Look 100 percent Longear (Lepomis megalottis) to me. Are you sure they didn't mean northern and central longear?
Yeah, and that's what I always called them, longears. Some guys down here call them Northerns. You can't really tell much by looking at them easily, but there are subtle differences. DNA research puts these at the newest evolutionary subspecies (maybe a species someday) in the longear sunfish complex (and Northern). IMHO, they're all beautiful. Koaw in the video below discusses the findings of the latest research and shows the various strains of the longear complex. It gets really tough IDing them when ranges overlap or, even tougher, when they hybridize with other species.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzft3-Fd8RU&t=6s
Ah man, that's too bad. You'd think a record fish would cause some level of interest in getting the ID, or at least get credit for giving the proper ID, even from a scientific perspective. Was this before DNA testing was available (knowing that not everyone has that capability).
Here's one that my buddy Glenn caught while we were smack dab in the middle of the river, in current, smallie fishing. I didn't think that they liked current so it was a bit of a surprise to me.Here's the area where we caught this guy (not a secret spot).
Bluegill beds in my home waters. They’re very aggressive. I’m not harassing them for a while.
In my area anglers catch and keep every last one of them when they find a vulnerable colony like that. It's a shame we have no bag limits.