Thread: Been a while

Originally Posted by skeetbum

Ketchn, I did get a few crappie but none that made the cut. Happy to catch em and happy they got a pass. I was recently corrected about the bottom fish. The visible difference in this case is the absence of the three stripes on the gill plate. Maybe where their name came from as it looks like war paint. Fight and all the other traits are the same other than that.

Alphahawk, they were much prettier before they rode the ice for a while. What with recent temps in the 90’s I thought it best to chill em before they got dressed for dinner.

A little side note I forgot to add earlier, that gator wasn’t yet 2’ long. Long and skinny thing.

Actually Skeet, if you look closely, that warmouth does show diagonal stripes from eye. Some fish species, including warmouth, don't necessarily show vivid markings. I now find after catching dozens in the last 10 days, is the increased size of their mouth and the body shaped more like a bass = Warmouth bass. Many of the ones I recently inspected, showed no "war paint"! What they lack in overall size is easily made up with attitude and excellent eating!
The spotted sunfish(stumpknockers) are the tinier ones with black pepper flecks all over also great to eat. Even hear a rumor a few days ago that they are being erroneously served as Grouper cheeks, probably cookie cutter round cut.

Doug

The. I stand corrected. Whichever it was, he was tasty. There are some days that the lions share of fish caught are Warmouth, and then might not see any for a little while. They’re some kinda fun.