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What do you think about this green sunfish. I thought it was a smallie when I was reeling it in, it was so fat and chunky. I didn't think to measure it because I wanted to release it before it was harmed more. It swallowed a full nightcrawler and so I cut my line to let it go. In fact it was a catfish hook 1/0 size and it swallowed it to its tail. Pretty sure this was the biggest sunfish I've ever seen. Let me know what you think. Later J
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Wow Jeff - it's definitely got those distinctive blue streaks. Very nice, I've not seen one more than 6 inches, but figure they MUST be out there! Mighty thick too.
Pretty fish. Good to know the DO exist!
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Quite the fatty. Nicely done. Were you after cats when you caught it?
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Wish I would have thought to measure it. The length wasn't near as impressive as its width and depth, it seemed to be well fed. Cool to see they can get good sized. Later J
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Yes I was fishing for carp and cats so it was another accident. J
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That's a green sunfish, right?
I got told that mine is a green sunfish, but they look nothing alike! A'course mine is little, and youngin's could be lighter? I haven't the foggiest idea what I caught... just know it wasn't what I wanted and it got put back in the pond.
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Yes I'm pretty sure mine is a green sunfish, but it is a lot darker than most of the ones I've caught before. I believe yours is a blue gill. It's very easy to mix these two species up. However, like John mentioned the blue streaks on the head of the sunfish and usually gills are more round profile rather than longer and pointy. The gills also have the banding pattern that is so prevalent on your fish, i dont usually see that on sunfish. Hard to explain, but when you see them side by side it's easy to tell the difference. I like catching both gills and sunfish, they really scrap for their size. Thanks for the comment. J
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Mouth size is the easiest clue. Greens have a much larger mouth then bluegills. The fish in vivid dawn's post is a young bluegill.
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look at the shoulders on that guy! awesome catch
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Hey thanks, that's what I was most impressed with was the thickness it was chunky. Thanks J
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You're right Rocky, forgot about the big mouth. They are more like bass mouths. I was surprised it could suck that big hook in. Thanks for the reminder. J
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what he caught was what most call a warmouth sunfish I think the real name is green sunfish..somebody call drew!!! lol great catch
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Aw, man! I've heard bluegill are good eatin's. A'course it was probably too small to bother with anyway...after gutting, there wouldn't be much more than half a snack LOL
At Adams reservoir in Layton, there are lots of these! I saw at least half a dozen (about the same size) just in my area of shallows. They always chased after my lure/bait when I was reeling in to cast again... which is actually how I caught this one.
Last time I was there, I caught this one, and THIS is what somebody said was a sunfish too. As a newbie to fishing, they all look the same to me (I'm still trying to learn the difference of large mouth and small mouth bass, and some trouts)
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The warmouth is actually a separate species and tends to get bigger than the green sunfish. This specimen is quite the thick slab of fish though [  ]
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[#0000FF]Thats a piggie greenie.
Lots of them in Utah and they get called all kinds of names. Just about went fist city with a good ol' boy who was militant about calling them "rock bass".
They tend to be more loners than bluegill and seldom form schools. Although you will sometimes find small groups of them in the same good feeding area.
They are more aggressive than bluegills and with their larger mouths can eat bigger stuff. More than a few get themselves impaled on bass lures.
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I grew up calling them sun bass, they loved the rocks by my Dads old boat shelter, but they were always tiny. Hey if you're on line, I've got a problem this morning. I'm catfishing and have had a dozen plus bites and I can't set a hook for anything. I've changed baits , hooks, bobbers. I've let them run with it, I've tried the big hairy jerks and I can't catch a fish outside of a mudcat. Wondering if its small kitties and I'm pulling the big bait out of their mouth because I've had several on for 10 feet or so and lost them. The hits seem like big fish, but I never miss this many in a row. Bites slowing down now I may have missed my chance today. Catch ya later. J
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[#0000FF]I could retire wealthy if I could A. show people how to safely lose a lot of weight fast. B. show people how to win the lottery. C. show anglers how to hook every fish that bites.
My guess is that you have a school of small cats giving you fits. They hit much bigger than they are. But they have very small mouths. So their strategy is to either pull the bait off the hooks or at least tear off a bitesize chunk. I doubt they are able to give it that much thought but that's what instincts tell them.
About the only solution...if you wanna educate a few of them on the joys of lip piercing...is to use a smaller hook and smaller bait. Even though they are small those bitty kitties can be fun on light tackle. The big "watchout" is that they have very sharp spines when small. And they flop around a lot. Hard to grab one without getting "educated" yourself. That "smarts".
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Hey Pat sorry I got out of cell range. Anyway I got one more bullhead and then gave up there, but moved to another spot and did a lot better. Still didn't find one big enough to bump my contest numbers up. But I did find a 23.5" and it fought harder than most of the bigger fish I've caught, fun fish. I did get into a bunch of small kitties between 7.5" and 15". Was a fun morning. Thanks for the tips. J
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[#0000FF]Glad to hear you salvaged a decent catching day out of it. I gotta agree that some of those 2 footers can put up a great battle. That was about the average size of the cats I was catching at Utah Lake on Thursday. They all kicked my behind pretty good. I was only using medium light rods with 6 or 8 pound line and I was almost undergunned. They all took line off the drag and when I got them close to my tube they stayed on the bottom and pulled me around and around. I got dizzy waiting for them to get a desire to crawl into my net. As TubeBabe says "They fight bigger than they are."
If you want a shot at something bigger and can make the trip down here about the end of September I think I can help you earn some more points...if you can get the judge to count big fish you catch in the south.
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I was anchored in my toon when I caught that cat and it was tough keeping it away from the anchor rope, but it did pull me in little circles around the anchor. Kind of fun, I like that.
I appreciate that invite and I'll see what I can do whether they count or not. Someday I'd like to knock the white bass off my bucket list too. Thanks J
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