There videos are so freaking good and SO well done with the infographics. . GRAD school sunfish ID classes on TH-cam for free . Yes please! Keep up the good work.
My cousin lived just outside of Paul's Valley Oklahoma where she raised Arabian Horses. One summer I went to visit her for a month and i started to get very bored. Across the dirt road she lived on about 50 yards in was an old farm pond or "tank" as my cousin called them. It was about a third of an acre but one third of that was silted in and was only 2 to 6 inches deep filled with Cat tails and small young Willows. I asked my cousin about it and she said there used to be alot fish in it but it was fished out, all the neighborhood kids and adults too, had fished it to the point that nobody was catching anything there anymore. I asked her how long it had been since anyone had tried, and she told me about 5 or 6 years!! I grabbed this old Zebco 202 push button reel pole that was gathering dust in the barn, managed to find 3 nightcrawlers under her water trough for her cow, and ran across to the pond. After checking it out closely I chose a spot that was kind of like a little bay next to the small earthen dam that went from deep to shallow in a even slope with a scattering of large rocks on one side, slapped a piece of crawler on the no.8 hook that was already on the pole found a stick to use as a bobber and tossed it in about 20 feet out and let it sit, no weights about 2 feet below the stick. I sat there and caught one very large Bluegill in the first half hour, this was late afternoon around 4 p.m. I tossed it out a second time and after sitting with no bites I started to reel it in slowly and right about 10 feet out ,WHAM! you'd have though a grenade went off under it, I then pulled in what looked kinda like a Bluegill with a HUGE mouth, then the next cast I did the same, if the bait stood still -no bites, if I made it move BAM! Fish on! I ended up with a stronger of 37 fish all large ( I tossed back 12 or so small ones) and the funny thing was I had stressed over finding those worms but once they were gone, I tried a trick I used catching "Brim" out of a roadside ditch near Valdosta Georgia a couple years prior, I put a rolling paper on the hook tossed it out and as long as I reeled it in slowly I caught a fish on it! I ended up with a couple pure Bluegill, what I believe was one Redbreast 4 Green and the rest Hybrids of the three, and it was obvious that they were hybrids. I had never actually had read or heard that Sunfish hybridized but after catching them in all sorts of waters in many different states I thought for sure they did considering some of the odd ball sunfish I had caught in some places. Well this Oklahoma farm pond proved it. I filetted them all and we had a tasty dinner that night!
An excellent fishing story! I enjoyed the climax with the "grenade" comparison. Also...rolling papers?! Well that's a nifty trick I never considered. Thanks for sharing this one Steven. I'm sure it'll get plenty more reads!
super thorough info. I fished some local retention ponds and pick up big hybrids on bass lures sometimes... usually the biggest give away is it looks like a bluegill body but has a big mouth...
@@KNFishingSmarts yes about three feet from Shore first time catching one I'm 42 I've been fishing for a long time I paint custom crankbaits and jerkbaits I'm definitely going to paint some of this pattern on them beautiful fish
Great video! I just subbed. Your sunfish ID page is amazing! It helped me ID a northern sunfish I caught last week here in WI near my house. I'm going back out on the ice today to try a catch another one to put in my aquarium! I'm also going keep a close eye for other possible sunfish species apart from the common ones. Thanks man!
Awesome! And thanks much. Northern really are one of the more beautiful species of sunfish to put in a tank. Out of curiosity, what county in WI did you catch your northern sunfish? No worries if you want to keep that a secret. Cheers Caton!
@@KNFishingSmarts not a secret at all. It was on mud lake in dane county almost right on the line between dane and Columbia county actually. The natural range map is correct on your page. It shows a blue dot in southern Wisconsin and that's right where I was! :) I didn't catch one yet for my tank but I will keep trying!
@@KNFishingSmarts not a secret at all. It was on mud lake in dane county almost right on the line between dane and Columbia county actually. The natural range map is correct on your page. It shows a blue dot in southern Wisconsin and that's right where I was! :) I didn't catch one yet for my tank but I will keep trying!
Yeah Paul, I have been contemplating getting into the hybrid black basses...but that may be a project long off if at all. But you do give me more incentive to investigate. We'll see...cheers!
Great video! I've been catching quite a few of these greengill hybrids in Forest Park, St. Louis. It's a little strange because while there are lots of bluegills in this body of water, there seem to be very few green sunfish. The hybrids outnumber the greens by a wide margin.
Ah nice. Yeah you're probably right that there are few greens if there are so many bluegills and you're also seeing a good number of hybrds. Typically hybrids show up in a system when one parent species just can't find mates of its own species.
One thing to know about green sunfish is that they hide in rocks and as soon as you stick the bait right in their face they'll eat the bait inside of the hole
Yeah, that's a great point Foster. They love sneaking out of hiding spots. I believe (hope) I mentioned that in my green sunfish video fishing tips section.
@@surkey5055 Probably get larger if you raise in small ponds with feeders. They're in these state ponds and the lake near me. So many that they overpopulated the ponds. After a while think genetics take over and that's it!
I have to admit the nuances of this subject is as facilitating as it is frustratingly confusing. Here in southeastern Michigan I don’t think I come across green sunfish much, but have a few much coveted “super secret bluegill spots” that routinely yield bluegills and pumpkin seeds exceeding Michigan Master Angler qualifications. However, over the past few years I have been catching a very colorful, narrow bodied, large mouthed sunfish while fishing for pike bait. These are typically very marginal urban creeks that reach very warm summer temps, and rise and fall dramatically with urban run off. Though I love sunfish in general, I’m a little concerned as these odd Lepomids seem to be displacing the chubs and shiners native to these waters. On another note, do you have any insights on genetic mutations inherent in isolated populations. In one smallish tail water I frequent I’m consistently catching “bluegills” that are shorter and much more deep bodied than typical, with many individuals exhibiting a pronounced overbite. Other than their odd appearance they seem healthy and of breeding size reaching lengths of 8” and so deep bodied that I barely get my hand around them.
Hmm...those odd lepomids you've been catching seem intriguing. Also, as far as isolated populations exhibiting unique polymorphic differences...that's quite common. Even within the same system, say a lake, it's been shown that populations that prefer to stay in the pelagic zone vs. a littoral zone will exhibit different characteristics like deeper bodies in the mid and rear or differing head sizes. As far as the overbite in the bluegills you've been getting--that's odd. It may be that some ancestor in that population had that mutation and it's been passed down on a dominant allele within a gene. Also, I'm not sure the cleanliness of the water, but waters that get industrial runoff and/or the runoff from sewage treatment plants can impact the development of fish.
@@KNFishingSmarts . Thanks for the reply. I’ve come to the conclusion the “odd Lepomid” that seems to be displacing the minnow species in my bait creek are most likely green sunfish.
Can a largemouth bass x bluegill hybrid occur? I found a very small pond with what appears to be a greengill. But, the eyes are near the top of the head.
Is there a way i could send you a picture of my baby fish for identification? Pretty sure it’s some kind of sunfish but not sure which one. Some have said red ear and some say green sunfish or could even be a blue spotted . One person thinks its a hybrid .
Hey Victoria. Yeah, if you shoot me a message on my contact form at my website www.koaw.org/contact with your email then I'll respond with how you can send me some pictures of your fish. However, baby lepomids are very hard to ID.
It is possible. If you have enough mating pairs for each species then the odds will go down. Usually hybridization occurs when one species is completely outnumbered by another. So say if you only had one green sunfish in that pond...it will definitely seek a mate with another species if it can't find a mate. Hope that helps.
Hey Joe, I'd be curious to see what you have! So you have a couple of options here. I highly recommend uploading to iNaturalist which is free and other sunfish experts will take a look. Just follow the instructions I made here if you need to learn how. www.koaw.org/sunfishid6 and make sure to add @koaw in your description or in a comment on that observation to tag me. If you have Fish Angler or Fishbrain you can tag me at Kn_Fishing_Smarts. Or you can tag me on Facebook at @knfishingsmarts. If one of these options doesn't work out....let me know. Cheers!
Hey. I believe you tagged me on Facebook under (Joseph Hodges)...somehow your settings or my settings won't let me reply as KN Fishing Smarts. But the fish you tagged me in is a redspotted sunfish (Lepomis miniatus), most likely a male. The opercular flap (ear flap) is black to the edge but with some faint reddish/orange color on the top and bottom. You'll also notice the patch of orange just above that ear flap, which is also normal on this species. The red spotting on the sides is very apparent. The black spotting on the head is also very typical of this species. And if the fish weren't looking down in the photo, there would be a light blue bowl of iridescence in the eye.
SUNFISH GUIDE ► www.koaw.org/sunfishes Good luck out there!
Great video 😊 I setup a native fish tank with pumpkinseed sunfish and green sunfish
There videos are so freaking good and SO well done with the infographics. . GRAD school sunfish ID classes on TH-cam for free . Yes please! Keep up the good work.
Thanks once again Ian! I've gotten a bit better producing videos of the years so I'm glad to get positive feedback on the graphics.
My cousin lived just outside of Paul's Valley Oklahoma where she raised Arabian Horses. One summer I went to visit her for a month and i started to get very bored. Across the dirt road she lived on about 50 yards in was an old farm pond or "tank" as my cousin called them. It was about a third of an acre but one third of that was silted in and was only 2 to 6 inches deep filled with Cat tails and small young Willows. I asked my cousin about it and she said there used to be alot fish in it but it was fished out, all the neighborhood kids and adults too, had fished it to the point that nobody was catching anything there anymore. I asked her how long it had been since anyone had tried, and she told me about 5 or 6 years!! I grabbed this old Zebco 202 push button reel pole that was gathering dust in the barn, managed to find 3 nightcrawlers under her water trough for her cow, and ran across to the pond. After checking it out closely I chose a spot that was kind of like a little bay next to the small earthen dam that went from deep to shallow in a even slope with a scattering of large rocks on one side, slapped a piece of crawler on the no.8 hook that was already on the pole found a stick to use as a bobber and tossed it in about 20 feet out and let it sit, no weights about 2 feet below the stick. I sat there and caught one very large Bluegill in the first half hour, this was late afternoon around 4 p.m. I tossed it out a second time and after sitting with no bites I started to reel it in slowly and right about 10 feet out ,WHAM! you'd have though a grenade went off under it, I then pulled in what looked kinda like a Bluegill with a HUGE mouth, then the next cast I did the same, if the bait stood still -no bites, if I made it move BAM! Fish on! I ended up with a stronger of 37 fish all large ( I tossed back 12 or so small ones) and the funny thing was I had stressed over finding those worms but once they were gone, I tried a trick I used catching "Brim" out of a roadside ditch near Valdosta Georgia a couple years prior, I put a rolling paper on the hook tossed it out and as long as I reeled it in slowly I caught a fish on it! I ended up with a couple pure Bluegill, what I believe was one Redbreast 4 Green and the rest Hybrids of the three, and it was obvious that they were hybrids. I had never actually had read or heard that Sunfish hybridized but after catching them in all sorts of waters in many different states I thought for sure they did considering some of the odd ball sunfish I had caught in some places. Well this Oklahoma farm pond proved it. I filetted them all and we had a tasty dinner that night!
An excellent fishing story! I enjoyed the climax with the "grenade" comparison. Also...rolling papers?! Well that's a nifty trick I never considered. Thanks for sharing this one Steven. I'm sure it'll get plenty more reads!
super thorough info. I fished some local retention ponds and pick up big hybrids on bass lures sometimes... usually the biggest give away is it looks like a bluegill body but has a big mouth...
Those hybrids definitely look 'off' once pulled from the water. Thanks for the comment!
I have a green gill in my tank right now
Ah, very cool Santiago. Greengill would seem like a great fish to watch for a big enough tank.
The first green sunfish that I caught in lake Hickory NC , we’re caught in 2016 ,,but we already have a sizable population of green Gill now in 2021
Oh, that's a fairly big body of water. Thanks for sharing Bobby Green!
@@KNFishingSmarts been guiding here since 1999 , and my two favorite species are plentiful in this lake , red eared sunfish and flat heads cats
Props. An awesome video! I love the detail!
Much appreciated Ryan!
Just caught one on this past weekend in Lake Erie. New York
Very nice. Did you pick up that greengill pretty close to shore?
@@KNFishingSmarts yes about three feet from Shore first time catching one I'm 42 I've been fishing for a long time I paint custom crankbaits and jerkbaits I'm definitely going to paint some of this pattern on them beautiful fish
Great guide, I really love greengills (see profile pic) for their variety and potential to get quite large.
Appreciate that Denny! Yeah, the variety of pattern and color is just amazing.
caught a 7' greengill on sunday and ive caught 2 others before that they some of the prettiest fish ive ever seen
A 7 inch greengill is a nice catch! And I'll agree that they have some pretty colorations. Thanks for sharing.
If it looks like a sunfish/blue hill,
It's a candidate for my next fish fry... Good eating😋
Three comments on eating sunfishes! You must really enjoy eating fish.
Great video! I just subbed. Your sunfish ID page is amazing! It helped me ID a northern sunfish I caught last week here in WI near my house. I'm going back out on the ice today to try a catch another one to put in my aquarium! I'm also going keep a close eye for other possible sunfish species apart from the common ones. Thanks man!
Awesome! And thanks much. Northern really are one of the more beautiful species of sunfish to put in a tank. Out of curiosity, what county in WI did you catch your northern sunfish? No worries if you want to keep that a secret. Cheers Caton!
@@KNFishingSmarts not a secret at all. It was on mud lake in dane county almost right on the line between dane and Columbia county actually. The natural range map is correct on your page. It shows a blue dot in southern Wisconsin and that's right where I was! :) I didn't catch one yet for my tank but I will keep trying!
@@KNFishingSmarts not a secret at all. It was on mud lake in dane county almost right on the line between dane and Columbia county actually. The natural range map is correct on your page. It shows a blue dot in southern Wisconsin and that's right where I was! :) I didn't catch one yet for my tank but I will keep trying!
@@canheaton Very nice, thanks for sharing. And good luck getting one for your tank!
Another great informative video!
Appreciate that. I've put some of your videos on my queue. No shortage of catfish tips on your channel!
@@KNFishingSmarts I messaged you on messenger, about another show I do called Panfish Nation
I have a pond full of nothing but these greengills
Cool. Did you stock the pond with 'em?
I might have too breed a batch of greengills that would be a fun experiment! If only I had a tank to grow the fry in!
I've been tempted to do the same! Though I'd probably try and create some of the more uncommon hybrids -- like a northern sunfish and orangespotted.
Great Videos! Have you considered doing a video on "meanmouth" or Hybrid Black basses?
Yeah Paul, I have been contemplating getting into the hybrid black basses...but that may be a project long off if at all. But you do give me more incentive to investigate. We'll see...cheers!
I catch quite a lot of green sunfish hybrids those fish really get around lol
Just caught one and could identify it
Alright! Props to you J Boat for nabbing and identifying a greengill.
Culverts are a prime spot for sunfish and hybrids
Excellent advice! Similarly, under bridges are great too.
Great video! I've been catching quite a few of these greengill hybrids in Forest Park, St. Louis. It's a little strange because while there are lots of bluegills in this body of water, there seem to be very few green sunfish. The hybrids outnumber the greens by a wide margin.
Ah nice. Yeah you're probably right that there are few greens if there are so many bluegills and you're also seeing a good number of hybrds. Typically hybrids show up in a system when one parent species just can't find mates of its own species.
@@KNFishingSmarts Aha, that makes sense!
One thing to know about green sunfish is that they hide in rocks and as soon as you stick the bait right in their face they'll eat the bait inside of the hole
Yeah, that's a great point Foster. They love sneaking out of hiding spots. I believe (hope) I mentioned that in my green sunfish video fishing tips section.
Been catching those here for years. Don't get big enough for me to eat!!
Here's to hoping you get a nice-sized greengill in the future!
I don't know about you but they get pretty big for me
@@surkey5055 Probably get larger if you raise in small ponds with feeders. They're in these state ponds and the lake near me. So many that they overpopulated the ponds. After a while think genetics take over and that's it!
I have to admit the nuances of this subject is as facilitating as it is frustratingly confusing. Here in southeastern Michigan I don’t think I come across green sunfish much, but have a few much coveted “super secret bluegill spots” that routinely yield bluegills and pumpkin seeds exceeding Michigan Master Angler qualifications. However, over the past few years I have been catching a very colorful, narrow bodied, large mouthed sunfish while fishing for pike bait. These are typically very marginal urban creeks that reach very warm summer temps, and rise and fall dramatically with urban run off. Though I love sunfish in general, I’m a little concerned as these odd Lepomids seem to be displacing the chubs and shiners native to these waters.
On another note, do you have any insights on genetic mutations inherent in isolated populations. In one smallish tail water I frequent I’m consistently catching “bluegills” that are shorter and much more deep bodied than typical, with many individuals exhibiting a pronounced overbite. Other than their odd appearance they seem healthy and of breeding size reaching lengths of 8” and so deep bodied that I barely get my hand around them.
Hmm...those odd lepomids you've been catching seem intriguing. Also, as far as isolated populations exhibiting unique polymorphic differences...that's quite common. Even within the same system, say a lake, it's been shown that populations that prefer to stay in the pelagic zone vs. a littoral zone will exhibit different characteristics like deeper bodies in the mid and rear or differing head sizes.
As far as the overbite in the bluegills you've been getting--that's odd. It may be that some ancestor in that population had that mutation and it's been passed down on a dominant allele within a gene. Also, I'm not sure the cleanliness of the water, but waters that get industrial runoff and/or the runoff from sewage treatment plants can impact the development of fish.
@@KNFishingSmarts . Thanks for the reply. I’ve come to the conclusion the “odd Lepomid” that seems to be displacing the minnow species in my bait creek are most likely green sunfish.
Can a largemouth bass x bluegill hybrid occur? I found a very small pond with what appears to be a greengill. But, the eyes are near the top of the head.
Is there a way i could send you a picture of my baby fish for identification? Pretty sure it’s some kind of sunfish but not sure which one. Some have said red ear and some say green sunfish or could even be a blue spotted . One person thinks its a hybrid .
Hey Victoria. Yeah, if you shoot me a message on my contact form at my website www.koaw.org/contact with your email then I'll respond with how you can send me some pictures of your fish. However, baby lepomids are very hard to ID.
I have green sunfish, copper nose, redear sunfish in my pond. Will they create hybrids?
It is possible. If you have enough mating pairs for each species then the odds will go down. Usually hybridization occurs when one species is completely outnumbered by another. So say if you only had one green sunfish in that pond...it will definitely seek a mate with another species if it can't find a mate. Hope that helps.
@@KNFishingSmarts Yes, thank you! Great videos very professional.
How do you add pictures. I have what I think is a green and long ear mix
Hey Joe, I'd be curious to see what you have! So you have a couple of options here. I highly recommend uploading to iNaturalist which is free and other sunfish experts will take a look. Just follow the instructions I made here if you need to learn how. www.koaw.org/sunfishid6 and make sure to add @koaw in your description or in a comment on that observation to tag me.
If you have Fish Angler or Fishbrain you can tag me at Kn_Fishing_Smarts. Or you can tag me on Facebook at @knfishingsmarts.
If one of these options doesn't work out....let me know. Cheers!
@@KNFishingSmarts sorry I did have trouble posting it so I sent it to you on FB messenger.
@ kn fishing smarts. Pls feel free to repost pic and tag me in it so I can get everyone’s feedback
I'm not particularly interested in what you call them...If it's good eating, that's what matters.
.yum yum 😋
Yup. Greengill are good eating.
Are crappies aggressive
In aquaria? To baits? Or just in general? I've never tried to keep crappie in aquaria but adults are definitely piscivorous and will eat smaller fish.
I really want to show you this fish and get your take on it. How do I send you the pick
See the first reply.
Hey. I believe you tagged me on Facebook under (Joseph Hodges)...somehow your settings or my settings won't let me reply as KN Fishing Smarts.
But the fish you tagged me in is a redspotted sunfish (Lepomis miniatus), most likely a male. The opercular flap (ear flap) is black to the edge but with some faint reddish/orange color on the top and bottom. You'll also notice the patch of orange just above that ear flap, which is also normal on this species. The red spotting on the sides is very apparent. The black spotting on the head is also very typical of this species. And if the fish weren't looking down in the photo, there would be a light blue bowl of iridescence in the eye.
@@KNFishingSmarts yes I did and I was trying to send that pic under the website you subjected. I was able to upload pic but could not post it.
@@KNFishingSmarts thank you for letting me know what kind of fish it was. I have fished these waters my whole life but never seen this one before.
I personally think the Green Sunfish Is A Hybrid.
Ah, I'm sure you're not alone on that. But nowadays with genetics testing we can confirm it's pure.
Fish Diddler! 😅😅
Hmm...
Still, learned nothing
Sorry to hear that.