Fish I.D.

Ethier that's a huge green sunfish or a rock bass. I'm probably wrong though, I'm interested in what others think this is.

Green Sunfish

Greeny. A big one too. The world record is only 2#2oz.

Looks like a big bluegill but it could be a green. Check to see what's in the pond you caught it at.

After blowing up your picture, Id say Big Blue Gill, used to catch 1 1/2 pounders like that on Mississippi back waters, and on occassion, some 1 3/4 on private Illinois farm pound.

Those ponds aren't listed on FxR so I checked the Colorado Fishing Atlas for species. There are both Bluegills and Greens in there LOL.

That's a big azz blue gill. Congrats

Definitely not a bluegill... 100% Green Sunfish, nice one as well! Congrats!

Kirk

how about this one? what is it? sorry for bad pic

I think yours is a greenie too, just because he looks like mine and that's what my guess is. Where's Fish Seal when you need him :)

thats what i thought too. i know there are both in this pond so i was just curious

Those definately have shoulders on them!

Helios,
I'm around. I'll have to come back to this later. The second picture by tfotrout is a green sunfish.
I have some questions about yours before I determine the id.

However, straight off, I'd say green sunfish or green sunfish hybrid.

FS

I always love the fish id please posts in the past. I always look forward to opening them, people think they have a world record walleye but its a carp etc you know the drill. This is the best post ever, that fish is awesome just amazing. I've caught some big bluegills accidentally in the past and it a great surprise. Go get more and don't tell anyone where you got it. Good job and now go catch that world record.

It looks like a Green Sunfish to me, due to the shape of the body, mouth, and gill plate. With the angle and hands in the way, it is hard to tell for sure, because it does look a little stockier than the average Green Sunfish I see, so it could be a hybrid green sunfish/bluegill.

I'm not a fish ID expert or anything, but most of what I assume are pure Bluegill have pretty pronounced vertical bars, short/round bodies, small mouths, and a roundish gill plate that doesn't extend very far back.

Green Sunfish lack the distinct vertical bars, are longer and less round, have bigger mouths and have a more oval shaped gill plate, and the spot on the gill plate usually has a halo around iit.

Then you'll catch a fish that seems to have some characteristics of both. I assume these are hybrid green sunfish/bluegill. I've posted one below as an example.

Photo 1 is a typical bluegill
Photo 2 is a typical green sunfish
Photo 3 is what I figure to be a hybrid (Broken pattern, bluegill shape but with a bigger mouth and more oval shaped gill plate)

I'm not a pro, so please tell me if I'm mistaken in any of my identification assumptions.

Travis,
Awesome example pictures there btw, a great comparison! From what i can remember he didn't have any vertical striping and he did have some very vibrant blue lines coming from his mouth as shown in your 2nd picture. They didn't show up in my pic probably because i wasn't facing the sun. Sorry for the bad pic on my end. He was very angry and was being uncooperative so i got a good grip, snapped a pic, and got him back in the water. I didn't have a tape or scale with me to see how big it really was but it was probably 1.5" thick or so and had to be over a pound. I thought it was a big LMB on the hookset.