If panfish had a "Big Three" conference, it would include bluegills, crappies and perch. Beyond that, the term gets vague. "Panfish' is not a valid scientific name -- it's a loose catch-all that many anglers use to describe fish that aren't quite "game" fish, like trout or bass. Some even lump bullhead catfish under the brand.
Webster's defines panfish as: "A small food fish usually taken with hook and line and not available on the market."
The style manual of the Outdoor Writers Association of America takes a different approach: "Any of a variety of species of fish that resemble the shape of a frying pan, thus the name."
Rick Lorson, fisheries manager for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, acknowledges the term's imprecision.
"It depends on the context," Lorson said. "But generally, from a professional standpoint, panfish include the sunfishes and yellow perch."
Unlike panfish, "sunfish" is a precise term, known to science as the family Centrarchidae. Lorson named bluegills, pumpkinseeds, rock bass, green sunfish and both black and white crappies as the sunfish of importance in Western Pennsylvania.
All sunfishes share the trait of a single, two-sectioned dorsal fin, the front section bristling with sharp spiny rays, the rear section soft and pliable. Sunfishes also have "toothed" scales, which give the fish a rough feel in the hand, and are laterally compressed -- they appear tall and narrow when viewed head-on. Anglers are sometimes surprised to learn that largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass are, technically, sunfish. Lorson explained that although the bass are members of the sunfish family, they are not panfish by regulation or perception.
Always considered panfish, yellow perch are part of the true perch family (Percidae), which also embraces walleyes, saugers and the numerous darters, none of which are considered panfish. True perch have two separate dorsal fins, the front fin spined and the rear soft. Perch are more elongated than the sunfishes, the body appearing much longer than wide.
Panfish, as Lorson defines them, have grown more popular with Pennsylvania fishermen, posing both challenges and opportunities for fisheries managers.
"For a long time we encouraged anglers to harvest as many panfish as they could because we were concerned about stunting [small size due to overpopulation]," Lorson said. "There was not enough interest in panfish back then to create a concern. Then we came into the '90s and that changed. Folks saw how much fun panfish could be and we saw populations that appeared to be impacted negatively by harvest. The most striking example was Cross Creek Lake. The commission implemented Panfish Enhancement special regulations on Cross Creek, and we saw considerable improvement in size of sunfish especially."
Panfish Enhancement regulations are in place on 20 lakes around the state, including High Point Lake in Somerset County, Cross Creek Lake in Washington County, and Lower Twin and Northmoreland lakes in Westmoreland County. On those waters, anglers may not creel yellow perch or crappies under 9 inches in length. A minimum size of 7 inches applies to other sunfish. Creel limits are 20 yellow perch, 20 crappies and 20 other sunfish, but no more than 50 fish in total may be kept per day.
"One of the objectives is to give anglers access to more quality-size panfish," Lorson said.
The panfish regs earned national recognition. In 2010 the American Fisheries Society honored the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission Division of Fisheries Management with a Sport Fish Restoration Award for its Panfish Enhancement program.
Surveys indicate that crappies have responded especially well to special regulations in lakes enrolled in the program.
"Crappies have improved in Western Pennsylvania," Lorson said. "Protecting them from harvest to 9 inches has increased the proportion of quality fish."
Lorson feels the stricter creel limits are needed in view of changes in fishing trends and lake ecology.
"Stunting in panfish is rare these days because we have more predators, especially bass," he said. "Fewer people are harvesting bass now, and the bass are managing the panfish, so we have gotten more conservative with panfish harvest."
One thing about panfish that is never debated is their desirability on the table. Anglers who fillet their catch, coat the fillets in cornmeal or breadcrumbs and fry them in hot oil know sunfish and perch trump their small size with outstanding taste.
"I call it Laurel Highlands lobster," said Duayne Forsberg of Harrisburg, who follows up fishing trips to Cranberry Glade Lake in Somerset County with a bluegill and crappie fish fry.
"I don't have a problem eating any of the three," Lorson said. "But if forced to rank them, I'd go for crappies first to perch to bluegills right behind them both."
First Published: February 6, 2011, 10:00 a.m.
