2025 Flyfishing Fish Pics

[FishnDave]

2nd Shortnose Gar over 30" this year... this one is a new PB at 31".

[Johnsfolly]

2 minutes ago, FishnDave said:

2nd Shortnose Gar over 30" this year... this one is a new PB at 31".

Congrats Dave!

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

On 6/17/2025 at 5:48 PM, FishnDave said:

I put these together from my own flyfishing pictures.  All are different species (and one subspecies).  I bet most folks here will know them all.  Any questions about any?:

I definitely would have been wrong if you asked me to identify them all.  Especially since you said they are all different.   I'm confident with the two crappie,  long ear and green sunfish, I believe I've correctly picked the shadow bass and warmouth, bottom two i would have identified as bluegill.  

[Johnsfolly]

2 hours ago, Daryk Campbell Sr said:

I definitely would have been wrong if you asked me to identify them all.  Especially since you said they are all different.   I'm confident with the two crappie,  long ear and green sunfish, I believe I've correctly picked the shadow bass and warmouth, bottom two i would have identified as bluegill.  

Daryk - just say brim or goggleye😆😉.

I still need to catch a northern sunfish. Also would like one of those SEMO dollar sunfish. They are much nicer than the eastern dollars out our way.

[FishnDave]

@Daryk Campbell Sr

You're right about the bottom 2 being Bluegills... the bottom one is the "northern" Bluegill, the one above it is a Coppernose Bluegill from south Florida.  They have some light edging on their fins and other things that, to me, just don't look like a typical Bluegill that we have in the midwest.  Some say its a subspecies, but I don't think anyone has done genetic testing to see if they could be a standalone separate species.

For the other fish in those pictures above, I will try to label them here, with the common name location in the list matching the picture location:

Pumpkinseed Sunfish--------------Redear Sunfish

Northern Sunfish ------------------(Central) Longear Sunfish

(Western) Dollar Sunfish ----------Redbreast Sunfish

Spotted Sunfish---------------------Redspotted Sunfish

Bantam Sunfish--------------------Orangespotted Sunfish

Green Sunfish-----------------------Warmouth

Ozark Bass---------------------------Black Crappie

Rock Bass----------------------------White Crappie

Shadow Bass------------------------Flier

Coppernose Bluegill

(Northern) Bluegill

 

[Johnsfolly]

18 hours ago, FishnDave said:

@Daryk Campbell Sr

You're right about the bottom 2 being Bluegills... the bottom one is the "northern" Bluegill, the one above it is a Coppernose Bluegill from south Florida.  They have some light edging on their fins and other things that, to me, just don't look like a typical Bluegill that we have in the midwest.  Some say its a subspecies, but I don't think anyone has done genetic testing to see if they could be a standalone separate species.

For the other fish in those pictures above, I will try to label them here, with the common name location in the list matching the picture location:

Pumpkinseed Sunfish--------------Redear Sunfish

Northern Sunfish ------------------(Central) Longear Sunfish

(Western) Dollar Sunfish ----------Redbreast Sunfish

Spotted Sunfish---------------------Redspotted Sunfish

Bantam Sunfish--------------------Orangespotted Sunfish

Green Sunfish-----------------------Warmouth

Ozark Bass---------------------------Black Crappie

Rock Bass----------------------------White Crappie

Shadow Bass------------------------Flier

Coppernose Bluegill

(Northern) Bluegill

 

I think that someone needs to look at the redbreast sunfish genetics. It's hard to believe that this is a single species ranging from the Northeast, down to FL and over to TX.

A couple from NJ (the 7th state that I have caught this species😉)

Livie's fish

Mine

One from FL

One from Texas

 

[FishnDave]

Hard to tell, right?  Plus, no two fish are exactly identical, at least as far as I can tell.

@Johnsfolly I like how they all seem to have that blue line in front of, and under, the eye.

The Texas and at least some east-coast populations should be the same... Redbreast aren't native to Texas, they were transplanted there.  At some point, the Texas fish will probably genetically diverge, since they can't interbreed with the original populations.  I dunno how long that'll take...?

[FishnDave]

 

[FishnDave]

 

[Johnsfolly]

On 7/18/2025 at 2:28 PM, FishnDave said:

Hard to tell, right?  Plus, no two fish are exactly identical, at least as far as I can tell.

@Johnsfolly I like how they all seem to have that blue line in front of, and under, the eye.

The Texas and at least some east-coast populations should be the same... Redbreast aren't native to Texas, they were transplanted there.  At some point, the Texas fish will probably genetically diverge, since they can't interbreed with the original populations.  I dunno how long that'll take...?

Dave what is interesting to me is that unlike the central US where most streams/rivers ultimately end up in the Mississippi which would allow for some gene flow, the rivers on the east coast are not as interconnected. I can't think of more than a hand full of rivers that traverse more than three states in a north to south direction. Most seem to go from the NE to the SW and into the ocean. Mainly originating from the Appalachian mountain range. The redbreast sunfish in GA are as isolated from those up here in MD as they are to those in TX.