Warmouth (Lepomis gulosus) Identification | How to Identify the Warmouth!

Fishing tips for warmouth included! This video will give you all the information you need to properly identify this common sunfish. We'll compare the warmouth against the rock bass, smallmouth bass and mud sunfish. We'll also cover the meristics of warmouth and all the distinguishing features you need to know. Warmouth glossohyal teeth (teeth on the tongue) are important to check. Breeding male warmouth have a special red patch behind the 2d dorsal fin.
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References Listed ► www.koaw.org/warmouth
#fishing #fish #warmouth
Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:14 Warmouth Basics
2:21 Teeth on Tongue
3:10 Coloration
4:06 Breeding Males
4:50 Size
5:11 Ear Flap
5:35 Gill Rakers
6:02 Mouth/Jaw
6:37 Range Maps
7:30 Habitat
8:00 Similar Species
9:51 Fishing Tips

[@KNFishingSmarts]

In case you missed it...the FULL SUNFISH GUIDE ► www.koaw.org/sunfishes

[@TheEbolaz]

The warmouth that I've caught have been while I'm bass fishing with ribbon trail worms. Even when compared to the thump of a largemouth hitting your lure, a warmouth hits like a tank and fights like hell for a fish of its smaller size. They're always a pleasant surprise when I feel a big hit then start to reel and feel like it's an overly aggressive juvenile LMB and out comes this bulldog the size of a bluegill. Pound for pound they easily have more fight than a bass just not the mass to back them up. Always a great and rare catch.

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Absolutely! Warmouth have that power and put up a hell of a fight. Thanks for sharing your experience!

[@ryanmac3134]

Man this is the most comprehensive guide I’ve ever seen in sun fish. Love this

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Appreciate that, Ryan Mac!

[@austinhernandez2716]

Very informative, it's a crime how you have so few views

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Thanks Austin! It's a new channel, so perhaps in time this video will reach more people.

[@JJones-zi8mj]

Live minnows. The other sunfish have trouble eating them but the warmouths gobble them up.

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Ah, yes a great idea. Thanks for posting the tip Mobile Legend!

[@hellosweetheart3350]

Yup. It gobbled my minnow as soon as it hit the water

[@sarahlarson8226]

It is so helpful that you discuss the warmouth feature in contrast to other fishes. Makes it much easier to understand what you are saying!

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Thanks Sarah. It was quite necessary for this species to compare it to others outside of the genus. Cheers!

[@chadburton3337]

By FAR the best warmouth ID information available on possibly the entire internet. Love this fish, it's so unique looking. Never caught one yet but they are down here in Houston

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Looks like you went on a lepomid-video watching binge Ian. Texas has some interesting populations of sunfishes. Hope you get a warmouth!

[@timnossaman9358]

They may look drab at first... but if you catch one, hold it up to the sun! Some of the most beautiful colors I've ever seen on a fish. Up around the lateral line it looked like someone had brushed it with rainbow watercolor paint

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Definitely Tim! I've held some very beautiful specimens just full of vibrant colors. Cheers!

[@michaelguzzo6497]

Honestly you have better content that people with over a million subs. Keep up the good work and success will come

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Thanks Michael, those are very generous words! I'll keep at it. Thanks for the great comment!

[@c.j.rogers2422]

Also one of my fw favorites! If you want to catch more WM, get back into the still water, the more stumps and limbs the better. Cypress swamp is ideal. They're a sucker for a live minnow dropped right next to a cypress knee.

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Great advice! I did happen to catch a warmouth in southern Virginia in a cypress swamp; so I will second your fishing tip here! Thanks for sharing.

[@jasonyang5296]

Thank you for your knowledge

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Thanks for watching this warmouth vid, Jason!

[@charcoalfish]

Awesome video! Thanks for the knowledge dude.

[@KNFishingSmarts]

You're welcome Alaia! Thanks for the appreciation.

[@starkeyshelbyj]

Brilliant, 🙏🏼thank you, fantastic info

[@KNFishingSmarts]

And thank you Shelby. Glad ya liked it!

[@matthewdrake9865]

Caught one in sw florida on live worm thought it was a baby bass thanks for the good info

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Ah, the good 'ol live worm never fails. Very glad to have the info for ya Matthew!

[@rodcon66]

You sound like Corey Feldman. Thanks for the indepth info.

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Haha, I haven't heard that before. But, yeah, you're welcome, Rodney. Thanks for watching!

[@ChrisDavis-dt6xx]

Great video buddy thanks

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Again, thanks!

[@dirtyboy601]

Pond hopper crick walker in nc Illinois. Have caught a ton of warmouth on bass baits. Jerk and swim baits, plastic minnows, but favorite bait for wm are single blade spinners like rooster tails.

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Ah, good ol' rooster tails are awesome. Thanks for sharing your tip.s

[@ManningBuildings]

Very informative video

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Thanks much!

[@PanFishWeekly]

Awesome video

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Thanks!

[@kleetus92]

Thank you for this engineering level of detail on the Warmouth. I think I may have seen one of these in Western PA but it was a long time ago. Beautiful fish though!

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Appreciate that! Yeah, the warmouth is pretty rare in PA but definitely possible to see in the northwest (as far as I know.)

[@hellosweetheart3350]

We have warmouth in Muskegon (Michigan) lake, and blue lake

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Very nice. I believe that's even part of the native range of the warmouth.

[@keithguidry2841]

Warmouth also love tad poles! As well as small crawfish.

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Good 'ol live bait. Tadpoles eh? I've never actually used tadpoles as bait. Thanks for sharing Keith!

[@ajwilliams2601]

I caught a warmouth here in Seattle, Washington on thin less then a inch purple and black deep diving crank bait in Lake Union.

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Thanks for sharing that catch AJ. That's definitely a non-native area for warmouth. Also congrats on having the Seattle Kraken hockey team now! (If you enjoy hockey.) Cheers!

[@mattbrown5511]

Sothern Mississippi fisher. I use fresh shrimp on an EWG and get a good number of Warmouth. I enjoy the fight they give. I do catch and release. I occasionally get one when I'm Crappie fishing with creature artificial baits like hellgrammites and crawfish. I hope this helps others.

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Thanks for sharing your experiences catching warmouth! I believe it will definitely help some other anglers.

[@chriscosby1561]

Warnouths are an awesome species and fun to fish for as well also called red-eyes stump bass rock bass nottoway river bass and rockchuckers because of their habit of throwing rocks into beds during the spawn

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Ah, thanks Chris. I have been meaning to add the other common names to the guide. Looks like "rockchuckers" isn't one I have on my list to add. So thanks!

[@BkKellz]

Do a video on most aggressive sunfish

[@KNFishingSmarts]

It's an idea. Have you ever watching sunfishes on nests? The males are very aggressive.

[@mauricegraham8443]

I just caught some huge warmouth yesterday

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Nice! Great fights on big warmouth.

[@larrytischler570]

Your range map is a bit short on the South Texas side even though you say it extends to the northern edge of the Rio Grande drainage. I grew up West of Corpus Christi and the Nueces River was very full of them years ago. And I would expect them to be in several creeks that flow into bays South of Nueces Bay, namely Oso, Banquete and Petronilla Creeks. With the introduction of striped bass and/or its hybrids they and the Rio Grande cichlid have become much less common in the Nueces. They are only known as goggle eyes down there.

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Thanks Larry. I'll do a double-look on my range map and be sure to update it accordingly on the website. Appreciate the tip!

[@mixedup72]

Do warmouth and green sunfish occupy the same bodies of water together? I live in Central Texas and have not caught a warmouth yet. Most of the rivers and creeks I fish have and abundance of longear sunfish and green sunfish. It seems to me that green sunfish and warmouth share the same type of niche, but I'm entirely not certain.

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Yeah, green sunfish and warmouth do often exist in the same bodies of waters. Central Texas is sort of on the edge of the range of the warmouth. Populations are pretty scarce not to far west of Fort Worth and San Antonio. So, I'm not sure what rivers or creeks your fishing...but you may be a bit too far westerly. And yeah, warmouth, like green, tend to stick lower in the water column or hidden in cover.

[@ThePerfectComboFishing]

Years ago the San Marcos river had warmouth. I do not know if the population is still strong but you might ask around.

[@jean-pierrelou4688]

i was lucky enough to catch a big warmouth, but it didn't survive in captivity. I regretted keeping the beautiful fish...

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Ah man, that sucks it didn't make it. Yeah, sometimes the fish just don't transition well to tank life.

[@lawrencewoods7215]

@@KNFishingSmarts I just subscribed and plan on binge watching 👀 I set up a 75 Gallon Native themed tank until I caught one of these by mistake. Had no clue as to their existence in North Texas creeks

[@connorehlers8648]

Southern Illinois where. I’m from Murphysboro

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Oh nice, I was all around that area last fall. I caught warmouth at Devil's Kitchen when I was in S. Illinois, if that's what you're referring to.

[@NotALizardPerson81]

I catch them at dusk and dawn by dropping a soft plastic grub on jighead at the edge of weed lines. You want it so close that you actually touch the weed line edge on the way down.

[@KNFishingSmarts]

That is sound fishing advice for warmouth right there! Thanks for sharing your fishing tip Prince.

[@slimmdogg420]

Do you think the patch of teeth in Green Sunfish is because it is actually a hybrid? I have always thought they were hybrids, I am no Biologist though!

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Building off your other comment on the other video, we know that green sunfish are pure species. However, sometimes genes in one population may express differently and that's why the tooth patch is there. Or, introgression with another species may happen, which is sort of like hybridization, but that's where the genes from one species get into another. So, we don't consider those species hybrids even if they have introgressed genes. (Kind of how like some populations of humans today have some genes from neanderthals--we're not hybrids but we have the genes.)

[@adt83live]

I got a 10" Warmouth but it was extremely golden yellow. Any thoughts on why it was so brightly colored?

[@KNFishingSmarts]

A 10" warmouth!? Wow...that's huge. Sometime at those extreme sizes certain fish will lose a lot of pattern and get an overall sheen of one color. That'd be a cool fish to see...

[@adt83live]

@@KNFishingSmarts I got pictures on F.i.s.h.b.r.a.i.n. same name as on here 👍

[@michaelpaparelli3227]

I remember when I was a young boy catching warmouths I thought its was a crappie/sunfish hybrid. Lol.

[@KNFishingSmarts]

I can understand that! Warmouth do give off kind of a crappie-vibe too. Thanks for sharing Michael.

[@macattack9041]

Warmouth are something special. They think they’re sharks. I have one I feed that lives in the rocks of my sea wall, same one same place always punking other fish

[@KNFishingSmarts]

Sharks...I like that. Warmouth are baller.