Sun Perch/ Bluegill

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05-18-2005, 02:33 PM
Stingrayg4

Sun Perch/ Bluegill

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.

http://www.fisheries.org/idaho/images/bluegillsm.jpg

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
05-18-2005, 02:39 PM
Barnacle Bill

That sure looks like a crappie but the shape is wrong?
05-18-2005, 03:10 PM
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:

http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordL.../bluegill3.gif

To me they look more like pirranah than crappie. ;)

-S
05-18-2005, 03:19 PM
Barnacle Bill

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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:

http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordL.../bluegill3.gif

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.
05-19-2005, 10:12 AM
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
05-19-2005, 10:39 PM
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
05-20-2005, 07:08 AM
Roberta

That's a bluegill

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
05-20-2005, 07:19 AM
Barnacle Bill

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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

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.
05-20-2005, 08:01 AM
shadow

Bluegill/crappie

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. :confused:
05-20-2005, 01:01 PM
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>
06-02-2005, 08:52 AM
Stingrayg4

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarfu

i calls'm worm thives.

I hear you. They're quick, and can strip your bait before you even knew they were there. I fish with jigs & powerbait crappie nibbles pretty often. A bluegill can snatch the crappie nibble right off your jig about as fast as a lightning strike! :)

-S
06-10-2005, 12:42 PM
kayaker

The dark tab on the gill is a sure sign of the 'blue gill'.
Where did crappies come from anyway?
When we were kids here in NY there was only sunfish, bluegill and perch in the 'panfish' family. Now when you mention crappie folks just stare at ya! :confused:
11-26-2005, 10:20 PM
Gentleben

1 Attachment(s)

I am an avid bream fisherman, I use them for flathead bait, they are excellent bait for Lake Houston flatheads and big blues :cool:
12-25-2005, 01:03 PM
gabowman

Ultla lite rod and reels and a tube of crickets or worms mid April thru early June is a great time to catch hand sized gills. When they are spawning you can actually hear a "popping" noise along the banks under bushes/limbs and such. If you ever spot a gill bed there could be several rounded mounds together (usually in shallow ends of coves) or either one hugh rounded bed the size of a tractor time black with fish. 'Gills make for great table fare. The smaller gills make good catfish bait on jugs too. Bream heads do good around here hand hooking catfish too. ;)
12-31-2005, 06:30 AM
queyit

1 Attachment(s)

Normally overlooked at spillways

I'm from the south (Jackson,MS) and I enjoy bream (bluegill, sunfish, etc). The are often overlooked at large spillways and grow pretty big 1/2 to 1 lbs in most cases.
12-31-2005, 06:49 AM
slabbatical

Don't forget "speckled perch", strawberry bass, calico bass and paper mouths =crappie.

But I hear you, Shadow is right..."bream" is what I hear most southerners say when they are talking about shellcrackers, etc. If you hear a southerner say "perch" you better ask a question because most of the real perch fishing is up north.
02-28-2006, 10:48 AM
BIGandUGLY

They are real fun to catch!!

I like throwing under big boat houses with a jig head/small swim and lock the reel then let it drop then reel then drop and POW..they hit like a freight train. Gotta love em:D:D They are fun to fish and I agree on a great fish for getting a kid interested in fishing.
09-14-2006, 08:57 PM
Mr&Mrs Frog

Sorry Shadow but I have to say this to the fella, and I'll give proof of what I'm saying! Sac-a-lait is really a mix between a white and black crappie.
Here is a link to show you! http://www.laoutdoorwriters.com/inde...&wt=Freshwater It's from the Louisiana wild life and fisheries web site
09-14-2006, 09:56 PM
shadow

I have been wrong before

Frog, but in louisiana you may be one of the very few that took the time to look that up. I know most of the people around the lafayette and opolusaus area call them sac-au-lait and I would bet that 99% of them don't know that that is actually a cross between a white and black. Not saying you are wrong just that what most call a sac-au-lait is just a crappie (black or white)

Thanks for the info though, I am always learning.
Dwyane
09-15-2006, 08:57 AM
Mr&Mrs Frog

Thanks shadow

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadow

Frog, but in louisiana you may be one of the very few that took the time to look that up. I know most of the people around the lafayette and opolusaus area call them sac-au-lait and I would bet that 99% of them don't know that that is actually a cross between a white and black. Not saying you are wrong just that what most call a sac-au-lait is just a crappie (black or white)

Thanks for the info though, I am always learning.
Dwyane

Shadow: First let me say I'm glade you did not take me for trying to be a "smart butt" I was up all night worring about that cause I realized after I went to my lilly pad that I ment to wright that post a lil differntly! I was going to finish that post with just exactly what you wrote for me! So I guess I should say TY for finishing the post fer me! I was just trying to give the fella
the info on the sac-a-lait so that he would know the truth then if he wanted to be like the rest of us and just lump them all in one name he could. LOL
Oh yeah btw I did not know that about the name sac-a-lait though, and being a coonass I feel a lil bit embarrassed! wow we really do learn som' thin knew every day!:o :D
09-19-2006, 10:27 AM
okiefish

yellow perch are related to walleye and we used to catch alot of them in western new york as a kid, really good eating and also fight pretty good as well.
I've never heard of or seen any here in Oklahoma.
07-28-2013, 10:15 AM
maggiedev

2 Attachment(s)

eating sun perch

I caught 30 sun perch yesterday at our local country club lake in Franklin, Texas. they are hard to clean for people who have not cleaned fish in over 50 years, but it was well worth the time and effort. they were some of the best eating, (except for catfish). every time I cast my line i got a strike. Attachment 132457. I was actually fishing for catfish with night crawlers when I caught these guys. I threw many back before my son stopped me and promised to do the cleaning. we ended up with 17 for the table last night.Attachment 132458according to Merriam-Webster and Wikipedia, sun perch and bluegill are one and the same.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

http://www.fisheries.org/idaho/images/bluegillsm.jpg

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
03-11-2014, 12:53 AM
BoarBuster

Love a good mess of bream. But I really like catching crappie.
05-25-2014, 07:08 PM
cricket george

White perch look like a white bass and are in Oklahoma. Yellow perch are not found in Okla