Green Sunfish Fishing

Green Sunfish

Other names—green perch, black perch, pond perch, creek perch, sand bass, blue-spotted sunfish, rubbertail.

The green sunfish is a widespread and commonly caught member of the Centrarchidae family. It has white, flaky flesh like other sunfish, and is a good food fish.

Identification

The green sunfish has a slender, thick body, a fairly long snout, and a large mouth with the upper jaw extending beneath the pupil of the eye; it has a larger mouth and a thicker, longer body than most sunfish of the genus Lepomis, thus resembling the warmouth (see) and the smallmouth bass (see: bass, smallmouth). It has short, rounded pectoral fins and, like other sunfish, it has connected dorsal fins and an extended gill cover flap, or “ear lobe.” This lobe is black and has a light red, pink, or yellow edge, and the body is usually brown to olive or bluish green with a bronze to emerald green sheen, fading to yellow green on the lower sides and yellow or white on the belly. Adult fish have a large black spot at the rear of the second dorsal and anal fin bases, and breeding males have yellow or orange edges on the second dorsal, caudal, and anal fins. There are also emerald or bluish spots on the head, and sometimes 7 to 12 indistinct dark bars on the back; these are especially visible when the fish is excited or stressed.

Size

The average length is 4 inches, ranging usually from 2 to 8 inches and reaching a maximum of 12 inches, which is extremely rare. Most weigh less than a half pound. The all-tackle world record is a 2-pound, 2-ounce fish taken in Missouri in 1971.

Distribution

In North America, green sunfish occur from New York and Ontario through the Great Lakes and the Hudson Bay and Mississippi River basins to Minnesota and South Dakota, and south to the Gulf of Mexico. They also occur from the Escambia River in Florida and Mobile Bay in Georgia and Alabama to the Rio Grande in Texas, as well as in northern Mexico.

Habitat

Green sunfish prefer warm, still pools and backwaters of sluggish streams as well as ponds and small shallow lakes. Often found near vegetation, they are known to establish territory near the water’s edge under brush, rocks, or exposed roots. They often become stunted in ponds.

Spawning behavior

This species becomes sexually mature at two years old or as small as 2 to 3 inches long, spawning from April through August, when water temperatures range from 68° to 84°F. Males build saucer-shaped nests in water usually less than 1 foot deep, and often in areas sheltered by rocks or logs. The yellow, adhesive eggs are guarded by the male until they hatch in three to five days. Green sunfish spawn simultaneously with other species of Lepomis, and hybridization is not uncommon; crosses between bluegills and green sunfish occur most frequently, producing sterile offspring.

Food

Green sunfish prefer dragonfly and mayfly nymphs, caddisfly larvae, midges, freshwater shrimp, and beetles, and will occasionally eat small fish such as mosquitofish.

Angling

These fish are a common catch, taken with standard panfishing methods.

See: Panfish; Sunfish.