Posted this in the Other Species forum, but wanted to post here for local knowledge....

Caught this today trying to catch catfish bait on a nightcrawler at Buggs.

Looks like a sunfish, but had a bigger mouth...similar to a crappie....

Anyone know what it is....?

Warmouth, Redeye, Rockbass, Roanoke Bass ?

Looks like a Roanoke Bass to me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_bass

Looks like a warmouth. Good eating too.

I caught them before up in Lake Frederick. They are pretty big in that lake, plenty 8-10 inches. Worms with a split shot will bring them home all day, even in Dec. I never could quite tell if it was a sunfish or a crappie, either. I just called them sunfish cuz it has the black spot on the gill. But warmouth they might be, it certainly fits the description......It all makes sense now.