Long time saltwater fisherman here. I discovered bass fishing a while back and now that's all I catch. I don't think I can even catch saltwater any more. Every now and then I pull something out of the water and if I ask anyone around me they just perch. How is every little fish on earth a perch? What kind of perch if it is a perch at all? I literally only catch in the salt and bass (occasionally catfish). I need to start catching something I can eat because my wife is going to kill me if I don't bring anything home because I always throw everything back in freshwater. Please forgive the camera phone pick. He was as long as my hand.

Looks like a goggle-eye. Very edible.

That is a Sunfish.

Actually, there are no Perch in the south or southwest. Perch are a cold water fish found in ther northerm half of the US. However, there are numerous species of Sunfish found in the bottom half of the country. The most important are the Bluegill, the Longear Sunfish, the Red Breasted Sunfish, The Green Sunfish, The Readear Sunfish, The Pumpkinseed and the Warmouth.

Look at http://www.tnfish.org/FishIdentificationID_TWRA/TWRA_Sunfish_Identification_Key.htm for an excellent discusion on sunfish identification.

By the way, the Large mouth bass and crappie also belong the the same family. But do not let anyone tell you they are Perch.

Regards
Lilburn

looks like a warmouth to me. Really good eating from clean waters.

I agree with jagg; a warmouth: http://www.tnfish.org/FishIdentificationID_TWRA/TWRA_Sunfish_Identification_Key.htm#warmouth

Warmouth, a member of the sunfish family (as above).

we, however, *do* have members of the perch family here in Texas (just not the sunfish).

Our logperch and darters are all Percidae.

Nice catch, looks like an 'ol red-eye. Wood Bass.

warmouth, but looks like a bit of red ear sunfish as well, notice the reddish ear? i'm no expert but all the ordinary warmouth i catch have solid black ears.

Definitely a goggle eye. They hit hard and taste great.

It is a "RED EAR".

NOT!
I catch Red Ear all day long and that is not a Red Ear.

Goggle Eye is what they call them in Louisiana. they get pretty big over there and thick. And some damn good eating too!!!

It's a Warmouth. Warmouth have a wide variation in color. They are also called Goggle Eye as Bentley said. Oyher names are Redeye, Goggle-eye, Red-eyed Bream, Stump Knocker, Mudgapper, Mo-mouth, Morgan, Molly, Rock Bass, Open Mouth, Weed Bass, Wood Bass, Mud Bass, Warmouth Bass.

All are common names, but definitely not Perch.

Liburn

Right. We do have Perch, but not any of the larger species.I have mentioned before we have a few species of Perch, but none over about 3-4 inches.

Some guy caught a net full of logperch at Lake Weatherford, and brought them to the marina, calling them snakeheads. It caused a panic untill we got Bruce Hysmith to identify them. Nobody believed me when I identified them as Logperch. They were about 3 inches long.

Lilburn

red ear (very common in local ponds)


Logperch. I catch these a lot at Lavon


LongEar (not a blue gill)


Green Perch


Warmouth

And what he caught was a Warmouth

Stand corrected. Warmouth. However could it be possible that it mixed with a redear. Dont know just asking. Is it common on Warmouths to have a red mark over the ear. The fish above has somewhat of a red mark over the ear.

yup . i call them rock bass

Learned a lot today. I just called them Rock Bass, but I see the more correct name is Warmouth. Grew up catching them as a kid. Had a pond stocked with them. Learned to fish catching them. Very aggressive and easy to catch.

rock bass is another name, yes.

it's a shark.

There is another distinct species called a Rock Bass, also. They are more common up north (no, not Denton, more like Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, etc. )

After looking closely at my May/June Pond Boss magazine that featured sunfish, I am going to call it a green sunfish. A warmouth's body is slightly more elongated. At any rate, if you want to know all there is to know about sunfish, get a copy of the recent Pond Boss. see www.pondboss.com

Gotta disagree. Doesn't have the green sunfish gillcover. Three spines on the anal fin. looks to be ten spines on the dorsal...
Young warmouth.

Looks like a green sunfish to me ...They are a very aggressive predator of just about anything that moves and they can get in their big ole mouths..Ilive near Ferris Texas and as a kid I fished in some of the old brickpits there in Ferris..These sunfish grew big and thick i guess due to all the food available to them,some of those brick pits were huge and 50 or 60 feet deepwith very little shallow water ,mostly a straight drop off. Theres a ceek near me thats full of em ive been turning my grandson on to em. I like to wath him wrestle those big ole bream on his lil ole ultralight rod......these green sunfish are fun to catch and eat ,but take my advice and dont stock them in a stockpond cause in a few years thats all youl have in there ,they are such an aggressive feeder they will eventually eat every other species of fish out of house and home litterally,

Looks like a green sunfish to me ...They are a very aggressive predator of just about anything that moves and they can get in their big ole mouths..Ilive near Ferris Texas and as a kid I fished in some of the old brickpits there in Ferris..These sunfish grew big and thick i guess due to all the food available to them,some of those brick pits were huge and 50 or 60 feet deepwith very little shallow water ,mostly a straight drop off. Theres a ceek near me thats full of em ive been turning my grandson on to em. I like to wath him wrestle those big ole bream on his lil ole ultralight rod......these green sunfish are fun to catch and eat ,but take my advice and dont stock them in a stockpond cause in a few years thats all youl have in there ,they are such an aggressive feeder they will eventually eat every other species of fish out of house and home litterally,

Definitely a warmouth. Just look at Tarpon's post. Those photos are accurate depictions of each species he listed.

TarponFly is right on.
Nothing but an old garden variety Warmouth right there.
Caught a thousand of 'em in Florida.
End of discussion unless you disagree LOL

Thats bait!

Lunch!

"perch" or "bream" is a common name given to just about anything bigger than a minnow and smaller than a crappie... understandable since there are so many varieties of small sunfish, and it can be difficult to make a definite identification.

there actually are fish that belong in the perch family bigger than the 4 inch mark and they are walleye. They are found in lake merideth white river lake and a few others in the panhandle area I know of