Sunfish Monsters

[oscarcrazy]

Wonderful how every sunfish has to be a hybrid these days. Can't we just go back to simpler days and call them all breem or perch or something?

I'm kidding, really.

Sunfish are awesome, I just don't see the point in arguing about parentage. Some people on here have to remember that others on here have been dealing with them on more then just a hobbyist or fisherman level. Trust those with experiance. I once had a client try to tell me that a silver grey rock fish was a boccao (look them up, if you really want to know). I told him he was wrong and the fish had to be returned. He proceeded to tell me he had been fishing in Alaska for years and once held the world record for the copper rock fish (a little rock fish locals throw back, huuurahhhh!!). Anyway, after some arguing and him questioning my knowledge (you know I've only been living and guiding in Alaska my whole life and catch more fish in a day then most people do in 10 years), he threw the fish into the hold. Low and behold, waiting at the dock was a fish and game officer, after explaining the situation, guess who got the ticket? Not me.

Anyway sorry about the story, can't remember why I wrote it in the first place. Something to do with a sunfish though right?

 

[dominicolas]

those first 4 picks look allot like female redbreast.

My first 4? Because mine are def not redbreast.

 

[oscarcrazy]

those first 4 picks look allot like female redbreast.

First 4 are 100% longear, Texas style of course.

 

[dominicolas]

First 4 are 100% longear, Texas style of course.

I didn't know there was a "Texas style" but I definitely noticed how longears here look more impresive i.e. more colorful and vibrant than they do in other places. And of course we do it big in Texas.

 

[oscarcrazy]

I didn't know there was a "Texas style" but I definitely noticed how longears here look more impresive i.e. more colorful and vibrant than they do in other places. And of course we do it big in Texas.

longears are probably the variable of sunfish when it comes to colors. Longears from the northern parts of thier range usually display more blue. The ones down south here have a ton of orange/red over the blue. One of the most often misidentified sunfish.

 

[sandtiger]

Sorry MST but there is no way I'm gonna take your word for it , especially when you cannot tell the difference between a redear and a pumpkinseed. That said I do acknowledge that the pumpkinseed picture I posted could be a hybrid, given where it came from it would not surprise me.
As for the four fish posted by the OP, I'm gonna say those are longears. They have some interesting coloration though, not like any longears I've seen. Like oscarcrazy said though, there is a lot of diversity in longears.

 

[MultispeciesTamer]

its you who cant tell the diff

 

[sandtiger]

its you who cant tell the diff

We settled this one already, the thread speaks for itself.

 

[JDS]

I wish I had long ears in my neck of the woulds. in fact i wish we had a better assortment of fish all to gather.

 

[sandtiger]

I wish I had long ears in my neck of the woulds. in fact i wish we had a better assortment of fish all to gather.

I'm sure there are a lot that you just aren't seeing. I tried to look for a good "Fishes of" site for MA but did not come up with much. If you use the below link however you can do a search on the specific watershed you live in and get of list of whats there.
http://www.natureserve.org/getData/dataSets/watershedHucs/index.jsp
Personally If I were you I would be looking for redbreasts, I still need to get my hands on some of those.