Bluegill - Big Bluegill

Do you love big bluegill?

As bluegill anglers, we often are fortunate enough to tangle with some other interesting sunfish species. One that I most often hear mis-identified is Green Sunfish. Mostly, I hear folks calling them Rock Bass. Warmouth look even more like Rock Bass, but there are differences, especially in that Rock Bass are often found in rocky streams or lakes, and Warmouth seem to have a preference for weedy slackwaters & ponds.

Anyway, here's some pictures of these 3 sunfish species that might help others with identifying what they are catching:

Green Sunfish


Rock Bass


Warmouth

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Here is a picture of a Green Sunfish from the Erie Canal near my house in NY. We don't see them in too many lakes/streams around here, The Canal is full of them though.


How about the blackbanded sunfish? Where's the love?


....or the redbreast sunfish??
im having trouble identifying this fish! our state record is only 13oz. The fish you hold here Ive cought several over a lb. I wanna get more into detail on some record fish cause I think Ive got some record setters here in the delta. Ive already caught a bowfin that would hold a state record and I released him. Im getting close to just takin my daily creel down to the game warden office every time and sayin YOU GO THROUGH EM! Red breast and bluegill all look the same to me.
Bruce, you've got two species there I've never caught..... both are very cool!
did you catch that? ive also never heard of it. can you tell me where to catch them?
Oooooo. I like that redbreast sunfish - would like to see more of them.

The Blackbanded sunfish - tell me - is it a species, subspecies? Where?

FH
testing

Just as I thought!!!
I'm calling you out on the lens tricks Bruce!! No wonder all your fish look HUUUGEEEEE.
(LMAO)

That is one COOL looking fish! Never saw one before.
Growing up in northern Illinois most everyone I know called them all bluegill. Maybe that's all we caught. My goal this year is to actually know what I'm catching. And, since I've never targeted "bluegill," maybe I'll have a lot of opportunities to hit or miss. Thanks for the pictures.
easiest way to tell a warmouth apart from a rockbass is to count the spines on the anal fin. rockbass usually has 6 and a warmouth has 3.
I tried on another thread to help ID this fish. Any ideas?

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Sunrise Shellcracker…..7/23/2025

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Jeffrey D. Abney replied to Jeffrey D. Abney's discussion Panfish Species of North America- Which Ones Have You Caught?
"Often bass fisherman will catch Warmouth on 9” worms……..they. don’t fight…"
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Jeffrey D. Abney replied to Jeffrey D. Abney's discussion Panfish Species of North America- Which Ones Have You Caught?
"This is a great comparison John…..I added another photo to give perspective….."
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"I sure envy you, enjoy!"
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"Hey Jeffrey! Does the Warmouth have about the same sized Mouth as a Black Crappie of equal size, or…"
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Jeffrey D. Abney replied to Jeffrey D. Abney's discussion Panfish Species of North America- Which Ones Have You Caught?
"Some quality Warmouth I caught in my early years on the Albemarle….."
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Jeffrey D. Abney replied to Jeffrey D. Abney's discussion Panfish Species of North America- Which Ones Have You Caught?
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Jeffrey D. Abney replied to Jeffrey D. Abney's discussion Panfish Species of North America- Which Ones Have You Caught?
"Thanks for sharing John……you have patterned your available species pretty good over…"
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"Only caught five of these Species up here in New Jersey. Bluegill, Pumpkinseed, Red Breasted…"
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