David Happymountain said:

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I'm a sucker for classification books. Can you share what fish ID book you are referencing?

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http://txstate.fishesoftexas.org/
This is the one we use at work. Tim Bonner is an Ag. Whiteside taught in San Marcos forever. Chad is a Bobcat and LSU grad.

Potcake said:

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David Happymountain said:

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I'm a sucker for classification books. Can you share what fish ID book you are referencing?

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http://txstate.fishesoftexas.org/
This is the one we use at work. Tim Bonner is an Ag. Whiteside taught in San Marcos forever. Chad is an LSU grad.

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Whiteside was a great professor. First day of Ichthyology, he walked in with a 5 gallon bucket of sunfish that he had just caught across the street in the San Marcos River. He poured them out on the table and said, "start keying them out"…..

SanAntoneAg said:

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Shoefly! said:

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Hybrid Bluegill, my Bil stocked his tank with them. Fun to catch, good to eat.

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I'm going with this. The OP's fish does not look like any of the native Texas sunfish. It most closely resembles a bluegill.

Definitely not a redear, redbreast, long ear or green.

Perch, specifically yellow perch, aren't native to Texas. Not sure if they are even found here, maybe in Lake Meredith.

Oh and at some point in time, it's likely that the redbreast and long ear were somehow crossed up regarding identifying purposes. The long ear actually has a red breast and the redbreast has a longer ear.

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They came from Henneke Hatchery, Halletsville. They run an excellent operation.

With the long ear, think long vertically, not horizontally along the length of the fish. Maybe it should have been wide ear.

That fish is a bluegill. It may be somewhat hybridized, but it is mostly bluegill for sure.

Longear sunfish

Greengill sunfish (bluegill/green sunfish hybrids)

Warmouth

Texas cichlids

Redear sunfish

Green sunfish

I caught it in the Devil's river so I figured it had to be a longear, but I just looked and they are introduced into that system so it appears I was mistaken.

Funny enough he was from Pennsylvania.

Please debate this one. Green sunfish? Red eyes are throwing me off.

OP's fish is a coppernose bluegill. IIRC, they're a designed hybrid for size as pure bluegills don't get as big.

Bird Poo said:

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I think that's a warmouth.

Great thread!

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I have never heard of a warmouth.

Just got a new place last year and couldn't identify the "perch" I was catching. I think this is them. Will definitely throw a pic up next time I catch one.

I've only caught them in the San Gabriel and Brushy Creek rivers around Austin/RR. Not sure if they are commonly in ponds as stocked fish. They look more like a little bass in regards to mouth size and body shape/length.

They're brim in East Texas

Bird Poo said:

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I think that's a warmouth.

Great thread!

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Or Goggle-Eye is what we called them when I was growing up. You talk about a fight when you got one that was around a pound on a cane pole or little Zebco rod and reel.

They'll all fit on a 5/0 hook, and it's nothing for a 10# yellow cat to swallow them whole.

Been waiting for my kiddos to get up the gumption to head back over to the lake. How about some help IDing this one?

Nice catch for your little girl! She looks happy! So great to see kids enjoying fishing.

Green sunfish. They have larger mouths and orange fin accents.

Yes, a green.

Sgt. Hartman said:

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They're brim in East Texas

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So then, is a bream different? I know that all the variable pronunciations and local word customs come into the mix if we're getting into that East Texas/Cajun patois.

No brim is just a colloquialism for bream. True bream are a European fish that is not closely related to the sunfishes. Just like true perch are not closely related to sunfishes.

It is interesting to note that smallmouth and largemouth bass and crappie are all members of the sunfish family. They are also not related to true bass which are also usually saltwater/brackish water fish. Striped bass are true bass.

And peacock bass are cichlids, so they aren't related to largemouth bass or true bass?

Not closely, no.