I think I am the one mainly responsible for the posts of "that RES eat primarily snails and that lack of enough or proper forage will limit the number of RES a pond can support."
Yes, but I was not going to call you out Bill.
[
quote=Bill Cody] As snrub continues he says "adults will feed on a variety of food organisms, depending on what is abundant and what is vulnerable. Common food items are midge larvae, snails, mayfly larvae and dragonfly/damselfly larvae." [quote]That was actually from the article, not me.
Cody note: a link to the article is in a post below.
[quote=Bill Cody] RES by themselves as a primary panfish with lack of other sunfish competition in a pond can no doubt result in sizable pounds of RES produced each season. [quote]That is what I was hoping to hear! I would like to know if it is possible to focus on RES and in doing so make them thrive, not just be an "also ran" fish. In all the stocking recommendations I have seen, RES are only a fractional portion of the stocking and usually for snail control. I've never heard a stocking plan where RES are emphasized as one of the main fish. BG, yes. LMB, yes, SMB, yes. YP, yes. RES, no.
It appears less is known about the RES than most of the other fish.
I currently have a 1/20th acre pond with only RES and loads of FHM. I hope they do well and reproduce. We will see. Also have a 1/10th acre pond that has FHM and stocked 175 RES along with 100 CNBG. How will the RES do when they are the primary fish and the CNBG have to play catch up? Will the RES do better than they otherwise would where they start out with less competition? (I realize the CNBG will eventually get ahead of them spawn wise).
What I'm really trying to find out is if emphasis can be put on RES and do any good towards making them thrive? Or am I just wasting my time and doomed to failure?
It appears, based on what types of lures the RES have been hitting, their diet either varies a lot and will try to feed on numerous foods, or they just have a bad attitude and bite at whatever irritates them.
Bill, you are one of the last guys on this forum I would dare to disagree with. And I'm not trying to do that now. It is just that your comments in the past have led me to believe efforts to improve RES fishery might not be successful and they may always be relegated to a novelty fish. Yet there seems to be some limited evidence that there might be room to manage specifically for RES. I'm just trying to explore what evidence I can find.
