You may well be correct Hunter. How on earth did a Yankee fish like the Pumkinseed make it into a Texas lake? It would be great if they are adapting to Texas waters.

So here is the deal. we all know that certain species are indigenous to Texas. A few years ago a friend of mine caught a chained pickerel in east Texas. He sent me the pic and I was really surprised. I did a little research and found that they were stocked in some lakes around east Texas including Lake Raven. His son caught the fish about 15 miles north of Lake Raven in a stock pond. So who knows exactly how some fish arrive in certain places. Identification and Education on sunfish species is part of our journey in catching these really cool fish. I was fishing with J-Moe about two years ago in a creek I will leave anonymous, and he caught a orange spotted sunfish, which is something that is quite rare. We have some veteran sunfish fisherman on this forum, Chuck (Banker), J-Moe, Vogey, Laker One and so on. When you talk to guys like this who are out on the water all the time, they offer a different perspective on what is in our Texas waters. Its fun to see what is out there and to share that information so we can all be better informed!!!

Great information, pictures and post Alan

I'm still waiting for the official response from TPWD. I'll post what they say when I receive the response.

Very well said Hunter 498. I fish with a friend who majored in Marine Biology and have learned a lot identifying fish and various types of plants that grow in water. He has seen this thread and he strongly feels the fish is going to be a Hybrid of some sort. He told me that it would be extremely hard or (impossible) for a Pumpkin Seed sunfish to survive in South Central Texas waters as well as most Texas waters. He was quick to say that over the past 10 years inner mixing between certain fish species especially in the sunfish family has increased over 100 percent and continues to rise as our water bodies get more and more used by the human population. He finally stated that anything is possible and that the fish J-Moe had caught looks like a pumpkin seed sunfish based on your photos however he still thinks it is going to be a hybrid. He stated that the finial word will be from the Biologist from the Texas Parks&Wildlife.


Side Note: He also said that DNA samples of fish can give a 100 percent I.D.

Love threads like this!

The "Gill Busters" at their best! Great learning thread!

OK...I looked at a lot of red ear pictures I have like the one here. Almost always the red on the ear goes all the way around. In the photo of our unknown species, the red is like a bump on the bottom half...just like all the pumpkinseed pictures & drawing ...so who knows...maybe we do have some Pumpkinseed...the water is probably a little cooler in Lady Bird .

I do not see enough red/orange spots throughout the body of the fish along with the area where pumpkin seed sunfish are normally found(Not in South Central Texas Waters) I would lean more to the hybrid! It will be interesting to see what the Biologist of TPW say. Either way that fish is a "Humdinger" to identify!

Pumpkinseeds i caught when i lived in boston. Close but the mystery fish has red where the pumpkins have turquoise on the gill cover, different mottle pattern, and looks like it has a deeper/thicker body. a closer look seems to show some red spotting on the belly like a red spotted sunny. could be an unusual spotted hybrid (they usually don't mate outside their species). a good point was made about the possible hi crawfish diet. to me it looks like an f2-3 generation hybrid of redear, blugill, and longear. whatever the case its a nice catch and a beautiful fish. would love to have that in a native tank.

I still haven't received a response from TPWD on the fish in question; But I'm working in Dubuque, Iowa this week and caught this fellow

No! You cannot submit that fish for a Texas Water Body Record!

Yep!


Side Note: A lot of inner breeding going on in the sunfish family for sure. Seeing a ton of hybrids over the past several years.

I have been meaning to weigh in on this thread. This looks like an F2 hybrid. Redear/Bluegill/Longear.