Brim vs. Bream vs. Bluegill vs. Sunny

[JustBob]

Not to start a war or anything, but...

When I was a kid growing up in South Carolina, we called a certain panfish a bream. According to some other posts I've read, other people say they are brim.

Being a southerner, we thought it funny that northerners (or Yankees as I used to call them) called them bluegills. (I've since stopped making fun of northeners since I've met so many good ones).

And here in West Virginia, they call them sunnies.

And I won't even mention the different ways people pronounce crappie.

[J White]

:D If it's got two eyes and an... exit point, if you know what I mean , it is in trouble if it bites my hook, whatever you want to call it :D

[Barnacle Bill]

When I was a kid living in NW Ohio, everyone called them sunfish.

[panfishfan]

Not to start a war or anything, but...

When I was a kid growing up in South Carolina, we called a certain panfish a bream. According to some other posts I've read, other people say they are brim.

Being a southerner, we thought it funny that northerners (or Yankees as I used to call them) called them bluegills. (I've since stopped making fun of northeners since I've met so many good ones).

And here in West Virginia, they call them sunnies.

And I won't even mention the different ways people pronounce crappie.

Don't forget panfish. That is what I grew up calling bream, brim, bluegill, shellcracker, etc..etc... just plain panfish.

[Glenn]

I was raised in So Indiana and we called them Croppie. Before I retired from the Air Force my last assignment was Shaw AFB in Sumter SC. There they call them Crappie. I was discussing the different pronunciations with a SC old timer. He made it pretty simple for me. "He said do you take a Crop or a Crap?" Been saying Crappie ever since, although here in Florida they are usually called Specks.

[FroMan]

Well I'm from Arkansas....and me and everyone I know that fishes down there calls em bream.

Redear, bluegill, whatever...if it's not a crappie and it's a panfish, then it's a bream. Of course, it's spelled bream and pronounced "brim."

[crappieseeker]

JustBob, it's kind of funny that you said being a southerner you thought it was funny that northerners called them bluegill. I am a southerner and everyone I know refers to them as bluegill rather than bream. I dont care what they call them, they sure do taste good dont they. I was trying to find a picture I had of about 100 or so I caught one day. I cant seem to find it. I never figured out how to post pics on here anyway so what good would it do me anyhow lol.

[snal]

Never heard them called anything but Bream (pronounced Brim) here in NC....never heard crapppie (as in crap)...pronounced any other way till I met some yanks....course, they don't call their uncle's wife "Ant" either (eye-ther).

[rango]

i call em fun to catch and good to eat brim, that is..... crappie to..

[Roberta]

I have no idea what they look like since I haven't looked them up, but I would bet that the ancestors of southern colonists caught some member of the sunfish family, said it looked like bream and a tradition was born. My French cookbook has a recipe for bream, but no photo.

Here in Ohio, most people call all sunfish bluegill, although bluegill are only one member of the family. We commonly catch green sunfish (new record was set this summer in Ohio for a one pounder caught by a kid at a farm pond), long ears, and occasionally pumpkinseed, as well as bluegill. Personally, I like catching any of them. - Roberta