Cecil,
We have the same thing here in Tennessee. I caught
a pretty big once in an old pond but I didn't know what it was at the time. I wish I'd have known so I could have weighed him. I would be willing to say he was 3/4 to a lb. He looked like a bluegill on steroids to me but with a larger mouth.
I took him over to a near by convenience store and a guy told me it was a Warmouth. He said you don't see too many of them around and that was a fairly good sized one. So I took him back and released him. That old pond is pretty well shot now from silting for 30 years or so and NO management to speak of except for very limited fishing being allowed in it.