Hi Everyone - help!

[stephsgotbait]

Hi All,

I just started fishing and LOVE IT! I think I'm obsessed! I've caught my first fish on the Olentangy River, but I can't tell what it is. Looks like a sunfish, but it's mouth looks big and I can't tell what type of sunfish it is. I'm proud of my little catch and hope someone can help this newbie identify it. Many thanks!

 

[JB]

Re: Hi Everyone - help!

Howdy, Steph.

Welcome to iboats.

That's a green sunfish you have there. They have a lot of local names. I have heard them called stumpknockers and warmouth.

They rarely get over about 8" long but are always willing biters and a lot of fun. People who stock their ponds don't like them because, small as they are, they compete with bass for minnow forage.

 

[stephsgotbait]

Re: Hi Everyone - help!

Hi JB,

Thanks so much for your fast and helpful response. One question, the green sunfish and warmouth are two separate kinds of fish, so can you tell for sure which one this is? I loved my firstfish but I thought, holy cow that's a big mouth!

Thanks so much, I'll be pestering you all more till I learn my fish!

 

[gonefishie]

Re: Hi Everyone - help!

Haaa. welcome to the fishing addicts club, before you know it you'll be spending large amount of money stockpiling fishing stuff and having your spouse mad at you like the rest of us. Anyway, what you got there is known as warmouth or rock bass and several other names depend on locality. They're abundant in river/creek/stream and very mean, they'll often bite baits that are intended for it's larger cousin the largemouth bass.

 

[nwfd39]

Re: Hi Everyone - help!

In Oklahoma we call them " goggle-eye" they are very common here.

 

[stephsgotbait]

Re: Hi Everyone - help!

Thanks guys for your help. I'm thinking it's a warmouth, rock bass or green sunfish. Can anyone tell for sure? I'm not sure what is most prevelent in Ohio's Olentangy River.

Do you guys find the preserved minnows work better then Berkley baits that come in a jar (like Crappie Nibbles)? All my bait is "fake", either plastic, lures, or the stuff in the jars that fish will eat. Will upgrading to preserved little fish help me catch faster?

I'm working up to using live minnows...thought I might try the preserved kind first if you think it's worthwhile.

Thanks all. Fish on!

 

[FLATHEAD]

Re: Hi Everyone - help!

Welcome. If your working towards LIVE bait your working backwards IMHO. Keep working with the artificials, it'll make you a more knowledgable fisherman. The reason I wont use live bait is because I throw all my fish back. Fish tend to swallow live bait and get the hooks buried deep inside there cavity. But if your fishing for the dinner table live bait is not so bad. Also a circle hook would be recomended with live bait. To catch fish faster you need to find them, that will help a lot on the catch rate. There are lots of names for that little slime monster you caught. Look it up on the web. Most state fish commision's have web site's with pictures of all the fish native to the area. I am sure you'll find it there.

 

[JB]

Re: Hi Everyone - help!

I am quite sure it is a green sunfish, Steph. Coloration and the red edged earflap nail it. Warmouth and stumpknocker are sometimes also applied to Rock Bass.

The Rock Bass or goggle-eye is a different species and prefers different, rocky shallow habitat. It has no red edge on its earflap and is dark colored.

It probably matters little. There are more than a dozen species of sunfish, including both largemouth, spotted, Kentucky and smallmouth black bass. All of them are great fun to catch.

Pick yourself up a copy of A.J. McClane's New Standard Fishing Encyclopedia. Then you, too, can be a fish identification know-it-all.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Re: Hi Everyone - help!

Pick yourself up a copy of A.J. McClane's New Standard Fishing Encyclopedia. Then you, too, can be a fish identification know-it-all.

That sounds like something I would love to read. JB can you elaborate on the contents of this book besides illustrations? I looked on the web but just found it for sale with no real explaination to whats in the book.

 

[JB]

Re: Hi Everyone - help!

It really is a large, one volume encyclopedia, Flathead. It covers about anything you can think of about fish and fishing.

 

[jtexas]

Re: Hi Everyone - help!

sunfishes love crickets!

 

[stephsgotbait]

Re: Hi Everyone - help!

Hi All,

Thanks JB, I read somewhere that Olentangy has a lot of green sunfishes, so that sounds right on the money. I didn't know sunfish could have such big mouths, wow!

Flathead, that's really good advice. I don't want the fish swallowing live bait since I do catch and release. I'll stick with the bite bait instead. Thanks.

I'll let you know when I catch something more exciting than a sunfish! But for me, they're all exciting catches. Fish on!

 

[mobyjaws]

Re: Hi Everyone - help!

Fishing is addictive! You might consider trying some nightcrawlers some time. If you don't get bit using them then there aren't any fish there. Good fishing! MJ