Coppernose Bluegill

Lakers recent post regarding Coppernose Bluegill got me thinking about the prevalence of this species in Texas waters. Also, I have seen fish identified on some recent videos as Coppernose that looked like common Bluegill to me. I did some research & found quite a bit of information on this species & here is what I found. 1st, the Coppernose is native to Florida, but they are all over due to stocking programs & hatcheries selling them for ponds like the one Laker fished. The primary difference between the Coppernose & the common Bluegill are as follows:

Coppernose have a yellow or white margin on the end of the fins. They also have a copper or cream colored bar across the nose, but this more prominent on spawning males. Also, Coppernose have 12 soft rays on the anal fins, as opposed to 11 on the bluegill.

I mainly was interested in whether or not they existed in Fayette. Take a look at the photos. The 1st 2 pics are ones I pulled off a Coppernose website that show what a true Coppernose looks like. The remaining pics are fish from Fayette this year that I think are Coppernose. Take a look & tell me what you think...are the Fayette fish Coppernose, a hybrid version of the Coppernose, or something else entirely...

They do exist in Fayette and they are more prominent than ever. I used to fish fayette back. In 2011 and you couldnt buy a bluegill to save your butt now all the brown and purplish fish we catch are. Copernose. BG

The 2nd and 3rd fish you are holding show classic Coppernose traits and colors.



Go Astros ! ! !
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They look like coppernose to me

Great post Vogey! All of them but the second to the last picture look like Copper Nose to me. I do count 12 soft rays on the anal fins. The second to the last I can't see the copper mark over the nose. A good friend of mine who works at my company is a Marine Biologist and he tells me that the common Bluegill and the Copper Nose Bluegill are inner breeding in just about all of the public water bodies where they both are present. He also says that just about all of the six species of sunfish are inner breeding and in his opinion there are not many sunfish that have 100 percent DNA Genes in their specific family pool.

Coppernose bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus purpurescens) are a subspecies of bluegill from Florida. Stocking in Texas has been common and widespread. Some studies indicate the coppernose bluegill with grow larger than the native Texas bluegill (much like the Florida strain of largemouth bass). They will cross with native bluegill since they are the same species.

...Would love to see some pictures of Coppernose Bluegill you guys/gals have caught in Texas...

These are two of my favorites. The top one was caught at Inks Lake and the other one was from Boerne Lake.

Wow, I sure can learn a whole bunch just cruising the Bluegill/Sunfish forum. Impressive fish. Thanks to all for sharing their knowledge.

Wow...Doc...those are real beauties ! What the heck it that bait in the mouth of the second one ?

Here are a couple of Copper Nose Bluegill I caught. The top was caught on Falcon and the bottom was caught in the hill country river.


Side Note: Nice Gill's Doc!

Thanks Steve, Chuck

That is a somewhat chewed up Bison colored Trout Magnet with a 1/64 oz jig head. If the bite is aggressive I’ll use these sometimes. I’ve pretty much left these behind now that I’ve discovered the Gulp Minnow.

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Love threads like these. You really learn a lot! You guys catch some super nice fish. As always,thanks for sharing.




Side Note: I have also heard that bass are inner breeding a lot as well?

Them be Coppernose’s all right!. They eat, they fight and they grow big!