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Old 10-09-2020, 08:32 PM   #7
Fairtax4me
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Default Re: late summer fishing story Lake Oconee

That one is probably a shellcracker. Kinda hard to tell in photos sometimes.
Doesn’t matter what it is, that ones a hawg! Congrats to your daughter on a nice catch!
Some might call it a pumpkinseed, but those usually tend to have more orange/yellow tone to their head and belly.
They're all in the same sort of sunfish family. Bluegill, redear, pumpkinseed, shellcracker, Green sunfish, all similar with typically only a minor difference in coloration.
Perch have a longer body that’s not as tall.
Crappie are similar to perch but have larger fins and a larger mouth. White perch and White crappie are often confused, but not the same fish.

They call it a shellcracker because despite its comparatively small size (to many other fish) they have powerful jaws and use their mouth the crack open small mollusk shells to eat the creature inside as one of their primary forages.
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