Are Green Sunfish Good to Eat?

I know a small lake that has the green sunfish in it. After researching this species, it is an undesirable because it has a large mouth and can overpopulate, eat game fish eggs, and become stunted. This is a 12 acre lake and has a good population of bass, bluegill, and catfish. The green sunfish are not stunted at all, as a matter of fact, they're huge. This lake is over 25 years old and in balance. The owner says they've always been in there and not a problem.

My question is are they good to eat? Do they taste as good as the other species, like bluegill and shellcrackers? I'm allowed to keep as many as I want, this is a clean pond.

They taste just like all the other bream species. They are good eating.

What G-3 said.

I've eaten them ... and can't say as they tasted any different than a Bluegill or Shellcracker or Long Ear or whatever other sunfish I've eaten.

If they're "huge" ... obviously they are eating good. One of the "undesirable" traits of a Greenie, is that they don't usually get big enough to bother with cleaning. That may be one of the reasons why they're typically used as Flathead Catfish bait :p

Last fish I had in my 40gal aquarium, was a Green Sunfish ... :D I caught it at Cedar Creek Lake (where it's NOT supposed to be) and kept it for about 4yrs, before it died.

I'd say go for it .... catch yourself a dozen or so, and clean & prepare them just like you would a 'gill ... then chow down.

... cp :cool:

They filet real nice

I agree: they taste like any other bream to me.

i had some yesterday they where very good we catch them out of creeks eat themup

They are delicious! I had them when I camped out and absolutely ate like a king!

They are tastey morsels of delight, if you can leave the skin on/or pan fry them whole bone in like we do!

I think that fish is what we use to call a rock bass or goggle eye, little body big mouth very aggressive little fish.

The greenies have the large mouth like a redeye (or rock bass), but their colors are different. Yes, usually anywhere else, they're not much bigger than 4" to 5".

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Originally Posted by limbhook

I think that fish is what we use to call a rock bass or goggle eye, little body big mouth very aggressive little fish.

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The fish you are thinkin about here is a warmouth not a greenie.
The warmouth & redeye looks alot alike (even the red eyes).

But to answer the orignal question here.....there isnt a bad eatin panfish....they all are great eats.
Redears,pumpkinseeds,warmouths,greenies,gills,oran ge breasted sunfish,long ears,redeyes.....all are great.I like eatin all panfish except 2.Brown & green carps (small & large mouth bass).

just like mikey use to say,,,,,try it,,,,you'll like it!!

I wasn't down at the fishing hole today, but heard a fellow took his granddaughter down there fishing with nightcrawlers and caught some big greenies, but they turned them loose. One of them almost pulled the little girl's spincast outfit into the pond.

One day I caught so many of these big old bream on anything I threw out, Pop-Rs, spinnerbaits, jigs, everything. There's some big bass in here too, but these big dudes make it so easy-one of my friends started catching them on rubber bands he says. I hooked one in the throat and knew it wouldn't live, so I cut 2 fillets and thought maybe I'd catch a catfish on the bottom for a change. These greenies are cannablistic, and started eating cut bait made from their brothers. Not too many folks know of this body of water and it's amazing there's very few "true" bluegills in here. I imagine they are green sunfish and not Georgia Giants. They sure are fun.

My understanding is that Georgia Giants are a first generation cross between green sunfish and bluegills and that after that they react kind of like trying to replant the seeds from hybrid corn or tomatoes: they go back to something less than they started out with.

i thought the georgia giants were bluegill/redear cross? I dunno, just what i heard.
When i was a kid, i got to fish a pond that had those giant green sunfish in them, i dont remember them having a big mouth though, but then again, this has been many moons ago. Anyhow, that was one of the first wild caught fish i ever ate, been hooked ever since.

HB:cool:

No different than any of the others but man the small ones are a pain to clean.

Fatman

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Originally Posted by Fatman

No different than any of the others but man the small ones are a pain to clean.

Fatman

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I just scale 'em, gut 'em, cut the heads off, season with Everglades seasoning, dredge in cornmeal, and fry them up. Couldn't be better!

yes the panfish is great to eat scale him gut him cut the head off roll him in house of autry seafood breader and drop in crisco um um good eating

They taste good easier to filet and they fight harder than bluegill someone needs tell them their a panfish but they got a bass
mentality.

i don't get the point of gutt'n em and choppin the head off instead of just fillet'n em.the idea of pickin through all them bones is annoying.i only fillet em nowadays.i acually want to fillet fish after a while of not bringing home some decent sized gills.maybe im just one with my fillet knife or somthing lol :D

As long as I leave the dorsal and anal fins on the fish, they just pull right off after the fish is cooked, and I can eat one virtually as fast as the filets: just run your fork or finger along the backbone and above the ribs until you get to the end of them and then along the whole fish. I don't fool with the ribs.

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Originally Posted by bxn

i don't get the point of gutt'n em and choppin the head off instead of just fillet'n em.the idea of pickin through all them bones is annoying.i only fillet em nowadays.i acually want to fillet fish after a while of not bringing home some decent sized gills.maybe im just one with my fillet knife or somthing lol :D

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I used to be the same way, but on those smaller fish, you miss ALOT of meat. And as blairarnold said, you leave on the dorsal and anal fin, and only pull them out after they are fried. They come right out of the meat. Then you pick up the fish and bite lightly and pull back on the back meat, and it slides right off the bone. Same with the underside and on the tail. I really like 'em this way, plus you can eat all those smaller fish (like green sunfish) and try and put a small dent in the over-population of green sunfish.

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Originally Posted by limbhook

I think that fish is what we use to call a rock bass or goggle eye, little body big mouth very aggressive little fish.

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THERE ARE SEVERAL VERY SIMILAR SPECIES BUT WARMOUTHS, ROCK BASS, AND MORE ARE NOT GREEN SUNFISH. WE HAVE EATEN GREEN SUNFISH BUT PERFER TO USE THEM FOR fLATHEAD BAIT.

Have no doubt Festus
you can eat them with the rest of us.

We call them Goggle eyes or Rock Bass also, I have eaten them all my life. When they are cleaned nobody can ever tell the difference, especially the way taste is the same as any other panfish.