Sun Perch/ Bluegill

[Stingrayg4]

Reading through the threads on this forum, I see that the focus is primarily on White Perch & Yellow Perch. I don't believe that we have either in Oklahoma (though I could be wrong).

The fish that is generally called a "perch" around here is the Sun Perch, which I've also heard called a Bluegill.



Anyone else here fish for these guys? In my experience, they're biting even when nothing else is. They'll bit on jigs, minnows, worms or pretty much anything you throw at them that they can get into their small mouths. They're a lot of fun to catch because the fight is disproportionate to their small size. Generally they're only a pound or less, but I've gotten into some bigger ones from time to time. I've been told that they're pretty good eating as well, but I've never bothered to find out for myself, seems more trouble than it's worth to fillet the little guys. They're a catch & release fish as far as I'm concerned, but they can sure make your day when you get into a bunch of them when nothing else is biting.

-S

[Barnacle Bill]

That sure looks like a crappie but the shape is wrong?

[Stingrayg4]

Note the dark spot behind the gills, that's a dead giveaway that you're looking at a Sun Perch. Their mouths are a lot smaller than a crappie's mouth too. If you catch one one a rooster tail or anything else with treble on it, you almost always have to get out the needle nose pliers to get the treble hook loose.

Often they have an irredescent sheen or reddish tint on their bellies like this one:



To me they look more like pirranah than crappie.

-S

[Barnacle Bill]

Note the dark spot behind the gills, that's a dead giveaway that you're looking at a Sun Perch. Their mouths are a lot smaller than a crappie's mouth too. If you catch one one a rooster tail or anything else with treble on it, you almost always have to get out the needle nose pliers to get the treble hook loose.

Often they have an irredescent sheen or reddish tint on their bellies like this one:



To me they look more like pirranah than crappie.

-S

You can really see the difference in this picture. Still a new one on me.

[Stingrayg4]

I guess they must be more of a southern climate fish. Just about every lake, river, stream, and pond around here is loaded with them. I almost always catch a lot of them when I'm fishing for crappie, because they bite on all the same type of jigs that you'll catch crappie on.

-S

[tarfu]

howdy stingray4g; check-out the following web sitehttp://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fish/infish/species/bgl/bgl.htm what it says is that the fish in question is a bluegill/brim/etc. personaly, i calls'm worm thives. tarfu

[Roberta]

We fish for them all the time here in Ohio. Fine eating.
Bluegills, green sunfish, pumpkinseeds, redears, longears and shellcrackers are all sunfish (plus a few others). Note the small mouth and disc shape as compared to a crappie.
I've noticed that Southerners seem to call everything perch, whether they're in the perch family or not. My father-in-law does that, too, and it drives me nuts when he's fishing up here in the land of yellow perch, walleye, saugers and saugeye - all members of the true perch family.

IMO, for their size, you can't beat the fight in a bluegill. - Roberta

[Barnacle Bill]

We fish for them all the time here in Ohio. Fine eating.
Bluegills, green sunfish, pumpkinseeds, redears, longears and shellcrackers are all sunfish (plus a few others). Note the small mouth and disc shape as compared to a crappie.
I've noticed that Southerners seem to call everything perch, whether they're in the perch family or not. My father-in-law does that, too, and it drives me nuts when he's fishing up here in the land of yellow perch, walleye, saugers and saugeye - all members of the true perch family.

IMO, for their size, you can't beat the fight in a bluegill. - Roberta

You are correct, that is a bluegil. I didn't recognize it because the ones we catch are much darker in color. I guess due to cyprus stained waters. Sunfish up north and bream down south. Good eatin no matter what you call it.

[shadow]

Hey Stingray, that is a blue gill. They are excellent table fare, second only to crappie. Keep a couple of bigger ones to fillet next time and try them out. Alot of people in the south just scale, head and gut them and deep fry them. I fillet them because I would rather eat fish than pick bones. LOL!

As far as perch, bream, crappie in Louisiana: The east side calls crappie sac-a-lait (which means sack of milk) this comes from the milky white meat. The west side of La. calls crappie white perch and the north usually calls them crappie. If you are talking to someone from the south the easy way to find out what they are catching is to ask them if they are catching bream or crappie-which we sometimes call perch. Bream are the blue gill you pictured along with several other species. But we all know what a crappie is whether it be a black or white.

Confused?
crappie= white perch, sac-a-lait, or crappie
Bream= blue gill, shellcrackers (chickapin), pumpkinseed, google-eye (warmouth) and several others. Sometimes we call all of these perch.

Just ask if they are catching bream or crappie and that should give you the answer.

[tarfu]

howdy again; here's another place to look, called "Fishes of Pennasylvinia", thought you might like it. tarfu <http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/Fish_Boat/pafish/fishhtms/chap22.htm>