Warmouth

Anybody here target warmouth when out fishing? Over the last couple of days I have been catching them while Crappie fishing. One good size and some small ones. Don't hear much here in Michigan about people fishing for them. I think down south they are more numerous. Good eating from what I hear also. Attachment 266700Attachment 266701Attachment 266702:hatchet:

Good eating and fun to catch.

Good looking fish no matter how big they are. The guy that showed me said they like wood. He would pull into a downed tree and drop a 1'32 jig with a chartreuse curl tail and do well for them. It's a developed technique. I used to pitch undercut banks for them also, but they wouldn't hit it unless you bumped the bank with the jig.

I've caught many over the years,just didn't know what they were called.Folks around here always called them rock bass,most are caught in small streams and creeks in my neck of the woods.

We have more rockbass up here in western Pa. The Lake Erie shoreline rocks are loaded with big ones during their spawn in late may, early June. Jig and bobber will fill your bucket for you.

They were all caught on a 2" Gulp Emerald Shiner. The small ones were in the rip rap near shore. If I drug the minnow thru the rocks they would come out of the rocks and attack. They hit very hard for a small fish. The big one come out of 6 ft of water. I was fishing about 18" below the bobber. Sure are fun to catch.

The top one may be a warmth (hard to tell). The bottom 2 look like green sunfish. You are correct they are plentiful in the south. Greensunfish can be found in just about every water body in arkansas. I also catch them while crappie fishing cypress trees on my home lake. Some down here call them rice slicks because they catch them in the ditches of rice fields. They do taste good and they also make great flathead catfish bait.

Will have to try fishing them the next time I am in Arkansas. Our daughter and her family are in Searcy.

Small world. If you ever make it down around Lake Conway, stop by my office on the south bank and say hi. I might even be able to put you on some fish.

I agree with Matt...top one maybe warmouth...bottom two green sunfish. The only place I have caught true Warmouth around here is at the Duck Creek refuge which is basically a swamp. They are a subspecies or separate species which is slightly different than the goggle eye or rock bass you catch in the streams around here. Green sunfish are one of the easiest fish to catch I know of. Live in the rocks in shallow water and are as aggressive a fish as they come. Good catfish bait and good to eat if you catch them big enough to clean. Had them plow into a buzzbait or spinner bait when bass fishing.Caught some today on a slider when fishing a dam riprap.