help me identify this fish

[newtofishing]

[left]I was hoping someone could tell me what type of fish this is - it was caught while flyfishing in a central maine pond.

Any help would be appreciated.
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[Dryrod]

[font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]Hi there newtofishing and thanks for your post. It looks like a member of the sunfish family. Perhaps a bluegill sunfish or a red breast sunfish.[/size][/#008000][/font]
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[newtofishing]

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Thanks for your help! This forum is great!!!
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[Dryrod]

[center][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]You are welcome. BTW here is a pic of the red breast sunfish.[/size][/#008000][/font]
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[macfly55]

those are the same fish that MacLarry and I were catching while I was in Tn on vacation.. these guys had bright red/orange bellies.. they were beautiful to say the least..

MacFly [cool]
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[Dryrod]

[center][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]So what kind of fish did MacLarry say you all were catching?[fishin][/size][/#008000][/font]
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[macfly55]

all I remember him saying.. a lot.. is .. there he is.. got another one.. and he wonder why I "accidentally" hooked him in the corner of his mouth.. [laugh] but to answer your question he was calling them shellcrackers.. but that is the nickname for the red ear sunfish.. not the red breast sunfish..

MacFly [cool]
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[tubeN2]

That actually looks like a Male Hybrid Bluegill. They were made and planted in only 3 northern states. Michigan, Minnesota and Vermont.

They crossed a Male Bluegill with a Female Green Sunfish.

That one still has the hump on the head, the orange belly but the darker coloration of the Green Sunfish.[cool]
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[Dryrod]

[font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]Hey there MacFly here is someone's catch of Shellcrackers. Is this what they looked like?[/size][/#008000][/font]
[font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4] [/size][/#008000][/font]
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[macfly55]

some of them yes.. but we also had ones that had bright orange/red bellies.. I looked it up and the description that I read matched the fish that I saw.. lol.. I gots to download the few pics I have and show em to ya...lol..

MacFly [cool]
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[Dryrod]

[left][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]Now you are making me work. LOL Here is an overview of your cracker fish.[/size][/#008000][/font]
[font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]The redear sunfish (Lepomis microlophus), also known as the shellcracker, Georgia bream, cherry gill, chinquapin, improved bream, and sun perch, is native to the southeastern [/size][/#008000][/font][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States"][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]United States[/size][/#008000][/font][/url][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4], but since it is a popular [/size][/#008000][/font][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_fishing"][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]sport fish[/size][/#008000][/font][/url][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4] it has been [/size][/#008000][/font][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduced_species"][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]introduced[/size][/#008000][/font][/url][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4] to bodies of water all over [/size][/#008000][/font][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America"][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]North America[/size][/#008000][/font][/url][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]. It generally resembles the [/size][/#008000][/font][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluegill"][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]bluegill[/size][/#008000][/font][/url][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4] except for coloration and somewhat larger size. It is dark-colored dorsally and yellow-green ventrally. The male has a cherry-red edge on its [/size][/#008000][/font][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operculum_%28fish%29"][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]operculum[/size][/#008000][/font][/url][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]; females have orange coloration in this area. The adult fish is between 20 and 24 cm in length. Max length is 43.2 cm. compared to a maximum of about 40 cm for the blegill.[/size][/#008000][/font]
[font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]The favorite food of this species is [/size][/#008000][/font][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snail"][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]snails[/size][/#008000][/font][/url][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]. These fish are bottomfeeders, meandering along lakebeds seeking and cracking open snails and other shelled creatures. The fish has thick pharyngeal teeth, hard, movable plates in its throat, which allow it to crunch [/size][/#008000][/font][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exoskeleton"][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]exoskeletons[/size][/#008000][/font][/url][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]. It is even capable of opening small [/size][/#008000][/font][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clam"][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]clams[/size][/#008000][/font][/url][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]. The specialization of this species for the deep-water, [/size][/#008000][/font][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mollusk"][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]mollusk[/size][/#008000][/font][/url][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]-feeding niche allows it to be introduced to lakes without the risk of competition with fish that prefer shallower water or surface-feeding.[/size][/#008000][/font]
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[center][inline "Red ear sunfish.jpg"]
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[macfly55]

[left][size 3]this is the culprit.. as well as the shellcracker you showed.. [/size]
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[center][inline "redbreast 2.jpg"]
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[center]Red-breasted Sunfish (Lepomis auritus)
This fish is one of the most colorful fish in the sunfish family. They are found in small to medium rivers and streams over rocky and sandy pools. In lakes they are most commonly found around rocky and vegetated margins.
This fish is one of the smaller members of the sunfish family rarely reaching over 2 lbs. and more than 9 inches in length. The state record is only 1lbs. 11oz. This fish has a dark olive back and sides with yellow specks and rows of red-brown to orange spots on the upper sides. The lower side has scattered orange spots going down to a white to orange abdomen. They have rounded pectoral fins and thoracic pelvic fins. The shape is more bass-like being slender and thicker with a larger mouth. There are wavy blue lines going from the snout to the opercle and a long black ear flap usually bordered by blue lines. The breeding male (pictured above) is considerably brighter in coloration than the female.
This fish can be caught on the small live bait or small artificial lures. All of the smaller sunfish species will generally eat the same types of food. This allows an angler to catch several species with one bait type.

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[Dryrod]

[font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]In upstate NY we just called them Sunnies. In fact this species was the first fish that I ever caught. I was six years old at the time. Gear was a small stick with kite string rolled on figure 8 style, an old rusty hook and a dough ball. I guess one could say that was back in the olden days. [/size][/#008000][/font]
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[macfly55]

lol.. lets not go down the olden days path.. :-).. all I know is that fishes colors were stunning... and I do hope I have at least one pic of one from vacation...

MacFly [cool]
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[MattandNick]

Hey that is great information on the redear sunfish about eating snails. My kids and I, Matt, Nick and Grant have been catching these in Lake Sherwood. They seemed huge compared to all the bluegills I had caught growing up in Pa. When I checked out the Ca state record at over 5 lbs, I wasn't so impressed with the 3 lb catch that I posted a pic on the flyfishing forum the other day. If they eat snails it is no wonder they are so fat in Lake Sherwood as it is full of pond snails. Here is another one the boys caught on a jig.

[inline "Matt and Nick with big Redear Sunfish thumbnail.jpg"]

Now I just need to figure out a fly pattern that resembles a pond snail?

M,N&G's Dad
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