Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations ID on this fish?

Caught this in the pond yesterday. It has some different characteristics (or a combination of) from my other species. Any ideas? They appear to have pulled off a spawn as well. Caught some 1 1/2"er's in the minnow trap.

Hybrid bluegill.

Looks like it's got some warmouth, RES, BG....

Mr Cody what do you think of this fish?

My guess is mostly RES

Hard to tell with the light reflection if it has the mottled cheeks of a RES.

The smaller they are, the more the red/orange on the opercular tab looks like a dot rather than a band. This one seems to not have a well developed orange tab. On my very small RES coming out of my forage pond that I trap in minnow traps (1-2" long) almost need a magnifying glass to see the orange tab.

But Shorty has seen a lot more RES than I have, so he is probably right.

Maybe some OSS in the mix.

??? It has a pretty large mouth. Any warmouth in the pond that could create this hybrid? Gill flap and vertical bars appear to have some BG influence. What sunfish types are present?

Bill,
The pond filled overnight from a nearby creek during a big 7"+ rain when it was built in August of '14. CNBG,RES, and FHM were originally stocked shortly thereafter. But, I have caught and removed hundreds of GSF last year. I also have caught and removed some Dollar Sunfish as well. I have not stocked any Warmouth, nor have I caught any, but I guess there is a possibility that they could be present.
Charlie

That paper thin mouth shouts crappie X ? to me. Do crappie cross?

Bite your tongue!

Bill D.,
Maybe my old Falstaff drinking buddy, Pat W. snuck some in on me...make my world interesting. What do you think?

Hey Charlie,

You never know what I guy that hunts hogs from his bedroom will do, especially after a half dozen Falstaffs!

I caught one identical to that in my pond this spring. It was almost 11 inches long and I had no idea what it was. I remove all hybrid bluegill but I put it back hoping I would catch it again just to see how big it gets.

You may have a point. Here lately he's been catching bullheads in his pond...I may have to watch him close or I'll have a mess of those as well....I can't get on him too bad, he gave me a 70 qt. ice chest of deboned pork yesterday for sausage making.

Poppy,
Nice!!! If you catch the fish again, take a pic and post it. I'd like to see that big rascal.

I may have slipped a few crappie in there and now he has bluecrapp,gillcrapp, or crappears..... YA just don't know

Bill I got my eyes on ya

Almost looks like a Rock Bass to me, but different from the ones we see around here. The colored eye kind of makes me think it is possible.

http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/fish/fishing_opportunities/sportfish_of_vermont/panfish/

I understand that they are similar. Warmouth have 3 spines in the anal fin and rock bass have 5 or 6.

Rock Bass, Ambloplites rupestris


Physical Description:
� Compressed, stocky body
� Large, terminal mouth
� Dark-edged anal fin
� Large cheek scales
� Rounded pectoral fin
� Almost straight-edged tail fin
� Red eye
� Olive-brown peppering on body
� 5 anal fins


Warmouth, Lepomis gulosus


Physical Description:
� Deep, compressed body
� Black opercular spot
� Large, terminal mouth
� Large eye
� Tail fin lobes rounded
� Pectoral fin rounded
� Dark stripes on cheek
� Dark mottling on body
� Some mottling on fins

I'm going with BG x warmouth
I know a pond full of them, I'll
Post pics soon

There have been noted natural BG X WM crosses.
Rock Bass X BG are a lot more iffy. See

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=34231&Number=449213#Post449213

Very informative link....thanks, Eric!

Sure looks like some Crappie in it to me also. I have never seen a Crappie cross personally. (except a Bullhead/Crappie cross known as a Bullcrap which we all occasionally run into).

+1 on the Bullcrap....do you know Bob O?

I think if we put all our knowledge about crosses aside and showed only an outline of the fish vs a crappie, except for that chin, folks would say it was a crappie.

Where do you fellows see crappie in the photo? I see only an underweight lepomid cross.

IF I caught that around here I would call it a rock bass but I am no expert.