Nephew First Tenkara Trip

[DanMarino]

E020D8C4-5A2E-4C44-A48B-58D15994B490.jpg Hit some OBX ponds today with my nephew for his first Tenkara fishing trip. He caught about 4 or 5 fish and had a great time. Is this a pumpkinseed in spawning colors?

[bignose]

Looks more like a Green Sunfish to me.

[DanMarino]

https://www.flydreamers.com/en/photo...amers-pic65976

[dsaavedra]

Yes, that is a pumpkinseed. Nice catch!

[bignose]

I'm not sure about that ID.
The mouth shape says Pumpkinseed, but the darker coloration shown says Green Sunnie.
Pumkinseeds have a good bit more orange coloring, but we can't see that part of the body.

download-1.jpg.download.jpg
Pumkinseed / Green Sunfish Hybrid. Green Sunfish

[Mark]

That's why the Free State Fly Fishers accept all species of the Lepomis (true sunfish) genus in our annual "Bluegill" contest.

Pumpkinseeds and Green Sunfish are known to hybridize with other members of the genus.

The resulting offspring can be difficult to precisely identify.

[DanMarino]

39A46505-3E4A-470F-AD2B-AEC17CEDBA6D.jpg 13558067-7D01-4712-AC55-CB625A481E91.jpg Here are a couple from the same pond I caught a few days ago.

[bignose]

I think that these are also Green- Pumpkinseed hybrids:

The jaw of a Green Sunfish extends under the eye. These don't, the mouth looks like those of a Pumpkinseed
The Pumpkinseed usually has a longer pectoral fin, more of a disc shaped body and has a bit more orange coloration.

But apparently there are so many hybrid variations, that finding a "pure" specimen isn't that common.

I tend to remember that John Veil caught a Pumkinseed in Weems Creek a couple of years ago that looked like a pure specimen.

[bignose]

download.jpg

It looked more like this.

A real good reference is on YouTube: KN Fishing Smarts. Pumpkinseed ID guide.

And y'know, what really matters is how much fun you had catching them.

[Mark]

OK Guys...

Here's another sunfish to debate:

IMG_6496.jpg

I caught it yesterday afternoon along with 52 of its bluegill buddies. A very good outing.

It fell for a topwater foam spider fly. I don't know what it is. It hit hard, fought hard and actually turned my kayak. I thought it was a bass until I saw it.

I emailed a photo of it this morning with my query to the DNR and they sent it to their freshwater fisheries manager. I'm waiting for their reply.

Maybe it is an exceptionally large gravid bluegill. Or it might be a greengill hybrid (bluegill x green sunfish). Those are my guesses. Any thoughts anyone?

As Stu said, it doesn't really matter because it was fun to catch the fish.

But it's nice to put a name to a fish.

[dsaavedra]

That is a redear sunfish

[Mark]

Maybe Dave.

That’s what one of my friends guessed.

But no red ear. Also, it hit topwater and Redears AKA Shellcrackers are bottom feeders that rarely eat on the surface according to my reading on them.

[bignose]

Without DNA testing you just can't tell.

Short jaw, long pectoral fin, disc shaped body, lack of orange coloration, very subtle stripes on the back, no red edge on the gill cover. The only thing I don't see is some turquoise edging on the jaw line that would indicate some Green sunfish genetics.

Look up Maryland Biodiversity Project. on Google:

Greengill Sunfish for a look at the huge color variations possible.

But then I looked up Redear x Bluegill Hybrid: Bingo! I'd say that this is the most likely possibility.


But dang, 11 inches long, and thick, must've fought like hell on the fly rod!

[Mark]

Stu,

Fight it did.

Smashed the daylights out of the spider.

I caught it on a fiberglass fly rod. It bent the rod into a u-shape.

I hope it is a greenear because presumably it was stocked and there may be more in that pond.

If it is a greenear it likely wouldn't be full of eggs. Eighty percent of greenear hybrids are males.

[DanMarino]

Hog alert! What a cool sunfish/bluegill thing. Neat fish. I bet I won't ever catch a sunfish/bluegill that large in my life. Is there a way to get a citation for that creature, without having to kill it?