Pumpkinseed Sunfish
Pumpkinseed Sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus) is a freshwater species. The first thing to check: a bright orange to scarlet spot on the trailing edge of the black ear flap. The look-alike to rule out is Bluegill: a bluegill's ear flap is solid black with no coloured spot, its cheek is plain, and it carries a dark blotch at the rear of the dorsal fin.
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| Scientific name | Lepomis gibbosus |
|---|---|
| Also called | pumpkinseed, common sunfish, sunny |
| Water | Freshwater |
| Group | Sunfish |
| Temperature | Feeds well between 65 and 80 °F, bedding in the shallows once water passes the high 60s. |
How to identify a Pumpkinseed Sunfish
- A bright orange to scarlet spot on the trailing edge of the black ear flap.
- Wavy iridescent blue-green lines running across the cheek and gill cover.
- Orange and olive spotting over the whole flank, carrying onto the dorsal and anal fins.
If you would rather not work through a key on a wet deck, photograph the fish and let the app name it — you get the common and the scientific name back, and the record is filed before you release.
Fish it is mistaken for
| Species | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Bluegill | A bluegill's ear flap is solid black with no coloured spot, its cheek is plain, and it carries a dark blotch at the rear of the dorsal fin. |
| Redear Sunfish | Redear have the red ear-flap margin but plain cheeks and a much less heavily spotted body. |
Side-by-side comparisons
Read the full entry for Bluegill and Redear Sunfish.
Where it lives
Ponds, lakes and slow streams across the Northeast, Great Lakes and upper Midwest, and stocked well beyond that. Sits in shallow weedy margins, often the first fish a child catches.
Temperature
Feeds well between 65 and 80 °F, bedding in the shallows once water passes the high 60s.
The conditions that matter
Pumpkinseed are shallow, weed-oriented sight feeders, which makes them one of the few species that keep biting on a bright, calm, high-pressure day. Water temperature drives the bedding waves through late spring and summer, and logging it against catches is what predicts the next one on your own pond.
Global Fishing League records 18 weather and water readings against every catch automatically — tide stage, barometric pressure, water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, swell, current, moon phase and more, taken at your GPS position at the moment you log the fish. Over a season that turns a hunch about pumpkinseed sunfish into a pattern you can read.
See every reading recorded with a catch, or the guides to what each reading means.
Size limits, bag limits and seasons
Size limits, bag limits, slot limits and seasons are set by your state wildlife agency — and for many offshore and migratory species by federal regulators — and on many waters they differ from the statewide rule. They also change between seasons. Check the current regulations for the exact water you are fishing before you keep a fish — we do not republish limits here, because a number that is a season out of date is worse than no number.
What the app does do is make your side of it accurate: every catch carries a length measured from the photograph, a GPS position and a timestamp, exportable if you ever need to show your work for a tournament or a record claim. It is also what a Global Fishing League entry is built from — a record that verifies itself, without publishing where you caught the fish.