This is like a college-level sunfish identification series, for free on TH-cam. Thanks for all the work you did gathering this information and assembling it for us to learn!
@@KNFishingSmarts a pair of jewel cichlid/salvini cichlid hybrid pair 3 male firemouths and 1 single republican male longear sunfish. what do you think 😊
This video is a life-changer. You should do a "male vs female" video for Bluegill. I think that will help a lot of anglers (especially with conservation/trophy efforts). Release those big males!
That has been something I've been mulling around with. I want to get some more video of some of the sneaker and satellite males to compare against parental males. But you've convinced me to put that one on the project list! Thanks much.
I just stumbled across your channel because I was doing some research on having a "native" aquarium and I really walked away with a wealth of knowledge. Even though long ears aren't native to my area I think they are the coolest looking sunfish out there.
Glad to have helped you! Yeah...the longear males in breeding colors can just be amazingly colorful and vibrant. Good luck with your native-fishes tank!
I will come back to this when the two young sunfish become old enough to identify. I can not wait. They were accidentally caught while teaching my daughter how to catch crayfish. Decided to take them home. Glad we did as they follow us like puppies when we walk past their 55 gallon aquarium. So cute seeing these two 1 or 2 inch sunfish swim as fast as their baby fins can go just to follow you lol. Sunnys used to be annoying to catch while fishing but wow its so neat to see how much personality they have (I never knew) and wont ever find them annoying again haha!
I like how how detailed your videos are. I subbed. I download many of your vids and store them offline to use as a backup guide when I'm fishing without cell signal coverage (hope you don't mind). I'd like to see guides on choosing swivel/barrel sizes, bobber sizes, weights (ie splitshot, egg, bullet, dipsey, etc), standard plastic jigs with weighted hooks (often painted with a colored eye; and how to tie, rig and use/jig them), how to choose fishing line size (ie lbs poundage of line based on what folks are fishing for) and how to use lighter poundage line to catch heavier species of fish without the line breaking, how and when to use plastic beads on fishing line and which colors/sizes to use, how to select a fishing pole based on length and thickness, how to choose fishing reels based on size of the reel and what can be gotten away with for larger species of fish,... I mention these because of how detailed you are and how you would do these topics justic without recommending products just to make money on promotions from select companies. An exotic fishing video that I would recommend would be on the Ka-Bar Fishing Caster (a $15 portable fisher sold on Amazon). I use this when fishing from shore or a dock with fluorocarbon line (it doesn't work well with mono or braid). It's always in my bugout bag in my vehicle and allows someone to fish practically anywhere without a pole. Hooks, weights and small lures can be stored within the hollow chamber within the fisher. I used the small resealable bags sold for storing crafting beads, sold on the craft aisle at Walmart to store hooks, weights, flies, and plastic baits and to keep them seperate. I tight a 10" piece of braided line off the bottom of the fisher to attach two, small, weighted, cigar shaped floats on to the braided line before packing it in my backpack. I've had good results with using a hook, a bead and a small bullet weight to get lengthy casts. I use the weighted bobbers and a one to two foot leader when casting flies with this pocket fisher. You mentioned that you enjoy shore fishing and this works awesome for that. I do a lot of shore fishing and occasionally from docks. I'd like to see for tutorials on fishing from shore into a lake. I live and fish mainly in North Georgia, USA. Thanks again for all the good and in-depth fishing tips and tutorials. Sincerely, Jacob 05-21-2023 @ 16:34
Appreciate the comment here, Jacob! (It's very long!) Firstly, yeah--I don't mind at all that you've download and use the vids offline; the vids are meant assist anglers. Secondly, you've given a lot of ideas for future videos. And I would enjoy addressing all of that in the future but that would not be possible. What I will do is incorporate some of your good questions into my upcoming 'How to Catch Common Sunfishes' video. I'm sure a lot of other anglers are wondering the same things you've brought up. I too enjoy shore fishing so I will do my best to incorporate some of those tactics into future videos. Thanks for sharing your tips and gear recommendation on that Ka-Bar Fishing Caster. Cheers!
As a lifelong fisherman and ecological consultant who does a lot of stream assessments I have to say this is a great frigging video, thanks for all the work that went into making this!
Ah, much appreciated Jeff! It definitely was a goal of mine to make the content quality enough not just for anglers but for those who work within the scientific fields doing surveys, assessments, research, etc.. I'm glad it has your approval!
Trying to get my knowledge of natives up to snuff. I can id fish from all over the world but i get stumped with natives lol. Growing up it was blue gill pumpkin seed or green....also generally known as catfish bait. Its past time for me to know better. Loved this video and will be plowing thru your others as well. Thanks a million for the awesome work.
OHHH ALMOST FORGOT , THOSE WARMOUTH BASS ARE MONSTERS AS THEY WILL ATTACK ANYTHING . I'V CAUGHT A FEW ON 8 INCH PLASTIC WORMS . QUITE AMAZING . MAY FAVORITE TWO ARTIFICAL BAITS FOR SUN FISH ARE A 1/8 OUNCE BEETLE SPIN / GRUB / CURL TAIL IN BLACK AND A WET FLY , BLACK WITH A RED TAIL . THANKS AGAIN
I caught a light green (closer to a light olive green) sunfish with a large, vivid yellow chest in front of the first set of fins. The first set of fins are also a translucent yellow. The top and tail fins are like a very translucent olive green. The bottom fins are a translucent gray. Also the black dot is small like most of the sunfish but it's more square. It also has faint olive green vertical stripes but doesn't have any dots or any other stripes on it. This fish is only green and bright yellow with some white around the mouth and the black dot/ear. There were no other colors on it. I caught it in Lake Havasu.
Hmm...the only lepomids in Lake Havasu are Green Sunfish, Bluegill, and Redear sunfish. It really sounds like you have a green sunfish--or some hybrid with a green sunfish.
It is important to note that the northern sunfish is a relatively new species and some states still don't distinguish it from the longear. My state of Illinois, for example, does not separate the two species, but almost all "longears" from natural waters within about a 50 mile radius of Lake Michigan are northern sunfish. The easiest way to tell a northern sunfish apart from a longear sunfish is the ear flap. A longear's ear flap is significantly longer, and straight. A northern's ear flap is angled and has a red mark, similar to a pumpkinseed.
Indeed it's a relatively new separation. Perhaps the IDNR will one day recognize the northern! But yeah, that barrier between the Great Lakes Basin and the Upper Mississippi River Basin/Ohio River Basin seems to separate the northern from the longear populations. Thanks for sharing!
@@KNFishingSmarts since you actually reply to threads. Whats your opinion on anglers intentionally fishing and pulling Bass off beds during spawn? I always felt this cant be a good thing, especially on pressured fish. Thanks!
Excellent video, I have kept several different species in Aquariums, they are very intelligent and beautiful fish that rival Cichlids in color and curiosity.
Please publish books and wall charts , and other fish like the bass. Have been wanting info like this forever. As a fisherman I like to know all I can . Thanks
I will keep that in mind as I have gotten a few requests for that. But I have been waiting to publish any posters/pamphlets to see if the longear species complex does indeed get broken up. There is supposedly a very large study soon-to-be published on longear.
Great detail when I was younger and even to this day I go to creeks to see if i can catch these overlooked colorful fish I also wade clear streams to look for log perch and darters I find these fish as exciting as catching shovel heads or bass thanks for the video 👍
Ah, great Steven. Thank you for that. I've been wanting to narrow down the regions these specimens of green with glossohyal teeth may be located. Appreciate the tip!
I recently went fishing locally and caught a very pretty sunfish that i am now treating and hoping to add to my established tank. I believe i have a Pumpkinseed. Google also agrees, from me taking a pic. I just wanted to say that this video is INCREDIBLY informative. I appreciate it so much. Amazing!
Thank you! I get offended with folks calling us all perch or bream. I studied Ichthyology in 1994 for my biology degree. I wish this video had been available then. 👍
Great name you have there! You must be an ambassador for the species. =) And very cool about you studying ichthyology during the acquisition of your biology degree. Ichthyology is my favorite zoological field of study. Cheers!
Where does the Coppernose Bluegill fit in the Lepomis class? There is a hatchery in Oklahoma and Kansas that has them, and while native to Florida, they have acclimated to living under the ice. I am in Northern Indiana and I brought back close to 80# of them from there to do a test to see if they will survive the winters here in Northern Indiana. I will know this Spring, but it may be an anomaly, due to our mild winter this year. Also, a Bluegill/Green Sunfish cross is commonly called a Hybrid Bluegill. There is a fish hatchery in Arkansas that is selling "Specklebelly Sunfish" which I think is a cross between a Redear Sunfish and a Northern Bluegill.
There's still a bit of ambiguity around all the subspecies declarations of bluegill. But as of now, most authorities give the coppernose bluegill a subspecies declaration of (Lepomis macrochirus purpurascens); it's still a bluegill. Most all of the places that the coppernose are introduced into will see introgression of genes between the local bluegill populations and the coppernose bluegill. I'd imagine you'll see the intraspecific mating this spring if you stocked those coppernose with the local bluegill--and they survive the winter. Good luck with your experiment!
Outstanding video. Need more like this. Informative to the hilt. Placed in watch later for future reference. Again I say, outstanding. Many states parks and wildlife websites need this link on their websites.
Outstanding presentation! Even if I'm more confused than ever. You got my sub! Where do our FL shellcracker fit into this mess? They've got to be among the biggest, if they're lepomids at all. Growing up in Cen FL, we mistakenly called redbreast shellcracker (& ate plenty of them!), since that's what some grown local guys called them on our lake. I didn't find out we were mislabeling them until well into adulthood!
Oh yeah, those specimens down in Florida get massive! Shellcracker is another common name for the redear sunfish (Lepomis microlophus). Down in the south it's more usual for people to call redear sunfish as shellcrackers. And you are right, redear (shellcracker) get to be the biggest of all lepomids along with bluegill. The largest lepomid ever caught was a redear (as far as I know.) Cheers!
@@KNFishingSmarts Yes sir, FLA record bluegill is almost 3 lbs, record redear is almost 5! I've caught some big ones, but I can't even imagine a 5 lb 'cracker!
Wow. Must commend you on this guide. Best compilation I have ever seen. I have caught most of these across NC and SC. Some have local nicknames including rootknocker, stumpknocker, Morgan, Robin, Redbreasts called by sex= Rooster or hen, etc. Those copperheads do not show until they get pretty big ,I never caught a smaller one. subbed
I appreciate that Paul. And yeah, that does bring up a good point that I should add a lot of the local common nicknames to these species on the website. Thanks for the idea there!
Stumpknocker is what he properly calls warmouth. Big fighter (for its size) and tasty! There's a persistent false anecdote that warmouth is a lm bass/bluegill hybrid.
Holy toledo batman! This is a very informative guide to identifying sunfish. Is there any books you recommend that have this same information? Keep up the great work and content.
Hey Shawn, well I made this guide because no field guide had all this information put together. But a great field guide for most all of North American Fresh Water fishes is the Peterson "Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes" by Page and Burr. It's a bit dated but it has all the lepomids covered fairly well and so many other species. Hope that helps a bit.
Interesting! I’ve known about this video for a while, but waited to watch until I had uninterrupted time to devote to it. Well worth the wait! As a non-fishing person who has a fish allergy, I was fascinated to learn about the variety of species! Are there more fish species than, say, cat species? If so, do you have any idea why fish would be so varied? Are fish the most genetically varied creatures? Since sunfish are dispersed by range, do we have any idea how climate change is affecting them? You really do dig into the most intriguing topics! You always push my brain over into curious mode!
Hey Sarah, great questions! I'll answer as best I can. 1. Yup. There are way more fish species than cat species as there are over 35,000 species of fishes. There are more living species of fishes than all of the other species of tetrapods combined (mammals, amphibians, reptiles, + birds). Evolution of fishes is complicated but I can simplify as to why there are so many: Fishes have been around for a long time, over 450 million years, which is much a lot of time for new species to come about and there is A LOT of water on Earth that has provided constant changes in environments, of which, is a prime driver in the evolution of new species. And even though our planet's freshwater makes up less than .001% of all the water, about 43% of those 35k species are using freshwater. The constant intracontinental isolations of populations over time offer more chances for speciation events. 2. As far as fish being the 'most genetically varied creatures', I would say no. Yes, there is tremendous diversity within fishes but I believe the class of insects takes the cake, possibly even other groups of animals. 3. Climate change is affecting many species of fishes. As far as sunfish populations go, these are fairly hardy, adaptable fishes. I would imagine that, in time, they will be able to live farther north than we've seen recently. I can't see I stumbled across any specific studies on this topic. But I'm curious to look into it! Cheers! Thanks for the comment/questions!
The banded sunfish (Enneacanthus obesus) is in a different genus than the lepomids of this guide. Hopefully by this year I can have a short little guide made for the 3 members of Enneacanthus.
Thank you for this video I just found your canal and will be looking at alot more of your videos I keep alot of native Fish including the red spotted , warmouth , Bluegill , Largemouth, and mini more smaller native fishes see ya around
It's a good question and isn't as easy as it sounds, especially outside of breeding season. Sexing lepomids during breeding season (late-spring to mid-fall depending on the location) is much easier. During breeding season male pumpkinseed and longear will be much more vibrant in colors compared to the females. Pumpkinseed males will have bright blue streaking along the head and brighter orange spotting and colors on the body. Male longear will show the same explosion of color with much, much red/orange in the median fins as well as longer ear flaps (typically.) The most efficient way to determine the sex is by examining the size of the urogenital opening to the anus. Females will have larger urogenital openings compared to males, most obvious during the breeding season. You'll find a supporting image on my website www.koaw.org/bluegill Look under the "Sexing Bluegill" section. Outside of breeding season, sometimes it can be very difficult to determine the sex with 100% certainty.
I caught a bluegill, the last fish I expected to see in Japan, yesterday and today. First time seeing them in person. I didn’t think fish could be cute, but I guess I was wrong lol
Thank you for this awesome informational video, ill be sending this to some buddies of mine that call everything a Bream . By the way I live in coastal North Carolina and we have a large population of coppernose bluegill
Thanks Matthew! And thanks for the information; I'll look into that further. The coppernose is popular to stock and it seems to be intergrading with northern bluegill populations all over. Coastal North Carolina makes sense. I know I've seen a couple pop up here in VA. Cheers man!
We do touch on distinguishing other centrarchids (sunfishes) from lepomids. I'm yet to produce a detailed guide on the entire family. And I do discuss more about hybrid lepomid identification more on the website. iwww.koaw.org/hybrid-lepomids Hope that helps a bit.
Welp , I'm fairly certain now that what I've called Pumpkin seed all my life is actually a long eared sunfish . And at least some I called the generic "Bluegill" were actually Red Breasts . Who says you can't learn new things . I live in the far Southwest part of Virginia , but my local drainage is the only part of the state that empties into the Tennessee river , and thus the Mississippi , which gives us a very varied species list , and I'm constantly learning new things .
Tracy, I'm glad you were able to add to your base of knowledge! You live in such a unique area for fishes! I've been wanting to head there because that's the only place in Virginia that gets all the different species of darters. I'm up north near the Potomac, so we definitely are in different drainage basins. Thanks for sharing!
In Austria people released the sunfish into the wild. Now they are in most big lakes in carinthia and are a big threat to our native perch. They have an extensive brood care and even attack human when you go near their nests
Oh this is to sweet. Just got into Sunfishing 2 years ago, and recently caught a Sunfish we're unsure of and don't think we've ever caught before. We think them to be Pumpkin Seeds but a friend believes Warmouth. Didn't really take photos of them though... but we did take videos. And if it's not one of those two I'd be shocked and have no idea them. We commonly catch Bluegill, Red Ears, Crappie.....
Well if you need help with the final ID then you can always take some stills from your video and post it on iNaturalist. If you tag @koaw in the description then I'll gladly help ya with that ID. Good luck with your future catches!
@@KNFishingSmarts well was kind of hoping you'd take a short peek in their current video form. It's on TH-cam. Actually even the loader image is on one. Not the best image. But we catch what I think is 5 during the video. No pressure but if that's cool, then just need to figure how to toss you a link to the video
No idea why I watched this as I’ve always just referred to any sunfish as a sunfish or a bluegill and tossed it back. But I did find it interesting actually.
Had a Warmouth I kept for over a year as a pet in 30 Gallon Aquarium. He tamed and was friendly, and was almost like a miniature dog. Very Alert and intelligent. Their Eyes Track anything That moves in a tank as Possible Food. Once tamed will eat pellets and Flakes. Quite an interesting and Rewarding Pet. Sunfish are Scrappy and very territorial. Some Rivaling Discus in Colors of Blues, Green and Turquoise. Cool Fish 🐠 when kept in Tanks Large enough to give Them Plenty of Room. Never keep them in In Smaller Tanks except When very young.
Ah, I'm torn. The technical part of me is wants the split...but a part of me also likes the simplicity of just keeping 'em all as longear. And if there ever is a cheap, field-test for DNA verification of these species then I will be singing about it on this channel.
You're probably referring to the common names. Each species of most all fishes worldwide have at least a handful of common names. I'll be adding synonyms of common names to the guide soon.
Wish I had seen this back in April when I caught a bunch of these and just called them Sunfish. This guy at the fishing pier was really adamant that they were Bluegill not Sunfish. I didn’t care enough to challenge him, but I’m finding it funny that ALL bluegills are Sunfish but not all Sunfish are Bluegills. So I was definitely correct while he might’ve also been correct or incorrect based on what type of Sunfish they actually were.
I do have a question. How readily will these species hybridize with each other? Or are their genetics so dissimilar that hybridization isn’t possible. I live in southeastern Michigan and last year I caught such an odd looking sunfish variety that I could only speculate it was a bluegill, rock bass, hybrid...if that is even possible. This stream section has moderate current and is absolutely loaded with these two fish species, along with good populations of larger predators, and they build their spawn beds amidst each other, so I thought it possible that some milt drift is likely. I wish I could post a picture, but it doesn’t seem I have that capability.
Hey Roger. Indeed these species can hybridize with one another; lepomids are actually hybridize with each other more than most other genera of fishes. I've written up a little article that answers a lot of questions here: www.koaw.org/hybrid-lepomids Also, if you want to post fish photo for an ID (or any animal or pant) then check out iNaturalist: Here's another link explaining more. www.koaw.org/sunfishid6 You can tag me "@koaw" in the description box and it will notify me. Also you can tag me on FishAngler or FishBrain (KN_Fishing_Smarts) I think... Cheers!
I made a movie of my adventure catching these species across the U.S. here: th-cam.com/video/Jl6N-iIfOO4/w-d-xo.html Remember that all the individual species pages are here: www.koaw.org/sunfishes These pages show more specimens of each species so you can really see the variance between populations and whatnot. Friendly reminder that TH-cam’s Auto-Comment-Filter is active. Inappropriate language is blocked as KNFS is an all-age community. Links are blocked to prevent spammers.
@@KNFishingSmarts thanks love eating the fat ones but always wondering what some of them are really called. Im pretty sure we have at least half of them in Michigan.
@@johnulmerRacingmuskies are very easy and common to catch sunfish compared to the more elusive and exotic Bluegill which is known to pull anglers into the water and steal their rods.
Do you have any way to submit a sunfish to you for ID like through iNaturalist? I caught a really strange sunfish today in Houston ok having trouble IDing
Hey Ian. Within your posted observation, if you just add an "@koaw" in a comment area or observation description it should notify me. There are also a handful of other really experienced ID'ers of lepomids on iNat that'll probably take a look anyways.
I've always been under the impression that fish is proper for a single fish or multiple fish. Like a school of fish. Have I been mislead and plural is actually fishes?
Hey Mike. It's a great question. Usually 'fishes' refers to multiple species. So if I caught 1 green sunfish and 1 bluegill then I could say I caught 2 fishes (I'm being particular about my species count) or 2 fish (I just care about the #.) If I caught 3 green sunfish and 1 bluegill then I could say I caught 2 fishes (= I caught 2 species) or I caught 4 fish (# of specimens caught.) I also wrote up a quick article on my website a few years back if you're a bit more curious. www.koaw.org/fish-or-fishes Cheers!
Thanks Trey. Yeah, quick rule of thumb. You just say "fishes" if you want to describe the number of species or that you're talking about multiple species. So if you caught 1 white crappie and 2 black crappie, then you caught 3 fish and 2 fishes. Cheers!
This is like a college-level sunfish identification series, for free on TH-cam.
Thanks for all the work you did gathering this information and assembling it for us to learn!
It's all about spreading that knowledge just like you do with your channel! Cheers man! Thanks for checking out the video.
@@KNFishingSmarts a pair of jewel cichlid/salvini cichlid hybrid pair 3 male firemouths and 1 single republican male longear sunfish. what do you think 😊
This is a middle school version of sunfish identification. A college level video wouldve mentioned the several species of bass that are also sunfish
I grew up catching green sunfish...still my favorite!
Greens are great! Thanks for sharing John.
Wow you just don't find this quality of content, greatly appreciated sir
Thanks much, Yelladog78! Glad you appreciate the details.
This is a really high quality video. Great work.
Glad you think so Lil Fish Buddy!
@@KNFishingSmarts a pair of hybrid jewel/salvini cichlids 3 male firemouths and 1 single male republican southern longear sunfish. What do you think 😊
Glad someone finally did something like this in modern type media
As am I Anthony. Thanks for the comment!
Excellent information. Hard to find such comprehensive Sunfish education, elsewhere. Thank you.
You're welcome Natisha and thank you too! Glad to be of service to a fellow fisher!
This video is a life-changer. You should do a "male vs female" video for Bluegill. I think that will help a lot of anglers (especially with conservation/trophy efforts). Release those big males!
That has been something I've been mulling around with. I want to get some more video of some of the sneaker and satellite males to compare against parental males. But you've convinced me to put that one on the project list! Thanks much.
I just stumbled across your channel because I was doing some research on having a "native" aquarium and I really walked away with a wealth of knowledge. Even though long ears aren't native to my area I think they are the coolest looking sunfish out there.
Glad to have helped you! Yeah...the longear males in breeding colors can just be amazingly colorful and vibrant. Good luck with your native-fishes tank!
I will come back to this when the two young sunfish become old enough to identify. I can not wait. They were accidentally caught while teaching my daughter how to catch crayfish. Decided to take them home. Glad we did as they follow us like puppies when we walk past their 55 gallon aquarium. So cute seeing these two 1 or 2 inch sunfish swim as fast as their baby fins can go just to follow you lol. Sunnys used to be annoying to catch while fishing but wow its so neat to see how much personality they have (I never knew) and wont ever find them annoying again haha!
Nice! Glad you had a change of heart on these sunfishes. Hope your family keeps enjoying the new tank friends.
I like how how detailed your videos are. I subbed. I download many of your vids and store them offline to use as a backup guide when I'm fishing without cell signal coverage (hope you don't mind).
I'd like to see guides on choosing swivel/barrel sizes, bobber sizes, weights (ie splitshot, egg, bullet, dipsey, etc), standard plastic jigs with weighted hooks (often painted with a colored eye; and how to tie, rig and use/jig them), how to choose fishing line size (ie lbs poundage of line based on what folks are fishing for) and how to use lighter poundage line to catch heavier species of fish without the line breaking, how and when to use plastic beads on fishing line and which colors/sizes to use, how to select a fishing pole based on length and thickness, how to choose fishing reels based on size of the reel and what can be gotten away with for larger species of fish,...
I mention these because of how detailed you are and how you would do these topics justic without recommending products just to make money on promotions from select companies.
An exotic fishing video that I would recommend would be on the Ka-Bar Fishing Caster (a $15 portable fisher sold on Amazon). I use this when fishing from shore or a dock with fluorocarbon line (it doesn't work well with mono or braid). It's always in my bugout bag in my vehicle and allows someone to fish practically anywhere without a pole. Hooks, weights and small lures can be stored within the hollow chamber within the fisher. I used the small resealable bags sold for storing crafting beads, sold on the craft aisle at Walmart to store hooks, weights, flies, and plastic baits and to keep them seperate. I tight a 10" piece of braided line off the bottom of the fisher to attach two, small, weighted, cigar shaped floats on to the braided line before packing it in my backpack. I've had good results with using a hook, a bead and a small bullet weight to get lengthy casts. I use the weighted bobbers and a one to two foot leader when casting flies with this pocket fisher. You mentioned that you enjoy shore fishing and this works awesome for that.
I do a lot of shore fishing and occasionally from docks. I'd like to see for tutorials on fishing from shore into a lake.
I live and fish mainly in North Georgia, USA.
Thanks again for all the good and in-depth fishing tips and tutorials.
Sincerely,
Jacob
05-21-2023 @ 16:34
Appreciate the comment here, Jacob! (It's very long!) Firstly, yeah--I don't mind at all that you've download and use the vids offline; the vids are meant assist anglers.
Secondly, you've given a lot of ideas for future videos. And I would enjoy addressing all of that in the future but that would not be possible. What I will do is incorporate some of your good questions into my upcoming 'How to Catch Common Sunfishes' video. I'm sure a lot of other anglers are wondering the same things you've brought up.
I too enjoy shore fishing so I will do my best to incorporate some of those tactics into future videos. Thanks for sharing your tips and gear recommendation on that Ka-Bar Fishing Caster. Cheers!
@@KNFishingSmarts A long comment is usually from the heart. 👍
As a lifelong fisherman and ecological consultant who does a lot of stream assessments I have to say this is a great frigging video, thanks for all the work that went into making this!
Ah, much appreciated Jeff! It definitely was a goal of mine to make the content quality enough not just for anglers but for those who work within the scientific fields doing surveys, assessments, research, etc.. I'm glad it has your approval!
I knew nothing about gill rakers before watching this. Thank you for teaching.
You're welcome Cliff! Thanks for watching.
Trying to get my knowledge of natives up to snuff. I can id fish from all over the world but i get stumped with natives lol. Growing up it was blue gill pumpkin seed or green....also generally known as catfish bait. Its past time for me to know better. Loved this video and will be plowing thru your others as well. Thanks a million for the awesome work.
OHHH ALMOST FORGOT , THOSE WARMOUTH BASS ARE MONSTERS AS THEY WILL ATTACK ANYTHING . I'V CAUGHT A FEW ON 8 INCH PLASTIC WORMS . QUITE AMAZING . MAY FAVORITE TWO ARTIFICAL BAITS FOR SUN FISH ARE A 1/8 OUNCE BEETLE SPIN / GRUB / CURL TAIL IN BLACK AND A WET FLY , BLACK WITH A RED TAIL . THANKS AGAIN
Ah, a fishing tip for warmouth. Thanks for sharing with us!
I wanted to take a moment to Thank You for all your efforts. Very impressive!
You're very welcome Peter. And thank you for the kind remarks about the guide. Best of luck out there!
Hell ya this is just what I needed
Glad to have helped ya out!
I caught a light green (closer to a light olive green) sunfish with a large, vivid yellow chest in front of the first set of fins. The first set of fins are also a translucent yellow. The top and tail fins are like a very translucent olive green. The bottom fins are a translucent gray. Also the black dot is small like most of the sunfish but it's more square. It also has faint olive green vertical stripes but doesn't have any dots or any other stripes on it. This fish is only green and bright yellow with some white around the mouth and the black dot/ear. There were no other colors on it. I caught it in Lake Havasu.
Hmm...the only lepomids in Lake Havasu are Green Sunfish, Bluegill, and Redear sunfish. It really sounds like you have a green sunfish--or some hybrid with a green sunfish.
Very cool and well done video.
They’re really hard to tell apart, when lightly breaded and in my frying pan.😂
Haha! They are tasty fishes.
It is important to note that the northern sunfish is a relatively new species and some states still don't distinguish it from the longear. My state of Illinois, for example, does not separate the two species, but almost all "longears" from natural waters within about a 50 mile radius of Lake Michigan are northern sunfish.
The easiest way to tell a northern sunfish apart from a longear sunfish is the ear flap. A longear's ear flap is significantly longer, and straight. A northern's ear flap is angled and has a red mark, similar to a pumpkinseed.
Indeed it's a relatively new separation. Perhaps the IDNR will one day recognize the northern! But yeah, that barrier between the Great Lakes Basin and the Upper Mississippi River Basin/Ohio River Basin seems to separate the northern from the longear populations. Thanks for sharing!
WOW I loved this! You are amazing I hope I retain some of this. Guess I will have to watch this like 50 times.
Thanks Mark! Well, you could always watch or just go just koaw.org/sunfishes where it's a bit quicker to zone in on what ya want. Cheers!
Great content man! I'm a botanist so I'm a sucker for taxonomy and ID. You're making fishing much more fun!
Ah sweet! Glad to get appreciation from another scientist. Cheers!
Outstanding work here, man. Thanks very much.
Thanks for that John! And you're very welcome.
This is amazing and very informative! However, they are all "Bluegies" to me .... lol
Haha, thanks JangoMike. I might just have to add "bluegies" as another common name for 'em. Cheers!
@@KNFishingSmarts since you actually reply to threads. Whats your opinion on anglers intentionally fishing and pulling Bass off beds during spawn? I always felt this cant be a good thing, especially on pressured fish. Thanks!
Excellent video, I have kept several different species in Aquariums, they are very intelligent and beautiful fish that rival Cichlids in color and curiosity.
Thanks Donald! I also have such an admiration for their beautiful colors and patterns. Cheers!
Who could possibly dislike this?!
=) There always has to been some haters right? Cheers!
This is exactly how the origins of zoology started. Good job
Yeah Sabu! Any science, right? Get a question and then do some field work and testing. Cheers!
Please publish books and wall charts , and other fish like the bass. Have been wanting info like this forever. As a fisherman I like to know all I can . Thanks
I will keep that in mind as I have gotten a few requests for that. But I have been waiting to publish any posters/pamphlets to see if the longear species complex does indeed get broken up. There is supposedly a very large study soon-to-be published on longear.
Thank you very much my granddaughter and I found your video very enjoyable.Thank you for taking your time to make this video.
Wonderful! I'm glad the two of you enjoyed this one. =)
Nice Information Koah, Wish I Could Meet You And Discuss This Information!!!
This Is Up My Alley!!!
Keep It Up Sir!!!
This Is Doctoral Work!!!
Appreciate that, Taylor! That's a lot of exclamation points. It was a time-consuming project...that's for sure.
@KNFishingSmarts
You welcome!!!
Thank You As Well!!!
Great detail when I was younger and even to this day I go to creeks to see if i can catch these overlooked colorful fish I also wade clear streams to look for log perch and darters I find these fish as exciting as catching shovel heads or bass thanks for the video 👍
I've caught Green Sunfish in South Dakota in a farm pond on the Pine Ridge Oglalla Lakota (Sioux) reservation that had the teeth you referred to.
Ah, great Steven. Thank you for that. I've been wanting to narrow down the regions these specimens of green with glossohyal teeth may be located. Appreciate the tip!
Pumpkin seed are my favorite striper bait during the summer due to the ease of keeping them alive during the heat
Ah nice, lepomids are pretty hardy bait options.
I recently went fishing locally and caught a very pretty sunfish that i am now treating and hoping to add to my established tank. I believe i have a Pumpkinseed. Google also agrees, from me taking a pic. I just wanted to say that this video is INCREDIBLY informative. I appreciate it so much. Amazing!
Huge help! Finally figured out I have a bluespotted Sunfish with your help!
Sweet! So glad to help with that ID. Cheers Nicholas!
Wow! This was thoroughly awesome. Thank you. I have to admit, I've given up with some of these in the field. I have no excuse now. Very well done.
Thanks Robert! Glad this guide will help you with your field IDs. Cheers!
I always caught crazy looking LongGear ones and Pumpkinseed in Gaithersburg Maryland as a kid.
Thank you! I get offended with folks calling us all perch or bream.
I studied Ichthyology in 1994 for my biology degree. I wish this video had been available then. 👍
Great name you have there! You must be an ambassador for the species. =) And very cool about you studying ichthyology during the acquisition of your biology degree. Ichthyology is my favorite zoological field of study. Cheers!
Where does the Coppernose Bluegill fit in the Lepomis class? There is a hatchery in Oklahoma and Kansas that has them, and while native to Florida, they have acclimated to living under the ice. I am in Northern Indiana and I brought back close to 80# of them from there to do a test to see if they will survive the winters here in Northern Indiana. I will know this Spring, but it may be an anomaly, due to our mild winter this year. Also, a Bluegill/Green Sunfish cross is commonly called a Hybrid Bluegill. There is a fish hatchery in Arkansas that is selling "Specklebelly Sunfish" which I think is a cross between a Redear Sunfish and a Northern Bluegill.
There's still a bit of ambiguity around all the subspecies declarations of bluegill. But as of now, most authorities give the coppernose bluegill a subspecies declaration of (Lepomis macrochirus purpurascens); it's still a bluegill. Most all of the places that the coppernose are introduced into will see introgression of genes between the local bluegill populations and the coppernose bluegill. I'd imagine you'll see the intraspecific mating this spring if you stocked those coppernose with the local bluegill--and they survive the winter. Good luck with your experiment!
Amazing video, going to take a look through your videos - hoping you have a Salmon ID guide
Ah, sorry @sumgui6010 ... Maybe one day I'll have a salmon guide. That would be an extensive work though. Appreciate your comment!
Fantastic video and information! I have subscribed. FYI...I have caught Coppernose Bluegills here in North Carolina.
Thanks Joe Fish! Yeah, I've had a couple other anglers point that out and I did amend the note on NC coppernose on my website. Cheers!
Outstanding video. Need more like this. Informative to the hilt. Placed in watch later for future reference. Again I say, outstanding. Many states parks and wildlife websites need this link on their websites.
Glad you respect this production Phil! I'm hoping it will help many people for many years. Cheers!
Wealth of information.
Definitely breaking it down!
I did my best to shorten it but so much seemed important! Thanks for watching Nathan.
Outstanding presentation! Even if I'm more confused than ever. You got my sub!
Where do our FL shellcracker fit into this mess? They've got to be among the biggest, if they're lepomids at all. Growing up in Cen FL, we mistakenly called redbreast shellcracker (& ate plenty of them!), since that's what some grown local guys called them on our lake. I didn't find out we were mislabeling them until well into adulthood!
Oh yeah, those specimens down in Florida get massive! Shellcracker is another common name for the redear sunfish (Lepomis microlophus). Down in the south it's more usual for people to call redear sunfish as shellcrackers. And you are right, redear (shellcracker) get to be the biggest of all lepomids along with bluegill. The largest lepomid ever caught was a redear (as far as I know.) Cheers!
@@KNFishingSmarts Yes sir, FLA record bluegill is almost 3 lbs, record redear is almost 5! I've caught some big ones, but I can't even imagine a 5 lb 'cracker!
Wow. Must commend you on this guide. Best compilation I have ever seen. I have caught most of these across NC and SC. Some have local nicknames including rootknocker, stumpknocker, Morgan, Robin, Redbreasts called by sex= Rooster or hen, etc. Those copperheads do not show until they get pretty big ,I never caught a smaller one. subbed
I appreciate that Paul. And yeah, that does bring up a good point that I should add a lot of the local common nicknames to these species on the website. Thanks for the idea there!
Stumpknocker is what he properly calls warmouth. Big fighter (for its size) and tasty! There's a persistent false anecdote that warmouth is a lm bass/bluegill hybrid.
Holy toledo batman! This is a very informative guide to identifying sunfish. Is there any books you recommend that have this same information? Keep up the great work and content.
Hey Shawn, well I made this guide because no field guide had all this information put together. But a great field guide for most all of North American Fresh Water fishes is the Peterson "Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes" by Page and Burr. It's a bit dated but it has all the lepomids covered fairly well and so many other species. Hope that helps a bit.
@@KNFishingSmarts thanks much appreciated.
Interesting! I’ve known about this video for a while, but waited to watch until I had uninterrupted time to devote to it. Well worth the wait! As a non-fishing person who has a fish allergy, I was fascinated to learn about the variety of species! Are there more fish species than, say, cat species? If so, do you have any idea why fish would be so varied? Are fish the most genetically varied creatures? Since sunfish are dispersed by range, do we have any idea how climate change is affecting them? You really do dig into the most intriguing topics! You always push my brain over into curious mode!
Hey Sarah, great questions! I'll answer as best I can.
1. Yup. There are way more fish species than cat species as there are over 35,000 species of fishes. There are more living species of fishes than all of the other species of tetrapods combined (mammals, amphibians, reptiles, + birds).
Evolution of fishes is complicated but I can simplify as to why there are so many: Fishes have been around for a long time, over 450 million years, which is much a lot of time for new species to come about and there is A LOT of water on Earth that has provided constant changes in environments, of which, is a prime driver in the evolution of new species. And even though our planet's freshwater makes up less than .001% of all the water, about 43% of those 35k species are using freshwater. The constant intracontinental isolations of populations over time offer more chances for speciation events.
2. As far as fish being the 'most genetically varied creatures', I would say no. Yes, there is tremendous diversity within fishes but I believe the class of insects takes the cake, possibly even other groups of animals.
3. Climate change is affecting many species of fishes. As far as sunfish populations go, these are fairly hardy, adaptable fishes. I would imagine that, in time, they will be able to live farther north than we've seen recently. I can't see I stumbled across any specific studies on this topic. But I'm curious to look into it!
Cheers! Thanks for the comment/questions!
This was a huge undertaking 👍 good stuff
Thanks Charsept! Yeah, it took some effort. =)
I dont see the flier, bluespotted. banded, or black banded sunfish on your site
The banded sunfish (Enneacanthus obesus) is in a different genus than the lepomids of this guide. Hopefully by this year I can have a short little guide made for the 3 members of Enneacanthus.
We generally call them Blue Gill around these parts.
That's a common name most of these fishes end up going by. Hopefully we can be a bit more accurate in the future for each species.
Very informative video and much appreciated 👍
Ah, glad to be of help, AJ! Thanks for watching.
@@KNFishingSmarts 🎣 I just subscribed to your channel. 👍🙂
Thank you for this video I just found your canal and will be looking at alot more of your videos I keep alot of native Fish including the red spotted , warmouth , Bluegill , Largemouth, and mini more smaller native fishes see ya around
You're welcome Chubz! Oh wow, you do keep a lot of native species. Very cool man. Thanks for the kind comment!
Thanks for doing this ! I'm glad that I stumbled across your channel.
Thanks for that! I'm also glad you stumbled across KNFS!
How do I distinguish male & female pumpkinseeds? Ditto for Longears & Bluegills
It's a good question and isn't as easy as it sounds, especially outside of breeding season. Sexing lepomids during breeding season (late-spring to mid-fall depending on the location) is much easier.
During breeding season male pumpkinseed and longear will be much more vibrant in colors compared to the females. Pumpkinseed males will have bright blue streaking along the head and brighter orange spotting and colors on the body. Male longear will show the same explosion of color with much, much red/orange in the median fins as well as longer ear flaps (typically.)
The most efficient way to determine the sex is by examining the size of the urogenital opening to the anus. Females will have larger urogenital openings compared to males, most obvious during the breeding season. You'll find a supporting image on my website www.koaw.org/bluegill Look under the "Sexing Bluegill" section.
Outside of breeding season, sometimes it can be very difficult to determine the sex with 100% certainty.
I caught a bluegill, the last fish I expected to see in Japan, yesterday and today. First time seeing them in person. I didn’t think fish could be cute, but I guess I was wrong lol
Very informative! Great visuals! Please stay connected! 🕊
Thank you for this awesome informational video, ill be sending this to some buddies of mine that call everything a Bream . By the way I live in coastal North Carolina and we have a large population of coppernose bluegill
Thanks Matthew! And thanks for the information; I'll look into that further. The coppernose is popular to stock and it seems to be intergrading with northern bluegill populations all over. Coastal North Carolina makes sense. I know I've seen a couple pop up here in VA. Cheers man!
@@KNFishingSmarts I sent some photos in a message to your Facebook page
We always called them kibbys or pan fish
There are so many different varieties variations
Can you discuss Elassoma? I have been obsessed with them since a child thinking they would be perfect aquarium fish.
Extremely useful video. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful for ya. Cheers!
What about sunfish that are not Lepomids? Or the many natural Lepomid Hybrids that can be found in many creeks and streams in the south east?
We do touch on distinguishing other centrarchids (sunfishes) from lepomids. I'm yet to produce a detailed guide on the entire family. And I do discuss more about hybrid lepomid identification more on the website. iwww.koaw.org/hybrid-lepomids Hope that helps a bit.
Welp , I'm fairly certain now that what I've called Pumpkin seed all my life is actually a long eared sunfish . And at least some I called the generic "Bluegill" were actually Red Breasts .
Who says you can't learn new things .
I live in the far Southwest part of Virginia , but my local drainage is the only part of the state that empties into the Tennessee river , and thus the Mississippi , which gives us a very varied species list , and I'm constantly learning new things .
Tracy, I'm glad you were able to add to your base of knowledge! You live in such a unique area for fishes! I've been wanting to head there because that's the only place in Virginia that gets all the different species of darters. I'm up north near the Potomac, so we definitely are in different drainage basins. Thanks for sharing!
In Austria people released the sunfish into the wild. Now they are in most big lakes in carinthia and are a big threat to our native perch. They have an extensive brood care and even attack human when you go near their nests
Oh this is to sweet. Just got into Sunfishing 2 years ago, and recently caught a Sunfish we're unsure of and don't think we've ever caught before.
We think them to be Pumpkin Seeds but a friend believes Warmouth. Didn't really take photos of them though... but we did take videos. And if it's not one of those two I'd be shocked and have no idea them. We commonly catch Bluegill, Red Ears, Crappie.....
Well if you need help with the final ID then you can always take some stills from your video and post it on iNaturalist. If you tag @koaw in the description then I'll gladly help ya with that ID. Good luck with your future catches!
@@KNFishingSmarts well was kind of hoping you'd take a short peek in their current video form. It's on TH-cam. Actually even the loader image is on one. Not the best image. But we catch what I think is 5 during the video.
No pressure but if that's cool, then just need to figure how to toss you a link to the video
Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it Mathew!
No idea why I watched this as I’ve always just referred to any sunfish as a sunfish or a bluegill and tossed it back. But I did find it interesting actually.
Had a Warmouth I kept for over a year as a pet in 30 Gallon Aquarium. He tamed
and was friendly, and was almost like a miniature dog.
Very Alert and intelligent.
Their Eyes Track anything
That moves in a tank as
Possible Food. Once tamed will eat pellets and Flakes.
Quite an interesting and
Rewarding Pet. Sunfish are
Scrappy and very territorial.
Some Rivaling Discus in
Colors of Blues, Green and
Turquoise.
Cool Fish 🐠 when kept in
Tanks Large enough to give
Them Plenty of Room.
Never keep them in
In Smaller Tanks except
When very young.
Nice! Thanks for sharing about warmouth in tanks, Nick.
And on your map it doesn't show pumpkinseed in oklahoma as native or introduced and they are very prevalent here in northeast oklahoma
good vid, thank you for all your research
My pleasure! Thanks Terry.
Impressive compilation! Are you a lumper, or a splitter? How long until we have a quick, cheap, portable DNA tester for instant field ID?
Ah, I'm torn. The technical part of me is wants the split...but a part of me also likes the simplicity of just keeping 'em all as longear. And if there ever is a cheap, field-test for DNA verification of these species then I will be singing about it on this channel.
Great work!
Thank you! Cheers Allen!
Wow that’s a lot to know
I knew there a few varieties
Didn’t know there were that many 🎣🎣🎣🎣
We call sunfish bream in Tennessee
Yeah, I noticed that's definitely more of a southern term.
Great Information!
I believe that this only applying to states above the Mason Dixon. Iv already seen several on here called somthing entirely different.
You're probably referring to the common names. Each species of most all fishes worldwide have at least a handful of common names. I'll be adding synonyms of common names to the guide soon.
I feel I have caught these copper nose bluegill in Virginia Beach.
That'd be interesting. Maybe possible. Private stockers are able to spread them all over the place.
Wish I had seen this back in April when I caught a bunch of these and just called them Sunfish. This guy at the fishing pier was really adamant that they were Bluegill not Sunfish. I didn’t care enough to challenge him, but I’m finding it funny that ALL bluegills are Sunfish but not all Sunfish are Bluegills. So I was definitely correct while he might’ve also been correct or incorrect based on what type of Sunfish they actually were.
I do have a question. How readily will these species hybridize with each other? Or are their genetics so dissimilar that hybridization isn’t possible. I live in southeastern Michigan and last year I caught such an odd looking sunfish variety that I could only speculate it was a bluegill, rock bass, hybrid...if that is even possible. This stream section has moderate current and is absolutely loaded with these two fish species, along with good populations of larger predators, and they build their spawn beds amidst each other, so I thought it possible that some milt drift is likely. I wish I could post a picture, but it doesn’t seem I have that capability.
Hey Roger. Indeed these species can hybridize with one another; lepomids are actually hybridize with each other more than most other genera of fishes. I've written up a little article that answers a lot of questions here: www.koaw.org/hybrid-lepomids
Also, if you want to post fish photo for an ID (or any animal or pant) then check out iNaturalist: Here's another link explaining more. www.koaw.org/sunfishid6
You can tag me "@koaw" in the description box and it will notify me. Also you can tag me on FishAngler or FishBrain (KN_Fishing_Smarts) I think... Cheers!
Duuuude great video!!!
I kept a sun fish as a pet which isn't legal where I am but omg did that fish have personality I miss that lil guy bro ate everything
I made a movie of my adventure catching these species across the U.S. here: th-cam.com/video/Jl6N-iIfOO4/w-d-xo.html
Remember that all the individual species pages are here: www.koaw.org/sunfishes These pages show more specimens of each species so you can really see the variance between populations and whatnot.
Friendly reminder that TH-cam’s Auto-Comment-Filter is active. Inappropriate language is blocked as KNFS is an all-age community. Links are blocked to prevent spammers.
Awesome video!
Glad you enjoyed it, Yehuda!
@@KNFishingSmarts Sure did! I have a large community tank, thinking of adding some smaller variety of sunfish, bluespotted, bantam or banded!
I've been waiting for a video like this. There's so many kinds of sunfish I get confused.
Yeah Richard, lots of other fishers have felt the same way. Glad you found it. Cheers!
Most common are bluegill and redear
Great video i had to like it for future reference
Ah, thanks Jerry! Good luck catching sunfishes!
@@KNFishingSmarts thanks love eating the fat ones but always wondering what some of them are really called. Im pretty sure we have at least half of them in Michigan.
1:22 my favorite sunfish
The largemouth or the musky?
@@KNFishingSmarts the largemouth. I'm too far south for Muskie, unfortunately. Also, I don't think Muskie are sunfish, but I could be wrong.
@@johnulmerRacingmuskies are very easy and common to catch sunfish compared to the more elusive and exotic Bluegill which is known to pull anglers into the water and steal their rods.
great work
This is great! Thank you!
Thanks, Meghan! Glad you find this guide useful. =)
Very helpful video!!
Very glad this was helpful for you!
Do you have any way to submit a sunfish to you for ID like through iNaturalist? I caught a really strange sunfish today in Houston ok having trouble IDing
Hey Ian. Within your posted observation, if you just add an "@koaw" in a comment area or observation description it should notify me. There are also a handful of other really experienced ID'ers of lepomids on iNat that'll probably take a look anyways.
Are these related to the giant sunfish in the ocean
The Pumpkinseed has to be one of the most beautiful freshwater fish in North American lakes.
Awesome work thank you!👍
Thank you! Cheers!
5:45 is what species on fresh water Sunfish ?.
That is a dollar sunfish (Lepomis marginatus) at the 5:45 mark.
@@KNFishingSmarts Thanks for the info. .
Nice video !
Glad you enjoyed it Tom!
Do you have any info on the rio grande cichlid
Sorry, Bottom Line Outdoors, I haven't produced anything on that species yet.
I've always been under the impression that fish is proper for a single fish or multiple fish. Like a school of fish. Have I been mislead and plural is actually fishes?
Hey Mike. It's a great question.
Usually 'fishes' refers to multiple species. So if I caught 1 green sunfish and 1 bluegill then I could say I caught 2 fishes (I'm being particular about my species count) or 2 fish (I just care about the #.)
If I caught 3 green sunfish and 1 bluegill then I could say I caught 2 fishes (= I caught 2 species) or I caught 4 fish (# of specimens caught.)
I also wrote up a quick article on my website a few years back if you're a bit more curious. www.koaw.org/fish-or-fishes
Cheers!
@@KNFishingSmarts that actually makes perfect sense now that you pointed it out. Thanks for clarification and yes ill have a watch of that video.
This is an amazing video but fish(s) idk if it’s just a texas thin but we never say fishes
Thanks Trey. Yeah, quick rule of thumb. You just say "fishes" if you want to describe the number of species or that you're talking about multiple species. So if you caught 1 white crappie and 2 black crappie, then you caught 3 fish and 2 fishes. Cheers!
@@KNFishingSmarts I didn’t know that that’s awesome
wow thats a lot of names for bluegill
Thank you for this!
My pleasure! Thanks for watching Charles.
New sub. Nice video, thanks!
Thanks much! Good luck out there.
All of them are catfish bait.
Oh yeah, that's definitely true: Catfish anglers love using all types of common sunfishes for bait.
Or bait for monster bass, lol!
I love to catch catfish bait
Flathead fricasea
I use em for gar