it was worth posting.

I absolutely love catching green sunfish. They’re hearty fighters, hit like a bass and will take anything that moves (I’ve even caught them on Daredevils!) I was sighfishing with my ultralight along the shore just to avoid being skunked and I didn’t even realize it was a green sunnie till I got it out of the water. Cool stuff!

I usually say red eyes = Rock Bass….. but with the coloring and all- it could be hybrid also

Just ask any some of the long time posters here for all the info you’ll need about Green Sunfish

As far as I know there’s no rock bass in that lake.

I assumed that red eyes meant spawning season. I know when my eyes are red… eh, never mind.

I believe this fish you are holding is a Pumpkinseed

Sunfish ID’s

Looks alot like this fish. It was concluded to be a pumpkinseed.

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I believe this fish you are holding is a Pumpkinseed

Sunfish ID’s

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Nope. Pumpkinseeds are shaped like a bluegill only smaller (rarely beyond 4″) with the narrow O mouth also like a bluegill. Green sunfish are elongated and thicker with a football-shaped mouth a lot more lime a bass. Also, greens are incredibly aggressive and hit more like a bass than a sunfish.

Compare this USGS photo to mine:

That’s labeled a green sunny. Mine may be hybridized with something, but I thing the lighting is just better in mine. Either way, if you compare the patterns, base colors, fins, mouth, and conformation, they could almost be the same fish.

Man, though, looking at your link… It just may be!

Either way it was purdy little fish.

Positively a pure bred pumpkinseed.

Jared’s fish in question is a hybrid for sure. Half Green Sunfish and half Pumpkinseed would be my most educated guess.

From the KDWP website

Although it has a larger mouth and more elongated body than the bluegill, the green sunfish has the blue tab on the gill cover and is often confused with the bluegill. Commonly referred to as perch, green sunfish are aggressive and easy to catch. However, they can easily overpopulate and become stunted in small waters. The Kansas record weighed 2 pounds, 6 ounces. The world record greenie is listed at 2 pounds, 7 ounces.

From the KDWP website

The redear sunfish has been stocked into select lakes and reservoirs. Although the redear resembles the bluegill, it usually prefers deeper water and is more difficult to catch. The redear has a narrow band of red on the gill cover lobe and usually shows vertical barring. Redears are popular locally because of the challenge they provide. The state record weighed 1 pound, 8 ounces. The world record tipped the scales at 5 pounds, 8 ounces.

From the KDWP website

The bluegill is one of the most common panfish in Kansas, and it provides many youngsters with their first fishing thrill. Although it doesn’t grow to enormous weights, the tenacious, saucer-shaped fish makes up for size with a scrappy fight. Common in most farm ponds and smaller community and state fishing lakes, bluegill are most easily caught when they move into shallow water and begin dishing out spawning beds. The state record bluegill weighed 2 pounds, 5 ounces. The world record is 4 pounds, 12ounces.

From search.com website

Pumpkinseeds reach a maximum length of about 40 cm (16 inches), although sizes of 15–20 cm (6–8 inches) are more typical. Weights are normally less than 450 grams (1 pound), although larger specimens can be encountered. The fish present an oval silhouette and are very compressed laterally; it is this body shape, resembling the seed of a pumpkin, which provides them with their common name. The coloration includes orange, green, yellow, or blue speckles on an olive back, yellow sides and a yellow to orange belly and breast. As with all centrarchids, they have sharp spines in the dorsal and anal fins.

Pumpkinseeds prefer shallow water with some weed cover. They are often typical of ponds and small lakes, preferring water temperatures of 4–22 °C (39–72 °F). They are active during the day and rest near the bottom at night.

Some more pumpkinseed info by Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Pumpkinseeds eat a diverse diet of small prey, such as insects, insect larvae, mollusks, snails and other crustaceans, and small fish. They are effective at destroying mosquito larvae. They feed at all water levels from the surface to the bottom, and they feed throughout the day, with heaviest feeding during the afternoon.

All fish that eat other fish will eat pumpkinseeds, and large pumpkinseeds will eat smaller pumpkinseeds. Because they tend to spend so much time in shallow water, they’re also eaten by cormorants, mergansers, and herons. Pumpkinseeds are accustomed to being low on the food chain, so they reproduce rapidly. However, this means that without pressure from predators they reproduce so rapidly that there isn’t enough food and habitat for all of the fish to grow large. This can cause populations of stunted fish.

Human activities can also have an impact on pumpkinseed populations. Shoreline development can destroy pumpkinseed spawning grounds, and increased silt from shoreline erosion can cover spawning sites with sand, disrupting spawning activities. Heavy lake use can also stir up water and disrupt spawning activities.

Here is Gracie with one of many cookie cutter gilz we cought this afternoon. She still won’t hold one, but we are working on it.

Alex learned a new trick with rock bass, now re-named by him as the “Tornado”

We had a lot of these under the dock last weekend, great action for the kids between rain showers.

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Alex learned a new trick with rock bass, now re-named by him as the “Tornado”

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I love it

How did that new nickname come about

I’ve got a lot of great memories of fishing for rock bass as a kid

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I’ve got a lot of great memories of fishing for rock bass as a kid

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I think a lot of us do! They are one aggressive fish.

One time camping when I was 8, my friends and I proudly brought a stringer full back to camp for the group to eat. And they did end up being dinner. The adults had us feed them to the hungry turtles and crayfish.

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I’ve got a lot of great memories of fishing for rock bass as a kid

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I think a lot of us do! They are one aggressive fish.

One time camping when I was 8, my friends and I proudly brought a stringer full back to camp for the group to eat. And they did end up being dinner. The adults had us feed them to the hungry turtles and crayfish.

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What a waste

We use to keep them all the time, I’ve never found anything wrong with the taste

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What a waste

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What do you have against turtles?

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What a waste

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What do you have against turtles?

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Nothing, Unless you’re using the rock bass to catch the turtles, for turtle soup

Saturday Morning Crappies

As my 2-year-old daughter would say:

Ooh, fishies! Pretty fishies!

Picked up the oldest daughter when she was done with work and headed for the water. Flu Flu’s tipped with minnows, cold brews on ice, picture perfect weather and, hungry crappies made for some great after work therapy

NICE! Sounds like a blast!

When do we go? I’m catting tonight and tomorrow, but I’m free most of the week next week!

Caught this guy on Lake Pepin on Sat 7/10 pulling lead for eyes on a #7 jointed shad rap craw dad, I forgot to get a measurement but I guesstimate he was 13″ to 14″ darn near as big as the largest sager we caught that went 15 1/2″.

Nice Pie

Pool 10 pannies 8/21/2010
Thanks for a great day on the water Jeff Jensen

It started slow, lots of floating weed mats and grass to deal with but, Jeff’s persistence and knowledge of the pool paid off later in the day with some great gills, perch and a couple bonus crappies

It was a hoot Mike and Jeff

I know there are some more good pictures in another camera that was on the trip

Nice fish guys

Beautiful, that is the fish are. Good job getting that old retired fart off of his bung. Actually he looks like he has got back a couple years since he has retired.