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I hit Utah Lake for a little bit after work today. I needed to unwind somehow. I was missing my tube but seeing all the traffic on the water, I decided bank tangling was ok for today. I caught a few bluegill that were decent (6-8 inches) but nothing to brag about. I was about to go home when I hooked into something a little angrier. It rolled and I saw its belly. I thought it was a small largemouth bass. I got it in after a little bit (I love light tackle) and realized it was a green sunfish (even though the dudes watching me fish swore it was a little bass). My picture taking and measuring skills suck but it looks like it was a little over 9 inches long. The current catch and release record is 10.5 inches. I put him back since I wasn't keeping any today and I haven't seen a green sunfish that size from Utah Lake before. Oh, and for the folks from my neck of the woods, we called 'em goggle eyes. Unfortunately we also call warmouths, rock bass, and green sunfish all goggle eyes.[cool][cool]
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I'm no sunfish expert, but are you sure that's not a bluegill?
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He's a green sunfish. The way you can distinguish from a bluegill, is that the dark "blue" part of the gill is surrounded by light green. On a blue gill, the blue patch is not surrounded.
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I'm 100% positive it is a green sunfish. Note the size of the mouth and the more football shaped body among other things. Bluegill are in the sunfish family and it is a common mistake to call a green sunfish a bluegill. I've caught just about every species of sunfish under the sun. I've attached pics of a female bluegill and a male bluegill for comparison. A male bluegill is more pinkish and will often develop a bright orange breast. The "ear flap" on a male is larger and more rectangular than a female's. Females are more golden colored as you can see in the picture.
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very nice green sunfish. that is a dandy,
jed
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It's a green sunfish. The biggest I have every seen.
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[#6000bf]Hey Wagdog thanks for the fishing report and great catch to. Heres some of the ones I caught last friday at utah lake I have caught a alot of bluegills but Im thinking these are green sunfish. If im wrong please let me know they look alot like the your big fish but arent as big as yours.[/#6000bf]
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[#6000bf]They do pull great for there size and hoping to get down there this weekend for some more action as I need some new pictures to add to my photo album.[/#6000bf]
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[url "http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh148/trfishin/IMG_6538.jpg"]http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh148/trfishin/IMG_6538.jpg[/url]
[url "http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh148/trfishin/IMG_6536.jpg"]http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh148/trfishin/IMG_6536.jpg[/url]
[url "http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh148/trfishin/IMG_6539.jpg"]http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh148/trfishin/IMG_6539.jpg[/url]
heres a bluegill from a few weeks ago to
[url "http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh148/trfishin/IMG_4970.jpg"]http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh148/trfishin/IMG_4970.jpg[/url]
Thanks again for the report and pictures maybe I will see you on the water sometime.
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Yep---Goggleye. What we called em in Arkansas.
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[cool][#0000ff]Almost got into a 2-handed discussion with some old goober one time over the correct name on those fish. He just knowed them was "rock bass". When I suggested they were all part of the sunfish family and they were actually green sunfish he was ready to go fist city. Got kinda loud and profane about it. But, when I got out of my float tube and he saw my size he reconsidered. Didn't change his opinion. Just his attitude.[/#0000ff]
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I guess the hick also didn't know that there actually are pan fish that are totally different from green sunfish called rock bass. For years I called bluegill, greens, pumpkin seeds, etc. "perch" as a generic term I had heard growing up. When I got to Utah I unintentionally caught a few perch at Jordanelle so I looked up the fish species section in the proclamation and realized that I had been using fishing slang for years. I'm glad I don't go around calling fish by backwoods nicknames because knowledgeable fisherman will always set you straight. I think if someone had corrected me I would have given them the benefit of the doubt and researched it later instead going off like an idiot. Good thing the ordeal didn't escalate any further but it would have been hilarious to think of some big mouth walking around with fin prints on his face.[laugh]
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I am from Alabama, and my parents have now lived in Arkansas for 16 years. Every southerner I grew up with and know would call that a goggle eye. I've seen them bigger than that too. Last month, I was back in Arkansas floating the Buffalo River in the Buffalo National Forest. We caught so many of those things, all around 10-12 inches. They are fun to catch and aren't bad to eat at all. Nice post!
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[#6000bf]Hey Thanks guys for looking at my pictures. The first one I had ever caught was at deer creek about 5yrs ago and that same summer I caught a bunch of them in the rocks at willard bay and they were quite a bit bigger. They kind of have the Head and body shape more of a perch than a bluegill I think. [/#6000bf]
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[#6000bf]Either way they are great fighters and had a great time with them mixed in with some nice bluegills and crappie to.[/#6000bf]
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Used to catch all of those-
Rock Bass
Warmouth (Google eye)
Green Sunfish-
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The dent in the June sucker population is precisely what the DWR is trying to prevent with the whole carp netting party. I don't think that flat heads or blues would be any more detrimental to the June Sucker population than channels are but there is no way, with the protected status of the June Sucker, that any other fish will be introduced to UL. It is good to see the green sunfish population taking off in the lake and the river because they were fairly rare only a few years ago. Same thing with the nice perch that turned up last winter. I just hope that water levels stay up for the next few years. I think that the carp netting operation is really going to start showing a difference in the water clarity and health in game fish populations very soon.
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I am from Arkansas too and I as well called them goggle eyes. Arkansas is being represented well on this post! Go Razorbacks!
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