Beast Sunfish!

[Ifishtoolittle]

http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Ifishtoolittle/DSCF3352.jpg

This is the biggest mofo I've ever caught at this pond and is my PB Green Sunfish! Remember to always CPR beasts like this!

[SirBluegill]

Nice sunfish! What pond is that if you don't mind me asking?

[Ifishtoolittle]

Nice sunfish! What pond is that if you don't mind me asking?

It's no secret, but I'll PM you.

[old pudd fisher]

Nice one, that is a big mofo for sure thanks for sharing.

[SokeyMcPot]

It's no secret, but I'll PM you.

but shhh dont tell

[Natural Lefty]

That looks like a Bluegill/Green Sunfish hybrid, which could explain why it's so large. They are sterile but grow faster than normal sunfish. They breed those some places for stocking purposes. To be honest, I think there may be some that aren't sterile, although they are supposed to be. I remember that they were quite common at Arrowhead when I used to fish there, and some of them appeared to be like 1/4 Green Sunfish or 3/4 Green Sunfish instead of half and half.

That's a big sunfish at any rate. It looks like about a pound. Of course, if my comment about it being sterile is true, releasing it won't result in any big babies, but I can't be sure.

[Ifishtoolittle]

Nice one, that is a big mofo for sure thanks for sharing.

Glad to do it!

[Ifishtoolittle]

That looks like a Bluegill/Green Sunfish hybrid, which could explain why it's so large. They are sterile but grow faster than normal sunfish. They breed those some places for stocking purposes. To be honest, I think there may be some that aren't sterile, although they are supposed to be. I remember that they were quite common at Arrowhead when I used to fish there, and some of them appeared to be like 1/4 Green Sunfish or 3/4 Green Sunfish instead of half and half.

That's a big sunfish at any rate. It looks like about a pound. Of course, if my comment about it being sterile is true, releasing it won't result in any big babies, but I can't be sure.

I can guarantee you that this guy was a Green Sunfish. Lately I've been catching a lot of green sunfish/ bluegill/ redear hybrids at this pond. My theory is that the other panfish in the pond have been breeding with the Green Sunfish. This one though appeared to be a big Ol' girl who just spawned out. Also, Green sunfish hybrids aren't sterile it's just that most of the fry happen to be males, but I'm just getting this info from stuff I read from fish farms. In any case this size fish is a rare catch for this pond and anywhere else really.

[Natural Lefty]

Ifishtoolittle, the reason I think the fish looks like a Green Sunfish/Bluegill hybrid is because it has the vertical black bars of a Bluegill and appears to lack the little blue spots of a Green Sunfish. The shape looks in-between a Greeny and a Bluegill too in my opinion. Once I caught a fish at San Vicente when I went fishing there with my friend Simon, that I thought looked like a Green Sunfish/Bluegill hybrid. Well, they have biologists check people's catches regularly at those San Diego Lakes, and sure enough, a few minutes later, a biologist showed up and confirmed that this fish was a Greeny/Bluegill hybrid, and said that had been happening a lot there. You mentioned yourself that the 3 types of sunfish seem to be hybridizing in that pond, so surely there are hybrids in there, but I know it is hard to tell which fish is what type of hybrid or non-hybrid. I do know that the hybrids grow faster and bigger for whatever reason.

The literature I read years ago said that the Green Sunfish/Bluegill hybrids were sterile. Thus, people could stock them and they wouldn't breed and overpopulate the waters. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been skeptical of that claim. I guess they found out that the hybrids can breed after all, although the babies are mostly males. As I mentioned, I think there were various gradations between Green Sunfish and Bluegill at Lake Arrowhead when I used to fish there, like at the Lake Arrowhead Village before they fenced off the fishing area and closed it to the public.

Ifishtoolittle, I saw your report about fishing in Florida. Pretty awesome fishing! You must really love fishing if you still "fish too little" with all the fishing you have been getting in these days.

[Ifishtoolittle]

Ifishtoolittle, I saw your report about fishing in Florida. Pretty awesome fishing! You must really love fishing if you still "fish too little" with all the fishing you have been getting in these days.

Yeah, my name is supposed to be ironic. I'm finally living up to this year!

[Natural Lefty]

You are doing a good job of living up to your ironic name, then!

[fishmounter]

Robert, It's kind of a bad quality photo for fish identifying. It's in a shadow, you really cannot see the color or markings, but with that said, it looks like a pure Green Sunfish to me. I have seen some really big ones and I have been lucky enough to have caught a couple that were over 10 inches long. These fish are very territorial and will not tolerate another fish of any kind in it's vicinity. Although they are a pretty fish, DO NOT take one home and put it in your community aquarium...

[Bassmaster Bob]

Nice fish I wouldn't mind knowing where it was either that's a nice shady spot you have there and that's top of my list for choices.