Can anyone ID this fish?

[hawglips]

Caught a couple sunfish yesterday in the Pasquotank that I've never seen before. We caught plenty bluegill, pumpkinseed, warmouth, fliers and then this fish:

It had shiny, almost irridescent gold edges on it's ear flap, with a more elongated snout than a typical bream. The mouth was also slightly bigger than a bluegill, redbreast, etc...

 

[smith-n-stokes]

Warmouth ?


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[hawglips]

No, we caught plenty of warmouth yesterday also. Grew up catching warmouth all the time - very common in the Pasquotank.

This fish had a smaller mouth than a warmouth, different colors and shape. Shaped like a bluegill in the body, but the head had a more elongated snout, which shows up in the pictures above. But the gold edge to the ear flap was very striking and the first thing I noticed about it.

 

[Eric Revo]

Shellcracker from what I can tell on my phone

 

[Mack in N.C.]

Shellcracker from what I can tell on my phone

agree with this from what i can see.

 

[Mike Noles aka conman]

Shellcracker. The gill flap and elongated head is the giveaway.

 

[darkthirty]

Looks like a redear (aka shell cracker) to me but sunfish will hybridized easily.

 

[hawglips]

So, the gold instead of red or orange on the gill flap - is that common for a redear?

 

[sky hawk]

Yeah, on some it will be red or orange and some it will appear very faded, kinda gold.

 

[cloningerba]

A dark skinned shell cracker if I had to guess but heck I’m not a biologist.


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[JohnBoat]

Almost certainly a shell cracker.

 

[hawglips]

Yeah, on some it will be red or orange and some it will appear very faded, kinda gold.

These two had bright, shiny, almost iridescent gold. Very striking....

I've caught thousands of different kinds of sunfish in the Pasquotank over a lifetime, and had never seen these before.

Thanks for the answers....

 

[Part-time hunter]

I agree with shellcracker which is also called the green sunfish. I usually caught them fishing deep with a big glob of worms.

 

[nccatfisher]

I agree with shellcracker which is also called the green sunfish. I usually caught them fishing deep with a big glob of worms.

Absolutely not, green sunfish and shellcracker are completely different.

 

[Mack in N.C.]

These two had bright, shiny, almost iridescent gold. Very striking....

I've caught thousands of different kinds of sunfish in the Pasquotank over a lifetime, and had never seen these before.

Thanks for the answers....

nice fish, what ramp do you use on the Pasquotank?

 

[hawglips]

nice fish, what ramp do you use on the Pasquotank?

I grew up on the river, and just put in at the house in Camden.